Kurt Angle is no stranger to dastardly actions in wrestling, but he believes that wrestling’s greatest heel, isn’t even a wrestler.
In late 2002, Angle captured his third WWE Championship, dethroning the Big Show at that December’s Armageddon Pay-Per-View.
Big Show had only won the title a month earlier, defeating Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in the Beast’s first loss in WWE.
Greatest Heel
Lesnar’s loss inside Madison Square Garden came about after Paul Heyman turned on Brock, ending their alliance that had existed since Lesnar’s debut earlier that year.
After his title win at Armageddon, Kurt revealed Lesnar as the head of his management team (Team Angle) turning heel in the process.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, the Olympian spoke about working with Heyman.
“It was a great idea. It’s not that I needed Paul to speak for me, not at all, but he draws a lot of heat. At this particular time I was kind of a babyface so that I was having Paul on my side would draw a little bit more heat for me.
“He is the best heel in the business, he really is.”
Kurt Angle on Paul Heyman.
“He was, he is, the best heel in the business, he really is. And it is because he draws a lot of heat. He’s the best promo guy I’ve ever been around. When you’re around him you learn a lot, so I was really happy to have Paul as my manager.”
Working with Brock
While Angle’s victory over Big Show came thanks to a big assist from Lesnar, Kurt and Heyman declared that they would refuse to face the Beast.
On his podcast, Angle spoke about the WrestleMania 19 match he’d have with Lesnar, and despite his declaration, knew the plan all along.
“I knew after I won that title [at Armageddon 2002] that Brock and I were gonna wrestle four or five months later at WrestleMania.”
Kurt Angle.
Angle added that their match was extra special for both men given their similar backgrounds.
“We’d got in a ring a little bit here and there you know, with tag matches and stuff but this is our first singles match. Both of us were looking forward to it.
“I saw how talented Brock was and how quickly he picked it up and he knew I was really talented so we were really looking forward to it. Especially with our amateur wrestling backgrounds we really wanted to showcase that at WrestleMania.”
Lesnar would dethrone Angle at WrestleMania 19, in the only example of a WrestleMania main event where all competitors used their birth names.
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