Throughout his illustrious career Kurt Angle tangled with some of the best in-ring talent the wrestling world has ever seen. From his legendary clashes with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels and The Rock in WWE to going head to head with AJ Styles and Samoa Joe in TNA, Angle shared the biggest stages with biggest names following his debut at Survivor Series in 1999.
In recent weeks Angle has taken to the airwaves with the creation of The Kurt Angle Show podcast, looking back on his life and career. Speaking on an episode centred around his final run in WWE and retirement at WrestleMania 35, Angle singled out Chad Gable for special praise. The Olympic Gold Medallist had chosen Gable to be one of his opponents on that final run in 2019 and praised the former NXT Tag Team Champion calling him “the real deal.”
“Chad has been underutilized, and I believe it’s his size, even though he’s as strong as an ox. He does a deadlift German with 300-pounders and it’s impressive. To do something like that, that’s a talent you want to utilize. He’s the real deal. He might not look that big, but his strength, technique, and ability show in those matches. If you put reigns on the kid, he’s not going to succeed, but if you let him go and let him do his thing, he’s going to be a huge star. Someday, they’re going to utilize him correctly,” said Angle. “People get injured, main event wrestlers especially because they are putting in the most work. Eventually, he’s going to get called up into a spot and he’s going to blow their minds and they’ll keep him in that spot. It’s going to happen eventually.”
Kurt Angle would retire from in-ring competition at WrestleMania 35 in front of a packed out MetLife Stadium, following defeat to Baron Corbin, a match he has since described as “filler.”
Since dropping the ‘Shorty G’ moniker, Chad Gable has begun teaming with Otis as Alpha Academy on SmackDown, most recently in a losing effort against Rey and Dominik Mysterio.
h/t to Fightful for the transcription.