Kurt Angle recently admitted that he was terrified before a match with another Hall of Famer. It’s true, it’s damn true!
More than 20 years later, SummerSlam 2002 is still regarded as one of the best iterations of the event. With Shawn Michaels making his return to the ring for the first time in over 4 years and Brock Lesnar defeating The Rock to become the new WWE Champion, the match was not short on big moments.
Opening the show was Angle vs. Rey Mysterio in what was Mysterio’s pay-per-view debut for the company. Although the match only lasted just over 9 minutes it is regarded as one of the best opening matches in WWE history and one of the best matches under the 10-minute mark. Although Angle picked up the victory and put in another stellar performance, he was not confident that it would go as intended.
Appearing alongside Mysterio to watch back their match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in 2006 on WWE’s YouTube channel, Angle revealed that he had never faced a luchador before and was inexperienced with the style:
“Rey, I was scared to death when you and I first wrestled at SummerSlam 2001, I believe, 2002. I was scared to death because I never wrestled a Lucha wrestler before,”
Kurt Angle Discusses John Cena’s Retirement
Also in 2002, Angle was famously John Cena’s first opponent after the future Hollywood star answered the Olympic Gold Medalist’s open challenge on SmackDown. While fans didn’t know it at the time, Cena would go on to win 16 World Championships, have a 20-plus-year career in WWE and become one of the biggest stars in the modern era. In a previous interview, Kurt Angle gave his thoughts on who John Cena’s final opponent should be on the retirement tour.
H/t to Sportskeeda.