This Backstage Comment Nearly Prevented Kurt Angle’s WWE Career

Kurt Angle is set for a long-overdue Hall of Fame induction, and he’s rightly remembered as one of WWE’s greats. But his pro wrestling career almost didn’t happen, and it’s all because of a comment Angle made during his WWE interview.

Former WWE producer Bruce Prichard–known for his on-screen role as Brother Love–discussed his first meeting with Kurt on a recent edition of his podcast (transcribed by WrestlingInc). The encounter did not go well.

“I met Kurt when he came in. First, he met with Vince. They all went in and met with Vince alone. Afterwards, Vince sent him into my office to talk to him a little bit more about the [professional wrestling] business and get a feel for what Kurt’s desires were, what he was really looking for, what he knew about the business, and what have you. And in that meeting, there was a comment made by Kurt that I kind of just ended the meeting because Kurt made it very clear that being an Olympic gold medalist that he couldn’t possibly ever lose a match. He’s the best there is and no one could ever beat him. No one would ever believe that he could lose a match. So I thanked Kurt for his time and I wished him very well with his gold medal and moved on.”

Prichard says that Angle and Jim Ross made contact a short time later, after the Olympian’s sportscasting career failed to take off. The rest, as they say, is history.

Some of WWE’s biggest stars took issue, however, with how Angle was presented on his debut, being called a “real athlete.”

“I mean, Steve Austin for one, looking at him like, ‘well, God—n, is this guy saying I ain’t real?’, so sure, everybody was, even the Undertaker felt it was demeaning and didn’t like the tone of the vignettes. Like, come on guys, it’s a work! But if you can get the talent upset about it and the talent feeling that, then you’ve got the audience.”

Kurt is heading to the Hall of Fame this year, and it seems that he’s also expected to return to a WWE ring soon.

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