Kurt Angle may be a Hall of Famer for WWE, but the Olympic Hero put on some dominant performances during his run in TNA.
Angle held a ton of TNA gold in those days, including the prestigious X-Division championship that put the promotion on the pro-wrestling map. During the latest edition of the Kurt Angle Show he revealed that he once changed the finish to an X-Division title match without telling anyone.
The match in question was his 2007 showdown with Jay Lethal at that year’s Victory Road pay-per-view. Angle, who dropped the title to Lethal on that night, says that was not the matchup’s original finish.
“The crazy thing about that match is Jay Lethal wasn’t supposed to beat me. He got some heat for that match. Now understand at this particular time they wanted me to hold all the titles. So I was TNA World Heavyweight Champion, I was IWGP Champion, I was TNA Tag Team Champion, I was X Division Champion. They wanted all the gold around me.”
The master of the ankle-lock later explains that his thought process was to give back to the young hungry talent that TNA had at the time. Unfortunately, Lethal would lose the championship shortly afterwards due to management being upset.
“I felt like, ‘You know what, I want to give back to these guys.’ I thought, ‘You know what, why not put Jay Lethal over in the X Division.’ I thought it was a great idea. Of course, we got a little heat for it and Jay Lethal didn’t hold that title very long afterward.”
Angle adds that he had pulled Lethal aside before the match started to change the finish, with both men agreeing not to tell anyone.
“Beforehand I pulled him aside and I said, ‘Let’s just not say anything. Don’t tell anyone, let’s just put you over.’ That’s what I did and I wasn’t supposed to.”
Angle’s instincts may have been right as Lethal became a prominent figure in the industry following his TNA run. He was the longest reigning ROH Television champion of all time, won the ROH world championship, and is now competing for AEW, where he’s engaged in a feud with another TNA alumni, Samoa Joe.
(Quotes via Fightful)
