How Chris Benoit ALMOST Replaced Kurt Angle At WrestleMania XIX
Vince McMahon wanted Benoit to replace Angle against Brock Lesnar at 'Mania 19, but Kurt intervened.
Thursday brought the first official episode of The Kurt Angle Show, a new podcast with the Olympic gold medal winner and pro wrestling super-host Conrad Thompson, which dropped in tandem with the podcast's announcement.
The big debut saw Angle and Thompson touch on all kinds of topics relating to the former's wrestling career. Among Kurt's most notable comments were those on his WrestleMania XIX match with Brock Lesnar, as the Olympian spoke on Vince McMahon wanting to replace him with Chris Benoit, despite Angle's protestations.
The 52-year-old revealed that a doctor told him he needed neck surgery after returning from a trip to South Africa, leading to Angle informing McMahon he'd need to miss WrestleMania. After talking to the writers, Vince pitched Kurt dropping the WWE Title to Lesnar on a SmackDown ahead of 'Mania, leading to Brock defending against Benoit at 'The Show of Shows.'
Angle confessed that Benoit taking his place "bothered him." Then the following happened (h/t WrestlingNews.co for the transcription):-
"The next day I went to my neighbor’s house and there’s a really good kid named Johnny. He has Down’s Syndrome. Great kid, really nice and friendly and a big wrestling fan. He said, ‘Kurt, I’m so sad you’re not going to be wrestling against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.’ I said, ‘Yea, it’s pretty upsetting Johnny.’ He said, ‘I wish you would.’ It stuck with me so I thought I’m going to call Vince and choose to have surgery after WrestleMania and see if he goes for it. I called Vince and I said, ‘Why don’t we have the match at WrestleMania and I will have the surgery, but I will wait and put it off. I know my arm is atrophying but another couple weeks isn’t going to hurt, so let’s have the match.'"
McMahon disagreed initially. He said that the Lesnar match was already advertised for SmackDown and that Kurt would need approval from his doctor, but Angle was able to twist his arm:-
"I said, ‘We are going to have to change that Vince.’ He said, ‘You’re going to have to have the match.’ I said, ‘What can we do so I can retain the title and move on to WrestleMania without it affecting the SmackDown match?’ He said, ‘Let me call you back.’ He always says that when he’s trying to come up with ideas. I waited a couple hours and he called me back. He said, ‘We have an idea. We’re going to use your brother Eric. He looks just like you. We’re going to dress him up just like you. Put the Team Angle hood on him and we’re going to pull a switcheroo on Brock on SmackDown the week before WrestleMania."
So the WrestleMania XIX match went ahead, with Lesnar defeating Kurt for the gold in the night's main event, having flattened Eric on SmackDown instead. Two weeks later, Angle went under the knife for neck surgery.