Kurt Angle Recalls Backstage Fight Between Booker T And Batista

On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show Podcast, the Olympic Gold Medalist spoke about the famous backstage fight between Batista and Booker T in 2006. Angle said the confrontation started when Batista loudly spoke with a RAW talent about the lack of SmackDown talent and asked the superstar to come face him on the blue brand. This upset Booker, which led to the fight.

"I was there after the fight ended," Angle said. "I heard what occurred, Batista got there for a commercial shoot, I think it was for SummerSlam, and someone approached him and Batista said 'Hey, when are you coming over to SmackDown because I have nobody to work with.' Booker took that as wait a minute, I'm on SmackDown? There's a lot of people to work with. I think Batista was just saying, because there were a lot of injuries going on and it was getting a little bare at the top and he was just trying to tell the person I'd love you to come over and work a program with you.

"I don't think it was anything personal against Booker T or anyone else on SmackDown. Batista said it and Booker confronted him and now the situation got hotter. Now Booker confronts Batista, makes Batista look like an idiot, Batista confronts Booker and now they end in a fight competition. The fight occurred, I got there afterward, I saw Booker T had a black eye and Batista was a little banged up and I just thought it was a big misunderstanding. I know they apologized afterward and made up and did whatever they had to do to move on, they just misunderstood each other about the whole situation. It was a shame, it didn't have to happen."

Angle continued to talk about the mid-2000s and how it was the time when WWE revived ECW and decided that Angle would be the top star on the brand.

"Vince approached me before anyone else," Angle said. "He came to me and said 'Hey, I'm going to start a new promotion and I want you to be the face of it. But you're going to make less money and work in smaller arenas.' I said 'Why the hell would I want to do that Vince?' He said 'Don't worry, I'll take care of you on the pay per views,' and Vince did. Whether it be WWE, WCW or ECW, as long as Vince owns it and he's running it, I'm going to do it because Vince has never done me wrong. I didn't think he would do me wrong in this situation either."

Angle left the WWE later that year, citing injury issues as the main reason. The former Olympian spoke about a time on SmackDown he took his anger out on Randy Orton by slapping him in the face as hard as he could.

"I was in a really bad time in my life," Angle said. "The injuries were piling up, the painkiller issue was not getting better. I was acting erratic with Vince McMahon and we weren't getting along very well. This was angry Kurt Angle lashing out. I meant no disrespect to Randy but this was Kurt Angle making a statement to Vince McMahon directly. That was the beginning of the end for me, that's when I pretty much decided I was going to quit. Right when I started ECW, a couple months later, it was right around that time."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.