The Royal Rumble is a big opportunity for anyone on the WWE roster.
WWE Superstars are aware of this.
Kurt Angle was back in 2003.
The WWE and IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame legend revealed during his Kurt Angle Show podcast that he was injured going into the 2003 WWE Royal Rumble match.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the episode where he talks about this and shares his memories.
On whether or not he told anyone he was hurting around the 2003 Royal Rumble: "Well, I injured my knee, not at this night when Brock Lesnar did it, it was for story line purposes to show that I hurt my knee. So, I did it beforehand and I had to have knee injury so I was in a position where I was champion and I was going to go out with injury and they didn’t know what to do, but I told them listen it’s just a meniscus, it’s just a cartilage. I’m just gonna get it taken out and I’ll be ready in three. It usually, you know, takes about six to eight weeks, but I figured I could do it in three weeks. So, that’s what I promised Vince and I did it."
On wrestling Chris Benoit: "You got to be ready when you wrestle Chris Benoit. I mean, he’s the most well-conditioned, most intense wrestler I’ve ever been in the ring with. You have to be on your A game, but Chris is great because he can work around anything so I knew with my knee injury we could actually still have a great match. Chris was never stiff or dangerous. The only stiff thing he did was the chops to your chest other than he was really good. He had a great perception and never stiffed you."
On whether or not Brock Lesnar was pumped for their WrestleMania 19 match: "You know what it’s the first time we.. Well, we got in the ring a little bit here and there you know tag matches and stuff. But, this was our first singles match and 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, especially with our amateur wrestling backgrounds we really wanted to showcase that at WrestleMania."
Check out the complete episode of the Kurt Angle Show by visiting AdFreeShows.com. H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes.
