WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has credited Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for being a “really giving” and generous performer who was instrumental in helping to establish him as a main event star in the early days of his career. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, the Olympic Gold Medalist reflected on his rapid rise in WWE and the role that established stars like The Rock played in his success.
He explained that despite his own decorated amateur wrestling background, he never came into the company with an ego and always viewed the top stars as being on a higher level, but The Rock immediately treated him as an equal.
“Rock and I had such a blast. I don’t have any stories, but the cool thing about him is he was really giving. I was an Olympic Gold medallist. It wasn’t like I was a nobody coming into WWE,” Angle said. “But when you go in there and you go in there with an ego, you’re going to get in trouble very quickly. So I never had that ego. I always felt that these stars that I was going to wrestle like the Rock and Stone Cold, I put them at a higher level above me.” Angle continued, “But Dwayne always brought me up to that level and said, ‘Hey, you’re with us, you’re up here with us, you’re not down there with the rest.’ So, he was always very generous with the way he wrestled.”
Angle specifically pointed to his first WWE Championship victory as a prime example of The Rock’s generosity. In a main event match at the No Mercy pay-per-view in 2000, just a year into his professional career, Angle defeated The Rock to capture the title. “He allowed….he was my first world championship match where I won the world championship. He didn’t have to say yes, but he did. So I’m just very grateful. I think the Rock has done so much for my career,” he stated.
The feud between Kurt Angle and The Rock was one of the defining rivalries of the Attitude Era.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit SI with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
