Welcome back, folks. Here to continue my list of the most iconic superstars in WWE history. We found out #20 and #19 thus far. You can check those out in the articles section. Now it’s time for #18.
#18
Kurt Angle
You can’t talk about iconic superstars without mentioning olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle, he not only had notable success within the WWE but outside of the WWE walls as well.
Angle, while attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania, accumulated numerous accolades – most notably a two-time NCAA Division I Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Meanwhile, after graduating from college, Angle found success again in 1995, in form of a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the World Wrestling Championships. Then, later on, his famous gold medal victory at the 1996 Summer Olympics became a reality.
Angle initially declined (because he didn’t want to lose a match as he felt he was above and beyond WWF) a WWF offer following the 1996 Olympics, but in 1998 he officially signed on the dotted lines, he inked a multi-year deal with the company. He debuted in August within the company’s developmental system after mere days of training, he wouldn’t, however, participate in his first televised WWF storyline until March 1999. That same year in November was when Kurt officially made his in-ring debut on television, and shortly after, the following year, he received his first major push in February 2000 – he simultaneously held both the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship. Mere months later, in June, he won the King of the Ring tournament, then pursued and successfully captured the WWF Championship in the fall, October. That huge victory capped off quite the rookie year – many, in fact, say the greatest rookie year in the company’s history.
Some of the major accolades Kurt Angle accomplished during his time with the company – he won the WWF Championship four times, he also won the World Heavyweight Championship, along with a run with the WCW Championship (if you count that as WWE now). He is a grand slam champion and a triple crown winner under the WWE banner. He is the fifth to accomplish the former, and concerning the latter, he is the tenth. He was inducted (by John Cena) into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62BXPt1dOmM]
Angle departed from WWE in 2006 and then joined TNA where he would become the inaugural TNA World Heavyweight Champion, he would hold that title six-times. In addition to his WWE stats, he’d also become a triple crown winner for TNA as well, becoming the first to hold all major titles required in the company simultaneously. Also a two-time King of the Mountain winner. While in TNA, he made appearances in NJPW among others, and once actually captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. 2013 came along and he was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame (second wrestler to do so; first was Sting). In 2010, Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Angle Wrestler of the Decade (‘00-‘10).
Angle started amateur wrestling at a fairly young age. He attended Mt. Lebanon High School, where he won varsity letters in football and wrestling. He went undefeated on the freshman wrestling team at Mt. Lebanon High and qualified for the state wrestling tournament his sophomore year. Angle was third place in the state wrestling tournament as a junior, and in 1987 as a senior, he was the Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion.
After graduating from college, Angle continued to wrestle. In 1995, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. Following this victory, Angle began preparations for the 1996 Summer Olympics under Dave Schultz at the Pennsylvanian Foxcatcher Club, training almost 10 hours a day. In January 1996, shortly after Angle began training at the club, Schultz was murdered by John Eleuthère du Pont – the sponsor of Schultz’s team of Olympic prospectives – As a result, Angle quit Eleuthère du Pont’s team, searched for new sponsors, and joined the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club in Schultz’s memory.
Angle faced further adversity while taking part in the 1996 Olympic Trials, when he suffered a severe neck injury, fracturing two of his cervical vertebrae, herniating two discs, and pulling four muscles. Yikes. Angle won the trials nonetheless, He won his gold medal in the heavyweight weight class despite his injury, defeating the Iranian Abbas Jadidi by officials’ decision after the competitors wrestled to an 8 minute, 1-1 draw. He then spent the following five months rehabilitating.
Following a rather brief stint in Paul Heyman’s ECW in 1996, Angle signed a 8 year contract with World Wrestling Federation in 1998. After several weeks of dark matches, house show matches and vignettes, Angle made his in-ring debut at Survivor Series defeating Shawn Stasiak on November 14, 1999. During his initial push, he remained undefeated for a number of weeks, but would eventually lose to Tazz in his debut at the Royal Rumble. Angle presented himself as a role model, stressing his famous 3 I’s (Intensity, Integrity, and Intelligence). Despite this inspirational and admirable personality, his character was arrogant, he believed he was superior to everyone in the crowd, at home and the locker room. So, in other words, he was essentially a heel (obviously). Angle won both the European and Intercontinental Championship in February 2000. However, at that years WrestleMania, he lost both titles in a match against Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho.
After defeating Rikishi in the King of the Ring finals, Angle had a feud with Triple H in which a love triangle developed with the two and Stephanie. He would lose to Triple H at the Unforgiven PPV. Following his feud with him, he’d receive an additional push that would place him in the hunt for the WWF Championship, where he would meet WWF Champion The Rock. They went to battle at the No Mercy PPV with Kurt ultimately defeating The Great One becoming the new World Champion. After Angle’s huge victory, he went on to successfully defend his newly won title over the subsequent months against the likes of The Undertaker, and also defending the title in the famous six-man Armageddon Hell in a Cell match featuring Angle, The Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin, Rikishi and Triple H. Angle then defeated the latter at the Royal Rumble, but would lose the title back to the The Rock at No Way Out. This was a rather short, but very dominant reign for Angle.
After losing the championship, he moved on to one of my all time favourites – Chris Benoit. They adventured in a series of bouts, one in which Angle defeated Benoit (WrestleMania 17); Benoit then defeated Angle at Backlash in an Ultimate Submission Match which went to sudden death. In their final encounter at Judgement Day, Angle defeated Benoit in a two out of three falls match.
