As one of the biggest names in the history of the pro wrestling, there isn’t a great deal that we don’t know about Kurt Angle.
Having started his career with the most-famed company in the game, his rise through the ranks has been charted for anyone and everyone to see. Even his first official WWE match took place in Detroit’s esteemed Joe Louis Arena in front of some 18,735 fans.
Since then, he’s scarcely been out of the limelight, whether it be by way of appearing on The Conan O'Brien Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, or in features on Sports Illustrated amidst allegations of performance-enhancing drug use.
Add in the fact that he was an Olympic Champion before all of this began, and there aren’t too many stones left unturned in terms of Angle’s professional life.
That being said, this past week saw Angle take part in a Reddit AMA, in which he afforded fans a taste of some of the lesser known stories from his lengthy pro wrestling career.
From matches that came close to falling through to others that were scrapped altogether, as well as some personal highlights from a near-two-decade career, here are five things that we learned from Kurt Angle’s Reddit AMA.
#1 Milk-o-mania was a lie!
One of Kurt Angle’s most memorable segments in WWE came in August of 2001 when the Olympian delivered his own personal parody of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s beer truck stunt.
Whilst feuding with the Alliance, and with his rivals conveniently gathered in the ring, Angle drove a milk truck to ringside, where he proceeded to spray milk on Austin and company as they stood in the ring.
Except, it wasn’t really milk.
In another revelation from Angle’s AMA, he spoke of how the concoction with which he hosed down the Alliance was in fact “water with white food colouring.” It’s good in a way, that it wasn’t real milk, seeing as the stench of a milk-soaked ring is just about the last thing the company would have wanted to deal with.
Of course, that’s something Angle would soon find out about first-hand.
Having chugged a couple of milk cartons himself—which did indeed contain real milk—he then had to catch a flight back home that very same night whilst still wearing the same shoes that were now stained with sour milk, much to the disgust of his fellow passengers. Nice.
#2 Teaching John Cena a lesson
Just three years into his WWE career, Angle was already playing the role of the grizzled veteran. So when a certain John Cena made his main roster debut on a 2002 showing of SmackDown, it was up to Angle to step up to the plate and welcome the rookie in his own novel way.
It’s common knowledge that Angle faced Cena in the latter’s first-ever televised match, but what isn’t quite so well known is that Angle was, in fact testing Cena and looking to teach the newbie a lesson.
In his AMA, Angle spoke of trying to tire Cena out to see if he could keep up with the pace, before concluding that “I tested him and he passed with flying colours!”
Watching the match back, you can see where Angle’s coming from as he shows no signs of holding anything back.
Then again, he also went on to describe the match as “twelve minutes of non-stop movement,” even though their contest officially clocked in at 5:38. So maybe we should take this one with a pinch of salt…
#3 His favourite opponent
Over the years, Kurt Angle has shared the ring with some of the absolute best in the business. But of all those names, Angle cites Shawn Michaels as being his most favourite opponent.
Angle rattles off the usual plaudits, noting that “he just had it all” and that “he was so easy to work with,” but also goes on to draw attention to Michaels’ impeccable timing.
From his matches to his promos, Angle claims that “nobody in the business has had that kind of timing,” offering a slightly different spin on the kind of praise that’s typically sent Michaels’ way.
Also read: 4 Funniest screenshots from the Brock Lesnar Reddit roast
In terms of their actual matches, the pair met in one-on-one action on four separate occasions: twice on Raw and twice on pay-per-view, including their most memorable meeting from WrestleMania 21. There, it was Angle who emerged the victor, forcing Michaels to submit after a 27-minute epic that stole the show that night.
And to make that performance even more impressive, Angle recently revealed that prior to that match, the only move he and Michaels had practised was a routine sunset flip spot.
Safe to say, they nailed the spot on the big day.
#4 WrestleMania XIX Plans
It’s no secret that heading into WrestleMania XIX, Kurt Angle wasn’t in a good way. Less than two weeks after losing to Brock Lesnar in the PPV’s main event, he was forced to undergo neck surgery to address a number of ongoing injuries.
However, at one point, there were plans to scrap that WrestleMania match with Lesnar altogether and fast track Angle into surgery before the event on March 30.
At the time, Angle was WWE Champion, but he’d hurt his neck at No Way Out—just a month ahead of ‘Mania.
According to the AMA, a contingency plan was put in place to have the champ lose a 30-second match on SmackDown ahead of the show, which would have led to Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XIX.
Just a couple of days before that SmackDown match, though, Angle had a change of heart. After a friend of his had been devastated at the idea of Angle not wrestling Lesnar at ‘Mania, Kurt picked up the phone and told Vince McMahon, and in no uncertain terms, that “I can do this.”
Within a matter of weeks—broken neck and all—Angle headlined the PPV in yet another match-of-the-night showing.
#5 Almost ending the Undertaker’s streak
One of the few things Angle never ticked off the bucket list was a WrestleMania match with the Undertaker. In 2006, though, he not only came very close to changing that, but he was even in the discussion to break ‘Taker’s Streak, back when it stood at a modest 13-0.
Reflecting on his match with Undertaker at No Way Out ’06, Angle went on to mention that the Deadman had been pulling for a match with Angle at that year’s WrestleMania.
Based on his track record, ‘Taker knew that Angle could give him the kind of match he wanted for the show, and so he encouraged Angle to talk to Vince and pitch the idea of the match.
Of course, it was soon shot down by the boss, and we instead saw Undertaker face Mark Henry while Angle defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio.
Incidentally, that proved to be Angle’s final WrestleMania outing, and while it was a decent enough match in and of itself, tackling—and ending—the Undertaker’s undefeated Streak would have been a fairytale swansong for Angle.
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