Andre Porter on October 2, 2022
Bob Backlund is a legend in the pro wrestling industry. He experienced success as both an adored hero and a loathed villain in a WWE career that spanned three decades. But there’s a funny story on why he was kicked off WWE television.
On a recent episode of “The Kurt Angle Show,” Kurt Angle recalled a hilarious infamous segment that he believes ultimately led to Backlund being taken off TV. The segment happened on the March 20th, 2000 edition of “WWE Raw,”
“[Bob] was supposed to put the crippler crossface on [Chris Benoit] while he was sitting, and Bob didn’t want to do it because he wasn’t standing up.”
“I looked back [at the writer] like, ‘Holy sh*t,'”
Angle also said that despite being told countless times that the segment was live, Backlund forgot and thought they could reshoot what he perceived to be a pre-taped segment. Even though the segment was chaotic, and Backlund’s removal from television made sense to Angle, he remained complimentary of his former manager.
“When Bob went and did that, they just went, ‘We’ve had enough of Bob Backlund, we’re gonna move on.'”
“Don’t get me wrong, Bob was fun to work with. I loved him.”
Backlund’s last appearance on WWE television was in 2017 when he was asked by Darren Young to be his life coach and Backlund agreed, vowing to “Make Darren Young Great Again”. The storyline fizzled and they were released months later. Probably in the future he’ll make another appearance.
What do you think of all this? Sound off in the comments!
October 2, 2022 7:20 pm
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