Though they never contested a singles outing together in WWE, Bobby Lashley and Kurt Angle were no stranger to one another in IMPACT Wrestling. In total, they were on opposite sides of the ring on five occasions, one of which came by way of a tag team match and another in a three-way collision. This was in addition to tagging together three times.
One of those singles bouts was for the World Championship, contested on January 31, 2015 for the March 20 broadcast. Kurt Angle ultimately lifted his sixth IMPACT World Championship that night in what marked the last title win of his illustrious career.
Kurt Angle Considered Retirement Before Bobby Lashley Match
Kurt Angle has previously made it known that he’d considered retiring from the ring before his bout vs. Bobby Lashley. Injuries had led him to that thought process but after the acclaim earned from the bout, the Olympic gold medalist gained the confidence to roll on.
Lashley addressed these comments during a recent interview with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri. Explaining how he greatly respects Kurt Angle, the two-time WWE Champion noted that Angle was responsible for first helping him get into wrestling:
“Damn, that is awesome, and a huge compliment. Kurt was the one that kind of opened the doors and got me into professional wrestling from the beginning. So I’ve always had a huge amount of respect and admiration for Kurt. So the fact that he said that, it really is a huge deal for me.
But at the same time, it’s Kurt Angle, man. I believe he’s one of the best in this business, and the fact that I was able to give him that mindset, to be able to train and wanna keep going, that is a huge compliment and a huge blessing and a huge amount of respect to me.”
Bobby Lashley was also part of Kurt Angle’s final match in IMPACT Wrestling, taped a year to the day of their World Championship epic. The bout, won by Lashley, aired on IMPACT’s March 8, 2016 broadcast.