Baron Corbin discusses his favorite thing about retiring Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 35.
When Kurt Angle revealed that he was going to be choosing his opponent to face him in his final match ever at WrestleMania 35, almost everyone in the wrestling world wanted him to face John Cena. Kurt had John Cena’s first match on WWE television in 2002 and many wrestling fans felt it would be apropos for John to be the one to retire Kurt.
However, Kurt Angle stepped out in front of a live Chicago audience on a Monday Night Raw in 2019 to reveal that he would face Baron Corbin. The people were not happy.
Now, Happy Corbin is reliving the road to that Year's WrestleMania and tells Ryan Satin, on the most recent Out of Character podcast that his favorite thing about retiring Kurt Angle that evening was Kurt Angle's child giving him the finger after he defeated their father.
"Kurt Angle at WrestleMania because in his kid gave me the finger," said Corbin. "I mean, amazing. Like the dirty look from his kid when I beat him in the middle of that ring. Also the outpouring boos of 80,000 people in Orlando, I'll never forget. So that was my favorite one. That's a monumental thing for a career, to not only step in the ring with Kurt Angle, a Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalists, one of the most entertaining guys in the entire world, one of the guys that came in and just got it. He is a savant for what we do and he still has this amazing mind for what we do."
Baron further stated the impact that Kurt Angle had on him backstage and beyond, calling Kurt a pro wrestling savant. It was also not lost on Baron Corbin how special it was to have a marquee singles match at WrestleMania, something that not every superstar gets.
"A guy that I really look up to now and before that, but just being at a table and catering and sitting and chatting with him and him telling you stories or whatever it is like he is a special person, and to go into WrestleMania when everyone in the world wanted him to face John Cena, not Baron Corbin — and in Chicago when he announced that, the guttural boos warmed my heart because it's like, I know I'm irritating. Just doing that in the match and like, just hearing it like — so to share a ring with him was special, especially at WrestleMania in a singles match where guys fight their whole career — you get two or three single matches unless you're Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar, maybe Seth Rollins, you get one or two or three of those in a career, special one on one matches at 'Mania. That was one and the fact that he went out there and did that for me, I'll always be grateful. So that was a special one to do."
In the past, Baron Corbin has talked about nobody ever has kicked out of his finishing move and how The Undertaker taught him the importance of protecting your character as a big man in wrestling. Learn more here.
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