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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