Kurt Angle recalls how he threatened to sue ECW after Sandman's crucifixion

On October 26, 1996, one of the most well-known incidents in the history of professional wrestling took place. 1350 people gathered at the ECW Arena witnessed the then ECW World Champion, Sandman, being hung on a cross with a barbed wire crown placed on his head. The group Raven's Nest, responsible for the attack, recreated a scene of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

One of the most critical of the segment was Kurt Angle, who interestingly enough was serving as a guest commentator that night. Angle, who had just won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games, was contacted by Paul Heyman to attend a "real wrestling event." However, this was obviously not true. Angle recounted on the podcast Six Feet Under how the company's boss sold him on the product. "Paul Heyman calls... I don't know how he got my number, but he calls me. He says: 'Listen, Kurt, we have this new wrestling. It's very similar to your style—it's real," he recounted.

Once there, and having seen that what ECW offered was not amateur wrestling, the moment that pushed Kurt over the edge arrived. The Sandman crucifixion angle enraged Kurt, who as a devout Christian saw that image as an offense. He quickly approached Paul Heyman, whom he threatened to sue.

"Here I am, a Christian guy, believer in God, and they do a crucifixion where Raven is on a cross and Sandman crucifies him. I looked at Paul Heyman and said, "Listen, if this airs the same night I appear, you'll hear from my lawyer," Angle recounted.

Furthermore, to add fuel to the fire, the relationship between Sandman and Angle from that moment on was not the best, especially when Sandman began to mistakenly believe that the Olympic medalist had ordered Paul Heyman to apologize for what happened. "Sandman, idiot... he thought I told Paul to go and apologize. I never told anyone to apologize. I just didn't understand it at that moment. He knew I didn't tell Paul to apologize, and he knew I was an Olympic medalist and had never been in this business. And the first thing I see is a crucifixion. Of course, I was going to lose my cool a bit," he concluded.