Despite an Instant Classic, WWE Legend Reveals Reason For Brutal Match With Brock Lesnar Becoming a Forgotten Encounter 20 Years Ago

Throughout his 21-year association with the WWE, Brock Lesnar has been part of several stellar rivalries with other superstars. Among those are the ones with Big Show, John Cena, and recently with Cody Rhodes. But in 2003, when Lesnar paraded around as ‘The Next Big Thing’ in Vince McMahon’s promotion, he was part of a storyline that needed him to feud with WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle. While they met many times inside the squared circle, Lesnar and Angle toe-to-toe thrice in singles matches. While fans and experts highly rate all three matches, one of them seems to have been noticed and discussed less than the other two.

Kurt Angle recently addressed the issue during the recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast.

Kurt Angle explains what plagues his SummerSlam 2003 encounter with Brock Lesnar

The SummerSlam 2003 match between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar was the second of their three bouts. They had jostled earlier that year at WrestleMania. While a second encounter took place at Vengeance, it also involved Big Show. So, their second singles match occurred at SummerSlam 2003. The third match, an Iron Man match on SmackDown, originally took place on 18th September of that year.

Angle said that nothing can compete with the prestige of WrestleMania matches. To make their bout even special, it was the main event that saw Angle putting his WWE Championship on the line. The Beast won the encounter and the belt. “I think WrestleMania will always be number one and don’t forget our third match was an Iron Man match,” he said.

“That was on SmackDown. That was a free match for all the people to watch. So, I think that’s the reason why SummerSlam is the least talked about” he said.

At SummerSlam 2003, Angle managed to retain his gold against Lesnar in a grueling encounter that lasted over 21 minutes. And despite Lesnar’s massive botch during the match, it mostly garnered positive reviews from fans and experts alike.

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But Angle wasn’t happy even after having a good match. He also revealed the qualm he had regarding the said bout.

SummerSlam 2003 was a hard pill to swallow, reckons Kurt Angle

The Olympic gold medalist didn’t hold back when he said that the encounter at America West Arena was a hard pill to swallow for him. He said it in response to his co-host’s comment that the Angle-Lesnar match failed to be the main event.

An Elimination Chamber match featuring Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H was given that honor. The Game defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against the others.

But Angle also said it was due to logistical reasons that the promotion made the choice. He and Lesnar already had the honor of main eventing the more prestigious WrestleMania 19.

That said, what’s your favorite match featuring Lesnar and Angle? Do you think their SummerSlam 2003 bout were better than the other two? Let us know in the comments.

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