During the latest edition of The Kurt Angle Show, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle reflected on his SummerSlam 2001 match against “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Kurt also revealed Austin's comments ahead of the match, and more. Check out Angle’s comments below.
On defeating Booker T for the WCW Championship in 2001:
“It was a great night. Winning the WCW title in front of my hometown was awesome. I think the reason they wanted me to beat Booker was to show I was a threat to Stone Cold Steve Austin, that I could actually win the world title as a babyface. I think that’s the reason why I wanted to do it because I didn’t hold that title very long. I think I dropped it the following week. They at least wanted me to get a stepping stone of winning a world title before I went at it with Steve Austin.”
On Austin’s message to Kurt before their Summerslam bout:
“We were really tight. We were very, very good friends and we started trusting each other and bouncing ideas off of each other. Austin told me, ‘Listen, I laid everything down for you. Everything is set for you. All you have to do is show up and produce at SummerSlam. I did everything I can as a heel to make you look as good of a babyface as you can be, and I’m gonna continue to do that.’ And I can’t think Austin enough what he did for me. He didn’t have to do it.”
On Vince McMahon’s reaction to the match:
“This is as good of a main event as it can be, other than the finish. Other than that, you can’t get a better match than this. Stone Cold and I were on that night….[Vince] was hugging us. He was like, ‘That was awesome. Thank you so much guys.’ That’s when you know you did something special is when Vince gets up and he’s really excited. Vince was very excited about this match….he saw money.”
