WWE history is full of many memorable characters and performers, but few had the in-ring abilities that Chris Benoit possessed. Sadly, his talent is no longer spoken about in WWE, because of the tragedy that surrounded his death. That won't stop Kurt Angle from remembering their time in the ring fondly.
Kurt Angle recently appeared on Chris Van Vliet's Insight podcast, where he discussed his complex feelings about Chris Benoit. Following the 2007 double murder-suicide involving Benoit, WWE has prohibited any mention of his name or legacy. Still, he made some memories with Angle in the squared circle.
Angle admitted to initially following WWE's directive. "I did it for a while. I did what I was told to do, was to pretend Benoit didn't exist," Angle stated. However, he soon realized the impact this had on his own career.
"But what that did for me is it took away all my best matches. It was rubbing on my legacy. So by saying that Chris Benoit no longer exists, is saying I never had those matches, and it's like, Whoa, I have my best matches with that guy, and he was an incredible wrestler."
Kurt Angle made it clear that he does not condone Chris Benoit's actions. This was made very clear by the WWE Hall of Famer as he continued speaking about The Crippler.
"I don't condone what he did. What he did was 100% wrong. It's unforgivable, but how he was in the ring. He was the best in-ring worker I've ever been in the ring with. He reminded me of me. I felt like I was wrestling my twin."
Kurt Angle attributed their chemistry to their shared intensity in the ring. He went on to say that he believes that the two had "the greatest wrestling match of all time" at the 2003 Royal Rumble.
"Chris, nobody more intense than him, except for me. We brought it, and we would stay on each other. We had incredible chemistry where we were able to do finished trade-offs and submission trade-offs like nobody else. I mean, nobody compared to us. We would go from the ankle lock to the crippling crossface, back to the ankle lock to the Angle slam. We had all these different spots in the match that really made it really, really good. I believe that Chris and I might have had the greatest wrestling match of all time at Royal Rumble 2003. That's how confident I feel about it. If no one's ever seen it, you got to watch the match. I mean, we barely threw any punches, a couple of kicks. It was all wrestling, and that's really difficult to do, especially today."
When discussing his greatest rivals, Kurt Angle mentioned Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar on top of the list. After all, the Olympic Gold Medalist had some hard-fought battles with both of them in the ring.
"Him and Brock Lesnar. I also love wrestling Shawn Michaels. We only wrestled three or four times. It wasn't like a big program, but Benoit and I, we went for years. It would be him and me, and then they would take a break from it, and then they go back to him and me and take a break. Then it'd be him and me tagging together when we'd be tagging and fighting each other while we were tagging. We just had a really strong program, and it went on for years. But Brock, our program went on for about two and a half, three years, and that was a good run."
Angle's comments might be a controversial take, considering the legacy surrounding Benoit. As you all know, over a three-day period in June 2007, Benoit murdered his wife Nancy and their son Daniel before taking his own life.
The tragedy led WWE to erase Chris Benoit from its history, despite his career achievements, including winning the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XX. That won't stop the memories he made from lasting, even the good ones.