Kurt Angle might have been one of the top stars of WWE during his Prime but he could only manage one WrestleMania main event and that was WrestleMania XIX against Brock Lesnar where he defended his WWE Championship against ‘The Next Big Thing.’ it is still considered one of the best WrestleMania main events ever.
The feud continued even after WrestleMania XIX and it concluded at SummerSlam event of the same year. The title changed hands for a couple of times during this feud and overall it was extremely entertaining. The storyline of this feud was equally good as well. Brock Lesnar was being promoted as the upcoming top star of the promotion and Kurt Angle did an amazing job to lift him.
Kurt Angle Spills the Beans: Why His WrestleMania Clash With Lesnar Trumps SummerSlam
Among their two one on one matches, their match from WrestleMania XIX is mostly remembered. They had an excellent match at SummerSlam too but it did not feature on the main event since the bigger attraction was the second ever Elimination Chamber. Kurt Angle recently remembered about these matches and explained why he loved his Wrestlemania match more than the SummerSlam one. Speaking on his the Kurt Angle show podcast, he explained;
On not headlining SummerSlam 2003:
“That was a hard pill to swallow, but I do understand; I mean, Brock and I, the main event at WrestleMania, and not only that, but you have a hell in a cell match, having a hell in a cell match in the middle of the show, then you have to tear down the cage, and it’s just a pain in the ass. So you wanna do it at the very end and set it up and just, you know, and then you can tear it down. You could take as long as you want to tear it down afterward. So I believe that’s the reason why they had the hell in the cell last.”
Kurt Angle Featured On Only One WrestleMania Main Event
On his 2003 run:
“I thought 2003 was a really good year for me, but it was also a year where I got injured a couple of times, with my neck. one was right before WrestleMania, and one was at the end of the year in November. So, you know, a good four months of my career was shot. I didn’t wrestle four months of that or 12 months during that year. So it wasn’t my best year. I mean, I won two world titles, but I wouldn’t call it my best-performing year. I think that 2006 and 2005 might’ve been better.”
On Brock Lesnar as a heel:
“I actually think Brock was better as a heel. He’s a big giant individual. He’s explosive. He has this mean demeanor about him and, just his look, I think, you know, he looks at him, he looks like a German soldier. Okay. He does; he’s what Hitler imagined, that every human being should look like this person right here. Brock Lesnar, tall, blonde, blue eyes. This was, you know, exactly, you know, a buzz call. He’s a beast. He’s a freak of nature. And that’s Brock Lesnar.”
On whether he prefers his match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2003 or WrestleMania 19:
“I enjoyed ’em both equally as much. That is tough. I think that, um, I still liked WrestleMania and, and you know what, I’m, I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t remember a lot of WrestleMania ’cause my neck was broken, and I knew I hadn’t had surgery, and I was really stressed out about being in that ring. But for some reason, when I watch it over, I just like WrestleMania better.”
Angle could have definitely featured on more main events of the following WrestleMania events but in 2006 he decided to leave WWE to join their biggest rivals of the time which was TNA Wrestling. When he returned to WWE after decade, he was pretty much out of his prime. We seriously wish we could have seen him working on more WrestleMania main event matches.
h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.