How Vince McMahon reacted when WWE legend wore his gold at airports and restaurants
Former WWE agent Gerald Brisco once played a prank on Kurt Angle after Vince McMahon gave the Olympic hero an instruction about his gold medals.
Angle won gold in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games. Two years later, he joined WWE and quickly became one of the company's top breakout stars. McMahon wanted the Olympian to stay in-character by wearing a collection of medals around the arena on the day of WWE events.
On Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Angle recalled how Brisco said McMahon also wanted him to wear the medals outside of WWE. The former amateur wrestler donned the gold everywhere he went, including airports and restaurants, for an entire week before finding out that Brisco was joking:
"I'm walking in the building the same time as Vince," Angle stated. "And I said, 'Hey, Vince.' He said, 'Hey, Kurt.' He goes, 'What are you doing with your medals on?' I said, 'Well, Jerry told me you said you want me to wear them everywhere.' He goes, 'No! Jerry's an a**hole. You only have to wear them at the arena.' It was the worst rib I've ever had on me [laughs]." [46:31 – 46:56]
Angle is not the only rookie wrestler to fall for a similar prank. Paul Wight, aka The Big Show, wore the WCW World Heavyweight Championship around airports when he won the title in 1995. Wight said on Conan O'Brien in 2017 that Hulk Hogan was responsible for playing the joke on him.
What did Vince McMahon tell Kurt Angle?
Before Gerald Brisco's prank, Vince McMahon had a meeting with Kurt Angle about the direction of his WWE persona.
3/2/1999
Kurt Angle made his WWF debut on Heat from the Civic Arena in #WWEPittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
#KurtAngle #TeamAngle #OlympicGoldMedalist #YourOlympicHero #WrestlingMachine #ItsTrue #Tapout #AttitudeEra #SundayNightHeat #WWE #WWESuperstar #WWELegend #WWEHistory https://t.co/g4VuQ2VJDt
McMahon told Angle to wear several gold medals, including accolades he won as a child.
"Vince McMahon's telling me, 'Listen, I want you to have as many gold medals as you can. Go home and find all the gold medals that you won when you were a kid, even the little ones. I want you to wear these when you're at the arena. I want you to wear them all day long,'" Angle said. [45:42 – 45:57]
In the same interview, Angle also revealed why he initially rejected McMahon's offer to join WWE in 1996.
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Please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.