Kurt Angle Claims ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Was Scared To Face Him & Chris Benoit

WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle is undoubtedly one of the best pro wrestlers to have ever graced the squared circle. He had a tremendous career in WWE, spanning multiple World Title runs and incredible matches.

He has faced the best of the best the pro wrestling world has to offer, including the likes of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Chris Benoit. However, it seems Steve Austin didn’t necessarily have the best impression of Kurt Angle at first.

While speaking on The Kurt Angle Show’ on AdFreeShows.com, Kurt Angle talked about a Steel Cage match during the July 11, 2001 edition of Monday Night RAW. It featured Angle and Benoit taking each other to the limit and also included a German suplex off the top rope.

Kurt Angle claimed that that particular spot scared ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin as he thought they were crazy and that he didn’t want to work with them.

“The German spot? The German spot was the most dangerous spot we did in that match. It might not look like it, but that’s the toughest one to take, off the top rope, backward. There’s a great chance you’re going to land on your head; probably 99% of the time, you’re going to land on your head. So, it’s one of those taking-the-chance moves that you do that you don’t know if you’re going to get injured or not, but Chris and I had to prove a point that night.

We were upcoming talent. Austin was out there watching the match. We were trying to impress Austin. I think we went way too far because we actually scared him away. We were trying to show him that we wanted to work with him, and he’s like, ‘these guys are crazy bastards, I’m not going to work with them.’ You know, he even told me that later down the line, and we just threw everything in the kitchen sink into that match.

Thankfully, Kurt Angle was able to earn Steve Austin’s respect in other ways and the two would go on to be involved in various storylines during their career. We will have to see if Angle will make his return to WWE eventually.