5 backstage Brock Lesnar stories shared by current & former WWE superstars

#2. Kurt Angle - A real-life wrestling match with Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar have a big history together from their first run in WWE. They were rivals and even headlined WrestleMania together in 2003. That was, of course, the match where Brock Lesnar suffered a near-fatal injury with a botched shooting star press.

Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle are both decorated amateur wrestlers as well. While Brock Lesnar is a former NCAA Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle is an Olympic Gold medalist.

Back in 2003, the WWE locker room tried to egg Angle and Lesnar on to have a legitimate wrestling match, but neither man wanted it. A couple of weeks later, presumably before a show, Kurt Angle saw Big Show wrestling Brock Lesnar.

He said that Big Show wanted to see what it was like being in the ring with the NCAA Heavyweight Champion. Kurt Angle saw Brock Lesnar slam Big Show on the back of his head and felt that if he tried to wrestle The Beast Incarnate, he could legitimately have been killed.

Kurt Angle told Big Show to get out of the ring and Brock Lesnar turned his attention to him, after which he knew they were going to wrestle. With the locker room egging them on, they went at it. Kurt Angle said (via ESPN):

"I didn't want to go with him, trust me. But the boys were doing their thing. Now, Brock and I were enemies. So we did it. The rumor is that I completely dominated him. That is not true. It was very close. I took Brock down a couple of times. He didn't take me down. But we went 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes and there were only two takedowns. It was a pretty close battle. Did I win? If you want to give the aggressor the win, then I won. But it was really close."

Angle said that Brock Lesnar impressed him, but he wanted to show the difference between an NCAA Champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist. Kurt Angle said that he's glad he won, otherwise he would have never heard the end of it.