Brock Lesnar, one of the most dangerous and explosive athletes in the combat sports industry, has achieved a lot in both WWE and UFC. Many WWE legends have spoken about their admiration for the Beast Incarnate, with Kurt Angle being one of the recent ones.
Brock Lesnar proved why he was treated as ‘The Next Big Thing’ by destroying everyone in his path. As one of the few wrestlers who never needed a sidekick or a stable, he holds the record for being the youngest WWE Champion ever, achieving everything in his career through his brute force and sending people to Suplex City.
Kurt Angle discusses Brock Lesnar’s Olympic medal chances
Kurt Angle is one of the few people who holds a clean victory over the Beast Incarnate. He had a memorable rivalry with Lesnar back in 2003. The two men were considered some of the purest wrestlers of their time, with Angle being the only Olympic Gold Medalist to compete in WWE. Apparently, Lesnar and Angle had a ‘real’ wrestling match once, which is still talked about among wrestlers to this day.
Kurt Angle tells Joe Rogan about the time he and Brock Lesnar wrestled for real
— Vick (@Vick_8122) September 20, 2023
“So the guy comes up to me and says hey Brock said he could beat you in a wrestling match. So I went up to Brock and said hey let’s get in the ring right now.” pic.twitter.com/B1n19YQRej
Kurt Angle appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he talked about his first wrestling match with Brock Lesnar. Kurt said that everyone would say how Angle completely dominated their match and defeated The Beast with ease; however, that was not the case. Angle said, “The kid is unbelievable for his size. He is 300 pounds. He is the best athlete I have ever been in the ring with. I mean, he is explosive, he is quick, he is fast, he’s strong as hell.”
“So we went and we went for about 15 minutes and the wrestlers tell you that I’d kicked his a**. I dominated him, but that’s not true. I beat him but I didn’t beat him. I took him down twice and he didn’t take me down at all. I mean it wasn’t like a dominating performance.” Kurt added.
When asked about their fight, Angle said that although the story goes that he beat Lesnar with ease, he did not, in fact, ‘beat’ him. Although Lesnar wasn’t dominant in their bout and failed to take down The Olympic Gold Medalist, Angle knew that he was, in fact, ‘the real deal’. He was extremely impressed by Lesnar and goes on to talk about how he was surprised that he wasn’t training for the Olympics.
Lesnar-Angle rivalry in early 2000s
Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle’s rivalry in the early 2000s is described as the ‘realest wrestling rivalry’ of all time. At the time, Lesnar was billed as ‘The Next Big Thing’, holding clean victories over The Rock, Hulk Hogan and several other WWE Legends.
Prior to their on-screen match, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar had a shoot wrestling match, which was won by The Olympic Gold Medalist. The rivalry between the two began on the road to WrestleMania 19, with Angle as the WWE Champion and Lesnar, who won the Royal Rumble 2003. They put on the greatest ‘pure wrestling’ main event in WrestleMania history, which saw Lesnar emerging victorious.
The two would cross paths again in the summer of 2003 when Angle returned from a neck surgery. They would go on to have a mini-series of matches, with Angle reclaiming the WWE title by defeating Big Show in a triple threat match before eventually besting Lesnar by submission at SummerSlam. Their iconic rivalry would come to an end on the September 18, 2003, edition of SmackDown, where Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle in a 60-minute Iron Man match.
To this day, Kurt Angle holds Brock Lesnar in high regard and described him as one of the best athletes he has ever been in the ring with. Their rivalry remains one of the greatest feuds in the world of professional wrestling.
