Kurt Angle Talks about Chris Benoit, Paul Heyman, Why he left WWE and more

Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle spoke to WrestleTalk TV recently. You can see highlights below, and the full first part of the interview above.

* Angle said that nobody tried to stretch him, threaten him or pull a rib on him. He says that his background let to him being treated as a peer by big stars like Steve Austin and Undertaker.

* He thinks Vince McMahon saw much more in him than he saw in himself. He said that Vince McMahon took care of him and did everything he could to protect him.

* Angle saw a lot of guys who had to work around a lot of things because of their size, and that Paul Heyman was an advocate of guys like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero.

* Kurt Angle never had anything against Paul Heyman personally, but thought it was disrespectful to have him on the show with the infamous crucifixion angle.

* Paul Heyman wanted to build WWE’s ECW around him, but he doesn’t know why. He said he wasn’t sure why he was in WWE at that point, and it had a little bit to do with him leaving.

* Angle said that Eddie Guerrero was shot by the time he wrestled him because of the damage he’d done to himself in car accidents and wrestling.

* He liked Chris Benoit, but he was very hard to get close to. He thinks his match with Benoit at Royal Rumble and Michaels at WrestleMania are as good as it gets.

* He thinks that people would be talking about Benoit as the best ever if things didn’t end up the way they did.