The Kurt Angle Show - Angle Family Christmas 12.25.00 RAW [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Kurt you’re coming off a hell of a run up until this point. You’re the WWF World Champion. At Armageddon you defended the title in a 6-way Hell in a Cell match which I’m sure we’ll discuss at some point. Just two weeks ago on Raw you teamed with Edge & Christian and lost to the Rock & Dudley Boyz in a tables match. How important as the Champion was it for you to keep your alliance with Edge & Christian going?

You open the show with Stephanie doing a 15 minute promo. From the Observer: “It opened with Stephanie doing the 15:00 opening segment. She said she baked her mom a fruitcake since that symbolized what she is, for Christmas. Edge & Christian & Angle were brought out. Angle brought out various members of his family, a cousin and several brothers, claiming there were 14 All-American honors, 11 national titles and 16 state titles between them, including older brother Eric, who should be starting soon in OVW. They sang "Winder Wonderland" badly before Jericho interrupted and challenged Angle for the title. Stephanie turned down the request being that he had insulted her and said instead he could have a six-man tag, and Jericho chose Dudleys as his partners.”

How does this come to be Kurt? Who’s idea was it and when did you know Eric needed to be there?

Who were all the family members? Were any actually family members besides Eric or the rest local wrestlers put into the role?

Do you think these promos tended to be real long?

The week before on Raw you took on Vince McMahon one-on-one in the middle of the ring as he likes to say. What’s it like wrestling the boss especially this early in your career?

That match ends when Mick Foley interferes and attacks you both but you & Vince double team him until Stephanie comes out and declares Linda mentally unstable and Vince was being reinstalled as CEO. So Vince fires Mick. Did you have issues keeping up with some of the creative back then like we do looking back at it now?

This show is taped from Chattagnooga, Tennessee on the 22nd so everyone can be off for Christmas. Is that a welcome stop from the road?

What are the differences between a taped Raw and a live Raw? Is it a less stressful day backstage going over angles, gimmicks, matches, etc?

“Hardys beat Benoit & Malenko. Matt told Lita to stay in the back but she came out anyway. Good match, with Lita giving Malenko a low blow and Matt pinning him with a legdrop off the top. After the match, Dean put Jeff in the cloverleaf while Benoit put Lita in the crossface. They sold the crossface good, like Lita had been injured. Matt was mad at Lita for coming out even though she was hurt and Matt and Benoit ended up brawling backstage.”

Do you have any fun stories of working with any of the Hardys, Benoit or Malenko?

With Jeff’s recent release from the WWE do you have any advice or words of encouragement for Jeff?

“Debra said she missed Mick Foley and that her job wasn't fun anymore. They pretended Vince wasn't there because he was helping at a soup kitchen in Greenwich, CT (with them making the point that there isn't a homeless problem in Greenwich) but on the phone with Stephanie, we could hear that Vince was actually with Stratus and then hung up on Stephanie when we could hear her voice.”

Were there moments when you thought you were on the McMahon variety show with all the McMahon angles between Vince, Stephanie, Linda & Shane?

It is pretty funny the segment with Vince being at a soup kitchen. But sometimes is there too much comedy on these shows?

From the Observer and it tickled me when I read it Kurt: “You can always tell what role Stephanie is going to play by her hair. The more the curl, the more of a strong heel role. When it's blow-dried straight, she's a sympathetic babyface. On the Christmas night Raw, for example, it was straight with a little bit of curl, for her heel spots, but straighter than usual since she was the babyface in a sense in the storyline of her father being with Stratus”

How much thought do you think Stephanie had when it came to her hair or is this Meltzer over analyzing things?

“In a three-way for the hardcore title, Blackman retained over Raven and Hardcore Holly by suplexing and pinning Holly outside in nine degree weather on a car. Can you imagine going outside with no shirt in nine degree weather? When Blackman came back in, Raven hit him with a 2x4 and pinned him to get the title. They brought up the 24-7 rule being in effect but that it hasn't been used because nobody had the guts to attack Blackman outside of a wrestling ring. Well, at least they tried to make it logical.”

You worked with Steve Blackman early in your career. What was Blackman like and did you learn a lot from him?

Any fun memories of working with Raven or Bob Holly?

Did you ever have to do any segments in super cold weather in just wrestling tights?

What did you think of the 24/7 gimmick for the Hardcore title? Did the title matter enough for it to be a thing anyway?

Kurt this was written up in the Observer at the time: “Angle will be inducted into the U.S. Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, OK in June. Angle joins a very select group of pro wrestling major stars in the Amateur Hall, consisting of Danny Hodge, Dick Hutton and Earl McCready as well as lesser known pro wrestlers from the 20s and 30s like Pete Mehringer, Bobby Pearce, Robin Reed, Jack Van Bebber and Russel Vis. To show how select the group of wrestlers involved in the Hall of Fame are, even amateur greats that went into pro wrestling like Verne Gagne, Leroy McGuirk, Wayne Martin, Dale Lewis, Joe Scarpello and Jack Brisco aren't inducted.”

