Kurt Angle's WWE Hall of Fame speech was minutes away from being very different.
After spending the first eight years of his pro wrestling career with WWE, Kurt Angle departed from the company in 2006 and found a new home at TNA (IMPACT Wrestling). He would spend the next decade there before returning to WWE in 2017 when it was announced that he was being inducted into their Hall of Fame.
During the most recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show (via AdFreeShows), the Olympic Gold Medalist described the Hall of Fame ceremony and what it was like to look back on his career. Furthermore, he revealed that five minutes before he was set to take the stage, WWE's writers approached him and said that he needed to be very entertaining. Luckily for them, Kurt came up with a plan on the spot, all he needed was some milk and a cowboy hat.
"It was so much fun," Angle began by saying. "I got to relive my past, you know, doing the milk segment with two half-gallons of milk and throwing them back and the cowboy hat. Also, singing Sexy Kurt. The Crazy thing is, five minutes before my speech, the writers came into my green room and said, 'Hey, we need you to be very entertaining.' I'm like, 'I already have my speech ready.' They're like, 'Well, is there anything entertaining in it?' I said, 'Well, it's a bunch of thank yous.' They're like, 'No, you got to do something entertaining.' I said, 'What do you want me to do?' They said, 'If you need anything, tell us and we'll get it for you.' I said, 'I'm on in five minutes.' They said, 'We'll get it for you before the five minutes is up.' I said, 'Well, get me two quarts of milk and a cowboy hat.' They said, 'That's all you need?' I said, 'Yes.'"
Though it wasn't what he originally intended, Kurt is very happy with how his speech turned out and credits that last-minute change of plans for making the speech as memorable as it was.
"So I did the Hall of Fame speech and I added the cowboy hat in and sang Sexy Kurt and then drank the milk at the end. I was really happy with the turnout of my Hall of Fame speech. If those writers didn't come in and tell me that five minutes before, my speech wouldn't have been entertaining at all. That's all it was, was a bunch of thank yous," he said.
As for Vince McMahon's reaction, Kurt said the following:
"He hugged me and he said it was awesome. He said it was one of the most entertaining speeches he's ever heard. That makes me feel really good because there have been a lot of good Hall of Fame speeches."
Drenched in milk, Kurt shared how they hugged so as to keep Vince as dry as possible.
"No, I got most of it. But we hugged with our asses out, so he didn't get too much milk on him," Angle said.
The Olympic Gold Medalist was released by WWE in April 2020 and during a recent interview with Fightful said that the creative process is not the same now as it was during the Attitude/Ruthless Aggression Eras. Those comments can be found here.
During the AdFreeShows Q&A, Kurt also spoke about his 2005 storyline with Booker T and Sharmell and how he believes Vince McMahon thought he had a fetish for black women. Click here to read more.
If you use the quote above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.