Kurt Angle on Who Makes His Mount Rushmore of Wrestling, Why Brock Lesnar Is a Rare Individual

– The Sun recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. Angle discussed his picks for his own Mount Rushmore of wrestling and more. Below are some highlights.

Angle on Brock Lesnar: “Brock, is a tough dude in every aspect. He’s a man’s man and one of those guys who doesn’t like people. He likes to fish and hunt and to be left alone. There are very few people on this earth that are like Brock. He’s a very, very tough individual and he grew up that way. You see him in the ring how he dominates and in the UFC how he dominates, he’s a rare individual.”

Kurt Angle on how Brock Lesnar wouldn’t make his Mt. Rushmore of wrestling: “With Brock, in most cases they would pass him up. I think it’s because he’s not a guy—he’s a man of very few words. He goes in that ring and performs as good, if not better, than anyone in the world, but in sports entertainment you have got to have something behind that. So, if you are talking about Mount Rushmore then you are talking about the overall entertainment—how people get wowed and what they say to people, to the fans, and how they pertain themselves in their character.”

Angle on who makes his Mt. Rushmore: “A guy like Shawn Michaels would be on the Mount Rushmore, Ric Flair would be on Mount Rushmore. I don’t see Brock as an overall athlete that would be up there. But don’t get me wrong, what he does in the ring, no-one does better.”

Angle on who else would make the list: “‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and The Rock. I would never put myself up there, it’s just not who I am. I imagine some people do, but when I think about Mount Rushmore, I don’t think of myself.”

His thoughts on Steve Austin and The Rock: “I can’t give impressions, I wish I could, but my two are Stone Cold and The Rock. They are my two biggest influences and to hear their catchphrases, ‘That’s the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so’ and ‘If you can smell what The Rock is cooking’ – those guys are what drew me to the business in 1998. I didn’t watch wrestling as a kid so I just started in 1998 watching Raw and I specifically watched Stone Cold and what he did and how he did it. Him and Dwayne, The Rock, were my influences when I joined and why I wanted to be with the company and a professional wrestler and sport entertainer. Those guys were the best of the best and I learned from them.”