Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit are regarded as some of the greatest technical wrestlers in the history of the promotion
Kurt Angle was a force of nature during the late 90s and early 2000s, despite being an upcoming talent.
Fresh off his 1996 Summer Olympics wrestling Gold Medal win, he was too good a grappler in the promotion.
And likewise, a similarly built (the late) Chris Benoit was equally efficient in the squared circle as well. He debuted as a pro-wrestler when he was a teenager.
The two were so intimidating that they had the tough-as-nails Stone Cold Steve Austin scared once.
Angle recently recalled a Steel Cage match on WWE RAW, 2001. He took on Chris Benoit, who was relatively new to the promotion as well.
Since Austin was a well-established wrestler in the promotion, the pair had decided to impress him. Given their impressive wrestling and grappling background, Angle and Benoit went all in that night.
In the latest episode of Kurt Angle Show podcast, Angle detailed that night saying that he and Benoit had taken things too far. He highlighted the German Suplex Spot they performed in that match.
“The german [suplex] spot was the most dangerous spot we did in that match. That’s the toughest one to take, off the top rope backward. The chances you’re going to land on your head, probably 99% of the time you’re going to land on your head. Taking a chance moves that you do that you don’t know if you’re going to get injured or not. Chris and I had to prove a point that night, we were upcoming talent, [Stone Cold Steve] Austin was out there watching the match, we were trying to impress Austin. I think we went way too far because we actually scared him away.”
Kurt Angle says Steve Austin wasn’t impressed at all
Angle went on to say that Austin considered the pair (Benoit and Angle) were out of their minds. He revealed that their performance did not appeal to Austin.
Angle was quoted as saying:
“We were trying to show him we wanted to work with him and he’s like these guys are crazy bastards, I’m not going to work with them. He even said that later on down the line, we threw everything and the kitchen sink into that match. Chris and I were crazy that night and his flying headbutt off the top, my moonsault, they all could’ve been finishes. Fortunately we went a little bit further, nobody got hurt but the match turned out to be incredible. It didn’t appeal to [Austin] to want to work with us, we had to earn his respect back eventually another way.”
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