Despite the early success Team Angle would break up in June 2003, a little more than half a year after forming. The decision to break up Team Angle remains a sore spot for both Angle and Benjamin, who feel there was more for the unit to do. But while Benjamin remains unsure of who decided to disband the stable, Angle blames himself for it, believing the time he missed following WrestleMania recovering from a neck injury was the catalyst for the group’s demise.

“It was my fault,” Angle said. “I broke my neck, and when I came back, they were like ‘Hey, we need to change stuff up. We’re going to have you face Charlie and Shelton,’ and it was like ‘Wait a minute. We just started this.’ We only went about six months…before they kind of split us up, maybe seven months? It wasn’t long at all. We were really, really good. We could’ve been one of the greatest factions in history. We had something special, we had something really cool going on. And it just sucks that I got injured, and that’s the reason why.”

“It was disappointing for us too,” Benjamin said. “Like I said, we were having so much fun with it. The fans loved it, we loved it. And honestly, I felt like we still had so much more to learn from Kurt. Just being under his tutelage. But…things happen, and whoever made the decisions, they weren’t budging on it. I think we’re all…I think I speak for Charlie when we all feel like ‘Yeah, they broke us up way too soon.”

If you use quotes in this article, please credit “The Kurt Angle Show” and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription