Kurt Angle Is Surpised By Stephanie McMahon Resigning, Recalls Being Managed By Paul Heyman

On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, Kurt Angle discussed the 2003 Royal Rumble pay per view and recent happenings in WWE. Some highlights are below.

On Stephanie McMahon resigning: “I’m surprised. I didn’t expect Stephanie to resign. I’m not sure if she did it because of her father, but she is a classy woman and she was a great employer. She reminded me a lot of Vince in many ways and I think that’s why he trusted the company with her, but I’m just really surprised that she resigned.”

On if there’s a different feeling being a three-time champion: “To be honest with you, I got those first two titles so quickly in my career that I wasn’t really as good as I was the third time I won. I think that experience took over and I was a lot better of a wrestler and overall performer and entertainer. So, my third title run was a little bit better than the other two because I was actually a better wrestler and a better entertainer. Other than that there was not much of a difference.”

On finding out he’d be paired with Paul Heyman: “You know what, I found out about a week before it was announced and what’s crazy was you know Paul came up with this idea and this was his idea having Team Angle and he wanted to manage Team Angle. I thought it was a great idea it’s not that I needed Paul to speak for me but he draws a lot of heat at this particular time. I was kind of a babyface, so you know having Paul on my side would draw a little bit more heat for me so you know the crazy thing is you know he was managing Brock and then he was managing Big Show and then all of a sudden he swings over to me. But, the company didn’t want to pause on that when Paul came up with the idea Vince was like ‘lets do it’. Lets do Team Angle right now. So, Paul had to adapt and go from Big Show to me.”

On if he’d rather have beaten Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2002: “You know what, the thing is I wanted to save Brock for WrestleMania. I knew that was going to be a big matchup. He was the big guy coming out of college a NCAA Champion. Kind of mirrored my career and I knew that this would be a very special match. So, I definitely loved the way they did it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.