Kurt Angle had one of the most impressive rookie years in WWE. He won multiple titles during his first year on the main roster and also made his WrestleMania debut. The Mania match however turned out to be a disappointing affair.
The Olympic Gold Medallist talked about his WrestleMania debut in 2000 on his podcast. Kurt agreed with the criticism that the first fall of the match should have been for the European title instead of the IC Championship:
“Yeah, I agree. I think the Intercontinental title should have been second title that was defended at WrestleMania. After the Intercontinental title [that] Benoit won, I don’t think the fans cared who was gonna win the European title.” said Kurt Angle, “Because that title was way below the Intercontinental title.”
‘None Of Us Were Happy’: Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle later discussed how all three of the competitors were nervous going into the bout. It was the first WrestleMania match for all three of them and none came out too pleased with how it went:
“None of us were happy about the match. We all thought that could have been better.”
– Kurt Angle
The crowd reaction to the bout was disappointing as well. Kurt Angle admitted that the bad reception to the match didn’t help the spirits of the competitors:
“We weren’t sure why [the crowd didn’t like it]. I don’t know if it was because the Intercontinental title was decided first, cause the crowd was pretty alive up until then, and it kind of died after.”
For those who don’t know, WrestleMania 2000 saw Kurt Angle defending both the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship. What could have been an amazing two fall triple threat match between Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit however, ended up being one of the lowest rated matches on the card.
This was because WWE decided to save the European title for the second fall of the bout instead of the IC title which was more prestigious. The crowd lost interest in the match halfway through because of this.
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