"Vince McMahon was putting the rocket behind me" - 6-time World Champion talks about receiving a major push in WWE
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently spoke about the major push he received from Vince McMahon in the form of winning the King of the Ring tournament.
These days, the King of the Ring tournament does not have the same level of prestige that it used to. However, over the years, several superstars have elevated their status by winning the historic tournament.
In 2000, Kurt Angle was one of the hottest prospects in the business, having made the switch from amateur wrestling to sports entertainment. As such, Vince McMahon wanted him to win the King of the Ring tournament to solidify his push. On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, Kurt Angle recalled McMahon's plan for him:
“I was told right after the previous pay-per-view. Vince McMahon was putting the rocket behind me. I was a rookie, and I won the European Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and next in line was King of the Ring. As long as I kept producing and kept impressing everybody, he was going to continue to push me. This was my next accomplishment was to win King of the Ring.” [H/T - 411Mania]
ALL HAIL KING KURT
On this episode,@RealKurtAngle and Paul cover the PPV that would make Your Olympic Hero...royal including the three matches that earned him the crown.
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Angle won the tournament and it did make him a huge star in the company. He also went on to win his first world title in the same year.
Kurt Angle on sharing ideas with Vince McMahon and Triple H
After winning King of the Ring, Angle was involved in a love triangle storyline between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. A match between The Game and Angle took place at Unforgiven, which the former won.
During the storyline, Angle and Stephanie worked together and came up with their own ideas to perform on screen. In the same episode, Angle recalled sharing his ideas with Vince McMahon and Hunter for the angle:
“What I did to make everybody feel comfortable is whatever Stephanie and I came up with – the ideas we had – I would present them to Vince and Triple H, just out of respect to make sure I wasn’t over-crossing my boundaries. So, I did that every show. If Stephanie and I had to do something a little bit crazy, I ran it by Vince and Triple H to make sure it was okay with them.” [H/T - 411Mania]
Stephanie McMahon and Kurt Angle show off the WWF Championship https://t.co/rJcLxfsw0l
After the storyline ended, Angle went on to win world titles while Stephanie worked as an on-screen personality for a while alongside Triple H.