On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, per Wrestling Inc , the titular host revealed that he and Brock Lesnar initially got off on the wrong foot when the latter first joined WWE . According to the Hall of Famer, it all started after Lesnar said that he’d beat the Olympic gold medalist in an amateur wrestling match.
Angle revealed that he had to confront “The Beast Incarnate” after learning about his comments. This was because he had a reputation to preserve backstage and he couldn’t have his colleagues thinking that he’d let a rookie disrespect him and get away with it.
“Someone asked him how he’d do against me in an amateur wrestling match and Brock said ‘I’d crush him, I’m too big for him. That was like, ‘Okay we have a problem, I’m going to have to confront Brock because when the boys start talking it gets really crazy.’”
As documented by Essentially Sports , the athletes even had a shoot fight behind the scenes to determine who was the better man. This involved them returning to their amateur roots and performing in front of the locker room.
Angle — despite being much smaller — beat Lesnar in the end, but he claimed that their showdown was really close. His experience ultimately proved to be a deciding factor.
While the pair’s relationship got off to a rocky start, Angle admitted that it was good for them in the long-run. After they put their differences aside, they ended up becoming friends and Angle also took the then-rookie under his wing.
Angle also recalled how they went on to work together in some notable storylines, and they were able to collaborate easily due to there no longer being any tension between them.
“It actually broke the ice between us, now we could start communicating and feel comfortable around each other. Within a couple of weeks, we were traveling together. When we were doing the program together, we were traveling together, Big Show, Brock and I.”
Of course, Angle and Lesnar didn’t have the most easygoing working relationship in the ring. As The Inquisitr previously documented, the Hall of Famer got injured twice while working with “The Beast Incarnate.”
However, he admitted that one of the incidents was entirely his fault due to miscommunication between everyone involved. The other one led to him suffering from an injury that kept him out of action for months.