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Kurt Angle on His ‘7-Hour Wrestling Feud’ With Vince McMahon During an Airplane Trip, How Brock Lesnar Is ‘One of the Greatest’ Ever

March 7, 2020 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Vince McMahon WWE Image Credit: WWE

Inside The Ropes recently spoke to WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, who discussed Brock Lesnar, his relationship with Vince McMahon, and more. During the interview, Angle discussed how he and Vince McMahon had a “wrestling feud” during a long plane ride, where McMahon constantly tried to sneak up on Angle and take him down on the plane. Matt Hardy recounted some of this story on an episode of WWE Story Time in 2018. Below are some highlights of Angle recounting the story.

Kurt Angle on Brock Lesnar: “You know, Brock is different. He’s a different breed. The reason — there are a lot of things about Brock that nobody knows, but one thing is he’s very private. It’s kind of odd that he got into a business that requires him to be attentive to fans and open himself up, but Brock never does. He’s never really told his story, or you know — he’s one of these guys that would prefer to pay for a private plane, so he doesn’t have to see people at the airport. Brock is a different breed, but what he does in that ring, nobody can match. I mean, he’s been doing it for 19 years, and he’s as good now as he’s ever been. So, he’s private, and as much as he doesn’t like people, Brock is one of the greatest, and he will continue to be until he decides to retire.”

Angle on a “wrestling” feud he had with McMahon on an airplane: “I’ve had a lot of stories with Vince, but I remember when he wanted to wrestle me on an airplane, and we had a 7 hour wrestling feud that just kept going on and on. He would jump on me and we’d wrestle, and I’d get him to the ground and he’d say, ‘Okay, okay let me up,’ and he’d go back and sit down and then 10 minutes later he’d jump on me again. It was a long plane ride, and it was just Vince drinking wine and wrestling me. And I’ll never forget. at one point, the flight attendant came back and said, ‘Listen, if you guys don’t stop, he’s going to ground this plane, and you guys are going to get kicked off.’ And Vince said to the flight attendant, ‘Tell the pilot to go f himself. I’ll buy the f-ing plane.’ You know, that’s just Vince. He likes to have fun, and he likes to be challenged at every aspect of his life. He’s not just a very responsible owner of one of the biggest companies in the world, he’s a big kid. He likes to have fun, and he likes competition.”

Angle on how Vince tried to get people to get Angle to go to the back of the plane so he could surprise him: “He recruited a lot of people. I remember Terri Runnels came up to me and said ‘Hey, I have something personal to ask you could you meet me in the back?’ And I was like, ‘Well, this is weird. Why would she want me to meet her in the back?’ So, I get up to go to the back, and Vince jumps up from the seats and jumps on me and we start wrestling again. It was non-ending. And the funning thing is, I remember when we were landing the plane, right when we touched ground, Chris Jericho was sitting behind me and said, ‘Kurt look in the aisle.’ And I looked in the aisle, and Vince was army crawling to jump on me again. He wasn’t going to quit until this plane was landed and we got off it. It was a long trip, I didn’t get any sleep, and Vince had the time of his life.”

Angle on how Vince could never take him down: “He never took me down, no. If he claims he does, he’s lying. I don’t think he would do that, but Vince — I will tell you this, Vince is a very tough son of a gun. He likes to be challenged. He’s one of those guys who would go up to Mike Tyson and say, ‘Punch me as hard as you can’ because he wants to feel it. He wants to know what it feels like to be hit by Mike Tyson. He’s that kind of individual. He wants to experience the best. Vince is a rare breed.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Inside The Ropes, with a h/t to 411mania.com fro the transcription.