Kurt Angle Says Vince McMahon Let Him & Shawn Michaels Decide Who Would Win Their WrestleMania 21 Match

On the latest episode of the Kurt Angle Show, the WWE Hall of Famer talked about working with Shawn Michaels at WWE WrestleMania 21 in 2005. Angle went over the match after Michaels offered to do the job because he knew Angle was about to feud with John Cena. Vince McMahon let them decide who would go over in the bout.

On being willing to do the job: “Alright, listen, there’s no doubt in my mind that if Shawn was going to lose at WrestleMania, to me, I’m going to have to pay it back. There’s no doubt about it. Yes, it’s how it works. And I don’t blame him. I was willing to do that because he did me a huge favor.”

On Vince allowing them to decide: “Actually, Vince didn’t have a winner for WrestleMania. He had us working out between ourselves and Shawn said, ‘Listen, I’ll put you over because,’ I know this is what he said, and I totally forgot this. He said, ‘You know what? You’re going to end up doing a program with Cena afterward. And what you need is a good win right now.’ So that is why I knew that I was going to work with Cena even though I didn’t. I thought it was going to work. Yeah, there, Shawn. Because Shawn told me, ‘You should get the win right here because you’re going to be paired up against John Cena after this.’ He wasn’t political. He just said, ‘Hey, I’ll do the job.’ And he even said I’ll tap out to you. And I was like, ‘Great.’

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