Kurt Angle Has Mixed Feelings On Highly Acclaimed WWE Match

At WWE King of the Ring 2001, Kurt Angle had a hard-hitting Steet Fight against Shane McMahon, featuring an iconic moment that saw Angle hit McMahon with a German Suplex through glass multiple times, before performing an Angle Slam on him from the top rope to win the match.

While fans still compliment the brutal match, to Angle, it's a bittersweet memory. "That was the greatest and worst match I've ever been a part of," he said during an appearance on the WWE Vault. Angle noted how, at the time, he was the reigning King of the Ring champion, suggesting he knew he had to upstage his previous win. "It was the ugliest, most brutal match I've ever been in... I remember I hurt my tailbone very badly, and that was a lot of the reason why he wasn't going through that glass! I couldn't really pop my hips when I was suplexing him."

Angle then vividly recalled how loud it was when McMahon hit the glass, adding that he still remembers how the whole crowd collectively gasped when they heard the loud dud. "The crazy thing is, Shane was fine!" he recalled, however, adding that McMahon ended up getting busted open, which was never a part of the plan. "We really laid our bodies on the line; we both ended up in the hospital."

In the past, Angle opened up more about the tailbone injury he experienced that night, claiming it was unlike anything he had felt before. Even with the pain, he resolved to finish the match, but still describes the pain on at a scale of 10 or 11 out of 10.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the "WWE Vault" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.