"He picked me out of the whole roster" - Details on Kurt Angle handpicking WWE opponent before John Cena feud

Former WWE Superstar Eugene has revealed he was hand-picked by Kurt Angle to be his opponent at SummerSlam 2005.

At the time, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted Angle to feud with someone who could help cement his status as a heel. Plans were already in place for the Olympic gold medalist to face John Cena for the WWE Championship after SummerSlam.

Speaking to Karlifornia Infirri on WZWA Network’s Insiders Edge Podcast, Eugene mentioned why Angle selected him out of everyone on the roster.

"They were grooming Kurt to wrestle Cena for the title and they wanted Kurt to become a vicious heel," Eugene said. "And Kurt was like, ‘I couldn’t get any more heat than beating up Eugene,’ so he wanted to wrestle me. He picked me out of the whole roster, which I thought was really cool. But he had ideas. He wanted to do a lot of comedy. The ideas he had were really great."

Eugene really got a match with Triple H and Kurt Angle at back to back summerslams…LMAO! pic.twitter.com/6KXWWySp05

— Wrestle Kliq (@WrestleKliq) May 17, 2020

Kurt Angle defeated Eugene at SummerSlam 2005 in a match that lasted less than five minutes. One year earlier, Eugene lost against Triple H at SummerSlam.

---

Vince McMahon did not want too much comedy in Eugene and Kurt Angle's storyline

Kurt Angle entertained WWE fans as both a babyface and a heel

As part of the storyline, Eugene won Kurt Angle’s Olympic gold medal after surviving a three-minute time-limit match against him on RAW.

Angle wanted Eugene to wear the medal to the airport and steal his limousine by claiming to be a real Olympic gold medalist. However, Vince McMahon decided to tone down the amount of comedy involved in the storyline.

"Vince didn’t want that much comedy," Eugene added. "They wanted Kurt to get some serious heat, so Kurt just ended up beating the s*** out of me for three weeks."

❗NEW EPISODE❗Former #WWE Superstar @UGeneDinsmore joined @KarliforniaWZWA for the 50th episode of the #InsidersEdge podcast!✨YOUTUBE: https://t.co/BjF1AA2Lti✨APPLE: https://t.co/zZQ5fQJ2CK✨SPOTIFY: https://t.co/Y30XxNMMTsPresented by @BlueWireHustle #ProWrestling pic.twitter.com/eyMefuLjeA

— WZWA Network (@WZWANetwork) April 27, 2021

After defeating Eugene, Kurt Angle unsuccessfully challenged John Cena for the WWE Championship at Unforgiven, Taboo Tuesday, and Survivor Series.

---

Please credit the Insiders Edge Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.