On the latest edition of the Kurt Angle show WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle spoke on a wide range of topics, including his praise for Randy Orton, why the “You Suck” chants were removed from his theme as a babyface, and why he began wearing a mouthpiece in 2004. Highlights from the show can be found below.
Praises Randy Orton for his psychology and heel tactics:
“Randy was always good in the ring. He needed to sharpen his skills from a promo perspective, and he did. He is so cold and calculating in the ring. He takes his time. He controls the tempo of the match. He doesn’t let the fans control it. He had to do that with his promos too because sometimes when he would talk, the fans would start responding and he would speed up his conversation. Randy learned how to slow it down and be cool and calculating in his promos as he was in his matches. Randy is a natural heel. That’s his best asset. There’s no other heel like him. There’s no other heel better than him. He’s great at it. I don’t know if he’s a real life a**hole (Kurt laughs), but you have to have a little a**hole in you to be that kind of character, to portray it, but Randy just had it all together. He knew how to take his time. He didn’t let the fans control anything. He would slow the promo down to frustrate the fans until they listened. He knew how to pull back and make sure the fans knew he was in control. That’s Randy Orton…Randy is effective as a babyface, but he still does heel tactics. He doesn’t change much of his match or his psychology. Randy is just Randy, and he is a very special talent. The great thing about him is he doesn’t have to have these long, drawn out false finishes in matches. His RKO, he protected it so well, he can hit it out of nowhere and the fans are going to buy into it that it’s the finish.”
On why he started wearing a mouthpiece:
“In 2004 or 2005, John Cena punched me in the mouth and knocked three of my teeth out, my three front teeth. I went to the dentist, and I had temporaries made, and I had to wear a mouthpiece. I wore the mouthpiece from there on. I had to go to my dentist to get a custom mouthpiece. My dentist would make them for me. He would take the molds of my mouth, make the mouthpiece, and make the color with the letters on it. They did everything, so I didn’t have to take it anywhere else. The dentist did it.”
Says Vince McMahon took out the “You suck” chants out of his theme song:
“I actually never wanted WWE to take the ‘You suck’ chants out of my ‘You Suck’ song. I loved them, as a babyface and as a heel. It was Vince McMahon that didn’t like it. He didn’t want fans chanting, ‘You suck’, when I was a babyface, when I was the wrestling machine. Vince wanted to deter them from doing it, so he decided to take the ‘You suck’ chants out of my song. I loved them. I always liked it. I never had a problem with it, whether I was a heel or a baby. I knew when I was a heel, it was disrespectful, and as a baby, it was out of respect. It was something that the fans related to me, and it stuck for the rest of my career.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling News)