Kurt Angle did all he could to be inserted into the WrestleMania 18 main event.
During the summer and autumn of 2000, Angle was involved in the love triangle storyline with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, with the Olympic Gold Medalist attempting to steal away The Billion Dollar Princess from The Game. Although the rivalry would culminate at the Unforgiven 2000 pay-per-view, Angle hoped that he could it as a reference point when WrestleMania 18 came around in 2002.
Triple H won the 2002 Royal Rumble after returning from a potential career-ending quad tear on Raw back in May 2001 and was set to face Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania 18. However, Angle had other ideas and pitched those to Vince McMahon.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, Angle revealed that he tried to play off his previous history with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to Vince. However, his request was declined:
You know what I tried to do? I called Vince two weeks before WrestleMania. I’m like, Hey, Stephanie was my manager and we had a little romance going and now she’s with Jericho. I think you should throw me in the world title match with him and Triple H and make it a triple threat. He said he’ll think about it [laughs] You know what? I don’t blame him. Probably Hunter said, no, no, I just want to focus on Chris, which is fine with me. I thought you know, that’s the way that we’re supposed to go anyway. But I got shut down.
Although Chris Jericho vs. Triple H did go on last at WrestleMania 18, many feel that the correct choice for the main event of that show was the Icon vs. Icon clash between The Rock and Hulk Hogan. While Angle would not main event the Toronto WrestleMania, the Hall of Famer would go on last one year later, losing the WWE championship to Brock Lesnar.
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