When Intoxicated Vince McMahon Wrestled Kurt Angle on International Flight While Returning From WWE Tour

Revisiting when Vince McMahon tried to take down WWE’s legitimate Olympic athlete Kurt Angle on a plane during WWE’s return from a European tour in 2002.

By Rishabh Singh

Published on Aug 07, 2024 | 01:02 AM IST | 58K

Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon. Image Credits: Getty Images

Vince McMahon is well-known as a highly competitive guy. Be it in business or a wrestling ring, McMahon never fails to assert dominance. However, his adventurous spirit once went way overboard when he tried to grapple WWE’s legitimate Olympic Gold Medalist, Kurt Angle, at around 38,000 feet in the air on a plane.

While most people would agree it’s not a good idea, McMahon insisted that he would buy the plane if it came to that, but he wanted to feel what it was like to wrestle Kurt Angle on a plane.

In Kurt Angle’s autobiography, It’s True! It’s True, Angle shared a wild incident from a plane ride back to the USA from London. Several superstars were on the plane due to WWE’s European tour.

According to Angle, McMahon, known for roughhousing, began challenging Angle and sneaking up on him in hopes of tackling the Olympic Hero. Angle also revealed that McMahon sent talents over to Kurt's aisle to keep him distracted so that he could take Angle down while he was unprepared.

Every time McMahon launched himself at Angle, he was intercepted. After all, it was Kurt Angle he was throwing himself at. The man won a gold medal with a broken ‘freakin’ neck. Anyway, the two engaged for around 6 hours.

At one point, the flight attendant relayed to them that the pilot threatened to land the plane if they didn’t stop. However, McMahon responded, saying, “Go tell the pilot to f*** himself. I’ll buy the f****** plane.”

Recalling the incident during an appearance on Inside the Ropes, Angle revealed how intoxicated McMahon was during their plane ride.

He said on Inside the Ropes: “So, Vince McMahon starts feeling frisky. He’s drinking his wine, he likes to drink a lot of wine and I’m sure he was probably about two bottles in. When he started to feel really frisky, he wanted to see what it was like to wrestle an Olympic gold medalist on an airplane.”

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While Angle pinned McMahon down amid cheers from everybody on the plane, The Undertaker, unbeknownst to what was going on and probably having just woken up, jumped in to break it up.

Taker’s first instinct was to put Angle in a chokehold and put him to sleep. Angle admittedly even blacked out for a while due to The Undertaker’s chokehold.

Nonetheless, despite McMahon’s futile attempts to pin Angle down, Kurt Angle gave props to McMahon in his book for being so strong at 55 years old that even an Olympic-level athlete had to struggle to outmuscle him.