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“I think Daniel just decided not to” – Kurt Angle reveals real reason why Daniel Puder left the WWE

Archie Blade
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Kurt Angle reveals real reason why Daniel Puder left the WWE

Kurt Angle reveals real reason why Daniel Puder left the WWE. Puder was the fourth ever winner of WWE’s Tough Enough competition.

Tough Enough was a reality television series by WWE. The contestants competed in a series of challenges in order to win a WWE Contract. The first three seasons featured two winners, the 4th, the first ever $1,000,000 Tough Enough, only saw one winner; Daniel Puder.

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The reward was declared to be a million dollars. In reality however, it was a four-year contract at $250,000 a year. The WWE also had the option to terminate the contract after the first year. According to  Kurt Angle, the WWE did not want to terminate the contract, but they also did not want to conitnue to pay $250,000 a year.

Kurt Angle reveals real reason why Daniel Puder left the WWE

In a recent interview with The Hannibal TV, Kurt Angle said that Puder was put off by the drastic cut to his contract and decided not to continue working with the WWE.

“The company felt that he wasn’t picking up on the technique as quickly as they wanted him to so they decided to let him go. I think he lasted for a good six or eight months but his contract was coming up again and they didn’t want to renew the contract for $250,000 guarantee. They wanted to drop it to $75,000 and he said no. So I think they wanted to train him for another year or so and I think Daniel just decided not to because the money dropped dramatically.”

Puder’s stay with the WWE was short. He’s mostly remembered for his shoot fight with Kurt Angle on SmackDown. Puder responded to Angle’s challenge and the two wrestled for real in the middle of the ring.

Angle took Puder down but the young upstart caught his senior colleague in a Kimura lock. In a bid to end the match, the referee quickly counted to three despite Puder’s shoulders not being fully down.

He made two PPV appearances on the main roster but was sent down to OVW for further training. He was given the option of signing a developmental contract, which of course, came with less pay, but Puder chose to decline the offer.

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About the author

Archie Blade

Archie Blade

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Archie is a WWE and UFC Editor/Author at the SportsRush. Like most combat sports enthusiasts, his passion for watching people fight began with WWE when he witnessed a young Brock Lesnar massacre Hulk Hogan back in 2002. This very passion soon branched out to boxing and mixed martial arts. Over the years he fell in love with the theatrics that preceded the bell and the poetic carnage that followed after. Each bruise a story to tell, each wound a song of struggle, his greatest desire is to be there to witness it all. His favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels and he believes that GSP is the greatest to ever step foot inside the octagon. Apart from wrestling, he is also fond of poetry and music.

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