WWE

Kurt Angle says he looked up to an AEW name more than anybody else.

Kurt Angle is widely considered one of the greatest technical wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle. Another name that often gets brought up as one of the great technical wrestlers is Dean Malenko.

Angle’s first full year on the WWE main roster was in 2000, which is the same year that Malenko made the jump to the promotion following a lengthy stint in WCW.

Despite not having many interactions outside of Malenko’s time as a producer in WWE, Angle has revealed that he looked up to the former multi-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion.

On a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the WWE Hall of Famer spoke highly of “The Man of 1,000 Holds.” Angle said:

“I looked up to Dean more than anybody else. Him being ‘The Man of 1,000 Holds,’ a technical wrestler — I got so excited when Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero were going to come to WWE because they were all great technical wrestlers.”

“That’s what I aspired to be. Knowing Dean was there, I knew I could learn a lot from him, and I did.”

Today, Dean Malenko works for All Elite Wrestling as a coach and producer. Meanwhile, Kurt Angle has spoken about how he wanted to be paid to work a 10-match agreement with AEW in the past.

Transcription via Fightful

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• Kurt Angle
• dean malenko
• AEW
• wwe

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