“We Were Working Uphill” – Kurt Angle Reveals Why His Match Against Chris Benoit Didn’t Meet the Mark

Sometimes, Superstars put up a great fight, but it just doesn’t click with the audience. This can happen with the best of the lot, and Kurt Angle has been a victim of the same.

He spoke to Conrad Thompson about his match against Chris Benoit at Backlash 2001. While they dominated the pay-per-view with their match, the fans didn’t seem to enjoy it as much.

“For Chris and I, it wasn’t so hot. There’s a reason for that. Umm, we didn’t have a scoreboard, a clock. You know, the amount of submissions Chris and I got on each other. So, it was really hard to follow our match without a timer with the amount of submissions we had on each other.”

Kurt Angle believes they followed a proper strategy

Coming to the strategy they followed for the match, Kurt Angle believes they were on the right track. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for them.

“It just, we were working uphill the whole time to make it a success and we had the right psychology with a submission only match, with the babyface going down with a couple of submissions, he’s trialing. That’s how you get the fans emotionally involved in the match. They’re gonna cheer the babyface on to make his comeback, try to surpass the heel. So, we did everything right.. we had an incredible match.

“It wasn’t our best match but it was pretty strong. I just think that, you know, people did enjoy it. They just weren’t as vocal and you know, when you look at the pay per view, it’s not a good rating with the thumbs up and thumbs down, especially the thumbs in the middle.”

The match ended with Chris Benoit defeating Kurt Angle in an overtime sudden death.

The Hall of Famer might make a return to WWE

Angle hasn’t been a part of WWE for a while now. The company approached him for a comeback in various capacities, but he refused.

However, Kurt Angle revealed that WWE and he are talking about his return. He did not reveal in what capacity he was coming back.

Read More: Kurt Angle Teases WWE Return in an Exciting New Role

As of now, neither he nor the company has made any further announcements about the same.