"It was actually very heartwarming" - WWE NXT Star recalls wrestling Kurt Angle in 2005

Kurt Angle has wrestled with a variety of opponents during his time in WWE, mostly working with younger talent to give them the spotlight. One of those wrestlers was current WWE NXT Superstar Roderick Strong.

Roderick Strong began his professional wrestling career in 2000 and by the time he had garnered some success in the industry, he made a one-off appearance on an episode of WWE SmackDown in 2005. At the time, Kurt Angle was doing the 3-minute Hometown Hero challenge where he would dare local talent to step up and try to last 3 minutes in the ring with him. One of those challengers happened to be a young Roderick Strong.

Strong lasted almost 2 minutes in the ring with Angle before he was defeated. In a recent interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Roderick Strong discussed his experience working with Kurt Angle in 2005.

"It was great. It was funny because I actually just went there to hang out and see Molly Holly [who] was in town and I went and Paul London was there with all these guys. I was just going to see people because it was in Tampa. Then they were like 'hey, do you wanna wrestle Kurt [Angle]?', And I was like 'okay'. You just can't pass a situation like that."

Strong said, "The thing that I loved about it was he was just completely honest with me about what it was and I knew like 'Okay, what I have to do, it has to be equally as physical or as intense as he is gonna do, if not, no one's gonna care'. So it was actually very heartwarming to hear the response. I just remember slapping him and hitting him so hard and being like 'alright here we go'. It really was one of the highlights of my career and I'm just really sad me and Kurt never had an opportunity to have a real one and put some time in together because that would have been something."

You can check out the interview in the video below:

Roderick Strong signed with WWE in 2016

Roderick Strong

Roderick Strong signed with WWE in 2016 and joined the Black and Gold brand. Initially Strong was a lower card wrestler without any championship wins. However, that changed for the better when he joined the Undisputed Era. He won the North American Championship and the Tag Team Championship two times under the faction's colors.

3 YEARS REIGNING #NXTAwardTag Winners, UNDISPUTED ERA, BAY-BAY!And that's not all, @AdamColePro & @roderickstrong will represent UE in the #DustyCup! 💥 #WWENXT #NXTYearEndAwards @theBobbyFish @KORcombat pic.twitter.com/ZpQUrT2tpg

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) December 31, 2020

Following the implosion of the Undisputed Era, Strong quit WWE NXT for a while before returning in June as the leader of a brand new faction: The Diamond Mine.

.@roderickstrong, IS THAT YOU?!? #WWENXT @KUSHIDA_0904 pic.twitter.com/TXysAgQPnO

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) June 23, 2021

What do you think is next for Roderick Strong in WWE? Do you think he will dethrone Kushida for the Cruiserweight Championship? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.