Kurt Angle On Why Drew McIntyre Defeated Him With The Ankle Lock

Kurt Angle and Drew McIntyre just missed each other during their first stints in WWE as Angle departed in 2006 and McIntyre joined in 2007. But they caught up the second time around as Angle's first match on Raw after returning in 2017 was against McIntyre.

Angle talked about McIntyre's WrestleMania win over Brock Lesnar in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

"We finally have somebody new in the main event, and that's Drew McIntyre," said Angle. "He is the breath of fresh air for WWE. Now you don't need to continuously keep going back to Roman, Cena, and Brock. Drew is the new guy, and he needs to excel this year."

Even though it took some time for the two to meet up in WWE, Angle and McIntyre did work together in TNA. McIntyre, as Drew Galloway, defeated Angle in one of his last TNA matches and since then Angle knew that he was a future star.

"I know Drew didn't do as well as he would have liked the first time he was in WWE, but I knew he was special when I saw him in TNA," stated Angle. "He looked great then, but he still didn't look the way he looks now?he worked his ass off, built his body up, and he looks fantastic. I knew if WWE got a hold of him, his career would take off."

As for their WWE match, Angle gave the rub to McIntyre by allowing him to use Angle's own finisher to make him tap.

"Vince McMahon came to me and said, 'We've got to make this kid. Just do what you have to do to make him,'" said Angle. "So I sat down with Drew and told him that he was going to use my ankle lock. You can't ask for a more dominating win than using someone else's finisher on them."