Kurt Angle has spoken about a match with Chyna early in his WWE career that resulted in Vince McMahon berating him for punching the WWE Hall of Famer.
Speaking on the ‘The Kurt Angle Show‘ about his rookie year, the Olympic gold medallist praised Chyna, saying she was “actually very good in the ring”. He went on to explain that, while he enjoyed working with her, Vince McMahon didn’t like wrestlers punching the ‘Ninth Wonder of the World’ during matches. This was something he found out after he had covered a messed-up spot by doing just that.
“The issue I had when I was wrestling her is, you know, Vince didn’t want anybody to punch her. And we were wrestling. Even though it was a quick match, I kind of messed up on a spot. To fill the messed up spot, I started punching her in the face. I punched her about four times to cover up the spot, and then we continued on.”
Following the bout, Angle says McMahon was furious with him for using punches, telling him never to do it again.
“When I got backstage, Vince was like, ‘What the hell are you doing punching a woman?’ I said I didn’t know, you know, I messed up on a spot, and I had to cover it. He was like, ‘Don’t ever do that again. She is a woman.’ I said, ‘Then why is she wrestling the guys? I don’t understand that.’ He said, ‘Well, she is a woman; you have to protect her.’
The multi-time WWE Champion explained that he did protect Chyna in a later part of the match when he had to hit her with his title belt.
And I did, you know, when I hit her with the title, I didn’t want to mess up her face. I blocked it with my hand instead of hitting her with the title and just tried to protect her the whole time.”
Chyna had a historic career in WWE, being the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble and holding the Intercontinental Championship on two occasions. She tragically passed away in 2016 and was post-humously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
Credit to Sportskeeda for the transcription.