Daniel Puder Wants To Face Kurt Angle

Despite winning an Olympic Gold medal with ‘a broken freakin’ neck’, Kurt Angle nearly bit off more than he could chew when he challenged WWE Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder to a ‘shoot wrestling match’ on SmackDown in 2004, with Puder nearly breaking Angle’s arm with a kimura. 

“He took a challenge and I believe I did what I was supposed to do at that time,” Puder told Sportskeeda’s Dr. Chris Featherstone. “I’m very blessed that they didn’t let me break his arm because someday I might be able to still whoop him.”

The segment garnered Puder a significant amount of heat, with Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly, and Eddie Guerrero all teaching the rookie a stiff lesson in the 2005 Royal Rumble. However, despite the bad blood, Puder said he’s willing to do business with Angle:

“If he was smart he would take his ego, throw it out the window and give me a chance to run a show with him and build something with him at some point, I would still be open today. Who knows? But it’s a pretty interesting scenario.”