Kurt Angle Says WWE HOFer Thought He Was “As Assh*le” After 2002 Encounter

During the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the former Olympic Gold Medalist spoke about the passing of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall.

Last week, Hall passed away at the age of 63 due to complications during knee surgery and was taken off life support. Angle talked about Hall as a wrestler and why he was so talented in the ring.

"Scott was a great guy, I absolutely loved him, he was very talented," Angle said. "One of the most talented in-ring performers of all time. He had his demons but he was fighting through them. A really good guy and we're going to sorely miss him."

After battling WWE in WCW, the nWo came to WWE in 2002 and instantly made an impact. Speaking about the return of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hulk Hogan to WWE at that time, Angle revealed why he was so excited to get the chance to work with the trio.

"They were all legends, what they did in the business in the 80s and 90s was nothing short of incredible," Angle said. "I didn't follow wrestling when I was a kid and I knew who Hulk Hogan was, everybody knew. He was a household name so I wanted to wrestle Hulk Hogan. He's one of the guys that inspired, from my friends standpoint, Hulk Hogan was the man.

"When I finally wrestled him, they were going crazy, they couldn't believe I was wrestling Hulk Hogan when they were watching him in the 1980s thinking this is crazy. Wanting to wrestle Hulk Hogan was definitely on my list and Kevin and Scott. Scott was a great in-ring performer and Kevin too, Kevin had some issues but for the most part he was pretty damn good too."

Speaking of his experiences working with Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle re-lived a time Hogan showed up late to a live event at Madison Square Garden that involved him standing up to the wrestling legend. Angle also revealed that after his confrontation with Hogan that night, the two became good friends.

"This was the 2nd time I met him, we became really good friends after this which is crazy but I remember we were having a 6-man tag in Madison Square Garden and I was in there all day, we're doing a house show, main eventing," Angle explained. "Hulk Hogan doesn't come till seven at night, the show started at 7:30. Hulk Hogan comes in, we're sitting there having the match and he walks up and says 'what're we doing tonight?'

"I looked at him and I said 'you know what you're doing? You're doing this and this.' I told him what he was doing, I didn't give him a choice because he wasn't there all day, he didn't put the match together. I was like 'yanno, this guy, he thinks he can come in...' and it wasn't even because he was being an asshole. He was late because he had an obligation, I didn't know this. So I'm ripping on him and I'm telling him you're not doing anything, you're going to do what I tell you to do because we have a 6-man match and we have all the spots back to back where we need them and this is your area where you can shine.

"Do whatever you want in this area and that's what I said to him. He was like 'wow, this kid's an asshole' and eventually I became good friends with him. But he came across to me coming in late at 7 at night when you're supposed to be there at 1 in the afternoon and it was like 'hey, what're we going to do tonight? I have ideas,' and I was like 'no, you don't have ideas, we already put them together. You're going to do what I tell you to do.'

"You have to understand, I didn't watch professional wrestling when I was younger, I didn't know the respect you had to give wrestlers. Especially someone like Hulk Hogan, such a legend and an icon. Here I am, I'm disrespecting him because I thought he was disrespecting the business and I didn't know at the time and I did smarten up eventually."

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.