How big a deal is it to be inducted into this Hall of Fame?

How did you find out about it?

Was the WWF excited about it? Did Gerald Brisco and Jim Ross talk to you about how big a deal this is?

“Regal did an interview talking about belching and farting before the Austin vs. Kane match. Austin was a little slower but it was a decent brawl before Regal interfered for the DQ. Austin cleaned house on both men with chair shots.”

These two are two of the best to ever do it. Did Kane have limitations due to the gimmick or do you think it helped?

Kurt tell us a Stone Cold Steve Austin story we haven’t heard yet on the podcast. In or out of the ring.

“Kat came out and gave Ross a Christmas present of a WWF Divas video and then undid her robe, showing very skimpy negligee to Lawler. Angle was backstage with his brothers saying that cousin Jimmy ruined the singing according to "mom" and that he was the best singer in the group.”

First off cousin Jimmy should be fired immediately! But the balance of going from Kat taking off her robe to the wholesale Angle family in the back is a lot of what made the WWF great is it not?

I want to bring this up to you at this point and point out something Dave Meltzer wrote in the Observer regarding you:

“Kurt Angle - Angle finished an incredible year as the WWF champion and arguably the most improved performer both in and out of the ring in the industry. It was only November of 1999 when Angle debuted on WWF television, playing the geeky 70s babyface role that is more of a heel today, with his only wrestling experience in Memphis where he was a strong rookie in the ring, but they actually often gave him a manager (Brandon Baxter) to do his interviews, which were considered a weakness. One year later, he's considered one of the top talkers in the game. He's already better in the ring than most of the WWF wrestlers, and if he improves at anywhere near the level in 2001, will be a challenger for the top in-ring performer in the business. Angle won almost every title in the WWF during the year as well as King of the Ring, although that was a disappointing show. He had many great matches, mainly with Rock and Chris Jericho. There are stronger candidates this year, but if one is to look into a crystal ball one year from now, barring injury, he may be the favorite for next year, since injuries may catch up with HHH and Rock will be taking time off for film work.”

Now that’s the write-up for his list of candidates for wrestler of the year in 2000 and you are at the top of the list as an American wrestler. Did you think you were the best wrestler of the year in your mind?

When you were looking into the crystal ball for your future did you see yourself continuing to grow and getting better for the next year? If there was one weakness in your game at the end of 2000…what was it?

Was there a focus on how to improve in 2001 and continue on your path of success?

Were you starting to become a vocal guy in the locker room considering you were the World Champion?

Did you see an increase in pay when you became world champion and is it hard to not want that money on a constant, consistent basis?

“Too Cool beat T&A. Match had little heat except for the worm on Albert. Grandmaster Sexay pinned Test after Stephanie distracted him. After the match, Albert told Stephanie if she needs anything, come to him.”

God bless Test and Brian Christopher not being with us anymore. We don’t talk about them a lot Kurt - do you have any stories on them?

Scott Taylor recently left the WWE performance center to continue to wrestle again. How good is Scott?

“E&C & Angle beat Jericho & Dudleys. Finish saw Dudleys put Eric Angle through a table and E&C and Dudleys brawled on a ramp. Jericho went for the lionsault on Angle, who got his knees up, and scored a clean pin on Jericho with the Olympic slam. At least they are making an attempt to portray Angle as a strong champ going into some PPV main events. The Angles held Jericho and Kurt attacked him till Dudleys made the save.”

How was your brother before and after the match? How were the guys going over it with Eric? Everyone cool?

Were you worried about putting Eric in that position? Was this a test of Eric?

Did you see an effort to give you more wins and stronger wins at this point now that you’re champion?

“Buchanan did an interview ripping on the internet to set up Buchanan & Goodfather over Acolytes when Buchanan pinned Bradshaw after Venis gave him a DDT and Buchanan gave him an ax kick in a short match with little heat.”

Did you ever work with Bull Buchanan and have any stories of him?

Did you like the RTC gimmick and think it was a good one?

Any good Acolytes stories of Faarooq & Bradshaw?

“They did a taped Chyna interview, claiming she had three ruptured discs and her career was over. This is to build sympathy for a big marketing push for her in mid-January with her book coming out. I just pray when they bring her back, they don't start having her wrestling men again.”

What did you think of Chyna as a wrestler and then a person? We’ve heard all different stories about Chyna but what are your memories of her?

“Rock did an interview singing "Santa Claus is coming to town," but using himself as Santa. Main saw Rock over Undertaker via DQ. Not much heat for the match until the near falls. Taker's selling was really bad. He did a choke slam on Rock but Rikishi was out so no pin. Rock then went for the people's elbow, but Rikishi pulled down the ropes and Rock tumbled over and the show ended up Rikishi laying both men out”

Was Taker hurting real bad at this point?

What did you think of Rikishi as a heel? Did he have the steam and juice to be a top level heel?

Do you think it was a mistake to put him as the driver that hit Steve Austin with the car? Were you expecting to be the driver from that godforsaken angle?

Rock is Rock and he’s great … but you’re the World Champion … did you feel any certain way not being in the main event?