Source: Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of the New York Post
In an interview with the New York Post, former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle talked on a variety of topics. Of particular note to iMPACT Wrestling and WWE fans are his comments regarding how he feels disrespected by the WWE entertainers. Angle specifically cited Randy Orton and Jack Swagger as two guys who disrespect him by copying his moves while he is still an active wrestler. Here is the text of Angle’s comments to the New York Post:
When Jack Swagger copies my ankle lock and Randy Orton does my Angle Slam, it’s disrespectful. I didn’t come up with the Ankle Lock, Ken Shamrock came up with the Ankle Lock but I waited until he retired to do the Ankle Lock. That company has no respect for me.
Angle went on to comment that he was best friends with Vince McMahon, but he is now loyal to Dixie Carter. Here is his quote on that topic:
I love Vince McMahon. He came up with the Kurt Angle character. He ran with it and then I was able to run with it. I thank him for the opportunity he gave me. Vince McMahon was one of my best friends, period. Now I’m loyal to Dixie Carter.
You can read the entire interview with Kurt Angle on the New York Post’s website by clicking here.
heres whats shifty about this story from Kurt Angle.
A good while ago Kurt Angle said similar remarks on Twitter about Randy Orton, just about how the ankle lock was copying Angle. Randy Orton shot back with the notion that Angle should take it as a compliment and that there are no original moves, It was Orton, not Angle, who mentioned Shamrock, and noted that it was Shamrocks move.
What was Angles retort? That his twitter account was hacked.
Fast forward several months and we have Angle changing his story and accounting for what Orton said. It seems like Angle took a while to formulate an argument, and decided to back pedal on the hacked twitter account story, which of course in and of itself seems like a back pedal.
Regardless though, if he admits he didn’t invent the damn hold, what is he complaining about? DDTs, pile drivers, cutters, stunners, cross faces, scorpion death locks, where is the offensive plagiarism?
Did Sting ever, even once, tell Bret Hart to screw off for using his finisher? They were doing it at the same time. How about Roddy Piper and Brutus Beefcake? How about Ric Flair and Greg Valentine?
There’s just no basis for this argument
I’m not a big fan of wrestlers complaining about moves being copied either. You don’t hear DDP complaining about Orton using the Cutter, even though he is the one who really made it famous and perfected the “move out of nowhere” aspect that Orton uses.
Swiping specific character traits would be a more legitimate complaint, and even then it is a stretch in my opinion.