Kurt Angle Reveals Story Of Tapping Out Hulk Hogan In WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has told the story of becoming the first person to tap out Hulk Hogan in WWE.

In 2002, Kurt Angle faced off against Hulk Hogan on an episode of WWE Raw, which had a rather notable finish that saw the Olympic Gold Medalist submit Hogan with the Ankle Lock.

The finish marked the first time that Hogan tapped out in his WWE career, and Kurt has now told the story of how that victory came about.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, he detailed:

“What he did is, just in case we were gonna wrestle again, continue the storyline, Hogan grabbed the ropes and tapped out, so he could always bring up that excuse, ‘listen Kurt, you didn’t make me tap out, I was holding the ropes. Lets go again’. So they were leaving it open in case we wanted to do another program.

“Unfortunately it never happened, so I go down in history as making Hulk Hogan tap out.

“I was a fanboy like holy crap I’m wrestling Hulk Hogan, I was so excited, I think he thought maybe I was gonna hurt him, but I was just so ramped up to be wrestling Hulk Hogan, I grew up watching the guy. I wasn’t even a big wrestling fan, I grew up watching Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan.

“This is really funny and why I respect the heck out of Hulk Hogan. Vince McMahon brought me into the office before the show started. He said listen Kurt, I’m gonna have you meet with Hulk Hogan in this office, we’re gonna have chairs facing each other, your knees will be touching each other, and I will be in a chair facing you.

“When I tell Hulk Hogan he’s losing by tap out, I want you to get out of your chair and put your nose right into his nose. So he wanted me to scare Hulk Hogan, and I’m like holy crap it’s Hulk freaking Hogan, I’m not gonna scare this guy.

“So Vince brings him in the office, I’m sitting down, Hogan sits down, we’re facing each other. I get out of my chair and go nose to nose with Hulk Hogan, and Vince goes ‘ok Hulk, Kurt’s winning by tap out tonight’. And Hulk goes ‘ok, I’m good with that’. I was like why would Vince have me do that?

“I felt disrespectful by doing it, Vince I guess thought Hulk was gonna try and be political and talk him out of it, that’s what he told me, he said ‘listen, he’ll probably talk me out of it so I want you to be in here’. That’s the only thing that went through my mind all day, I’m like holy crap I just intimidated Hulk Hogan, how can anyone intimidate Hulk Hogan?”

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