In mid-2001, WWF then embarked in an invasion angle in which ECW and WCW, known as the The Alliance, came together as a force to invade WWF. Angle, now a babyface, joined forces with Stone Cold Steve Austin to help WWF fend off The Alliance. At The Invasion PPV, the two co-captained a team of five superstars from WWF against five from The Alliance. Unfortunately for Team WWF, Austin turned on them (ultimately stunning Angle to end the match) allowing Team Alliance to pick up the victory. After losing a few respective championship matches (Hardcore, WCW United States, WCW Championship) against Team Alliance members, Angle took part in a SummerSlam match against Austin at Unforgiven, where he beat him to capture the WWF Championship once again. Austin would quickly get the title back on an episode of RAW with help from WWF Commissioner William Regal who joined The Alliance. Funny enough, Angle would eventually join the Alliance himself as well, shortly thereafter, helping Shane defeat Vince at WrestleMania. However, Angle ultimately rejoined Team WWF by helping Rock defeat Alliance member Austin at Survivor Series in a “Winner Takes All” match.
Angle then had a lengthy feud with Edge. Everytime Angle would make his entrance, Edge would shout out “you suck” which obviously stuck with Angle throughout his entire career to this very day. In the course of the feud, Angle lost a “hair vs. hair” match to Edge at Judgment Day, and his head was ultimately shaved bald. Following this, the storyline called for Angle to wear a wig and proceed to insult bald individuals. Angle’s wig was subsequently ripped off in a match against Hulk Hogan. Angle would later avenge that occurrence, submitting Hogan at King of the Ring.
In October 2002, Angle became the fifth WWE Grand Slam Championship winner when he won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Chris Benoit at No Mercy. The team was successful but there was constant bickering between the two. They eventually lost the titles to Edge and Rey Mysterio on an episode of SmackDown. Angle moved on from that; he once again became WWF Champion defeating Big Show. Circa 2003, Angle started a feud with Brock Lesnar after Lesnar won the Royal Rumble Match. This led to a big WWE Championship match between the two at WrestleMania XIX.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTc2dkF98Ls]
Following the event, Angle had significant surgeries that put him out of competition for some time, but he would return a few months later. Upon his return, he beat both Brock Lesnar and Big Show at Vengeance to regain his WWE Championship. After retaining the title in a singles match with Lesnar at SummerSlam, he dropped the title to Lesnar in an Iron Man match on an episode of SmackDown. Angle then formed a five-man team to rival Lesnar’s handpicked team at the Survivor Series. Angle’s team survived and picked up the victory.
After that, Angle got involved in a feud with the beloved Eddie Guerrero. Initially, they were friends, but after hearing Eddie was number one contender and not him, Angle didn’t take it too kindly, so he turned on him. Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar for the coveted WWE Championship at No Way Out while Angle won a match in which awarded him the number one contender spot. Eddie and Kurt then faced each other at WrestleMania XX with the WWE Championship up for grabs; Eddie retained.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vabi_aQoFI]
Following WrestleMania, Angle’s nagging neck injuries returned – because of this, he was named SmackDown General Manager until he fully recovered. Angle in 2004 then continued his feud with Eddie Guerrero. He cost Eddie the WWE Championship in a match against JBL. Angle was ultimately relieved of his GM duties in the summer of that year, after Mr. McMahon found out that he was faking his injury.
In 2005, Angle attacked Marty Jannetty and Sheri Martel leading to the Royal Rumble Match, where Shawn Michaels, in retaliation, eliminated Kurt Angle to set up a match between the two at WrestleMania 21. Angle defeated Michaels in what was named the match of the year. Angle continued his feud with HBK when he moved over to RAW in the draft, and then moved on to John Cena. He attempted to overcome Cena at Unforgiven for the WWE Championship in a singles match but failed, and would later be on the losing side again in a triple threat match with both Michaels and Cena at Taboo Tuesday.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM0EmQ_4yEI]
Angle later returned to SmackDown in January 2006, where he received a push as a babyface – he won the World Heavyweight Championship in a twenty-man battle royal. Angle retained the title against Mark Henry and The Undertaker respectively before he was defeated by Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match – that also involved Randy Orton – at WrestleMania 22. Angle was then drafted to the newly found ECW where he was known as “The Wrestling Machine.” Angle took part in this new version of ECW for a bit but would only make sporadic WWE appearances throughout 2006, and would later be granted his release from the company after personal issues.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMBX6_2QOs8]
After a few wrestling appearances in Japan, Angle began his illustrious career in TNA, signing a long-term contract with the company. Over the years, while there, he rapidly climbed up the rankings. He feuded with the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Sting, Jay Lethal, EC3, Bobby Roode and Jeff Jarrett, among others. He held numerous championships there, he’s in there Hall of Fame – he just had a really great TNA career. Before returning to WWE in 2017, Angle worked the independent circuit. His last notable independent wrestling match was a Steel Cage Match against former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes.
In 2017, Kurt Angle returned to WWE to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Shortly after, on the RAW after WrestleMania 33, he was named the new General Manager Of Monday Night RAW.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Athg0neuV_0]
Since then, he had a few matches, most notably a tag team match alongside the debuting Ronda Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34. He also competed at the TLC PPV in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match alongside 2/3 of the Shield, against Kane, Strowman, Miz, Cesaro and Sheamus. He also captained team RAW at Survivor Series in 2017. And it seems as though Angle will continue to compete as of present day. If I’m not mistaken, he’s still rumoured to be apart of the 2018 RAW Survivor Series team despite his loss to Drew McIntyre this past Monday. He’ll most likely compete at WrestleMania this year as well, so he seemingly has a lot left in the tank.
I always found Kurt Angle genuinely funny, interesting, and of course an amazing professional wrestler. He almost fit into any sort of storyline you threw at him, he practically made anything work. It’s hard to find an individual with those special qualities nowadays. It’s good to see him around in WWE, I’m sure he’s a remarkable mentor for the young WWE stars and offers a lot of advice, and I don’t mind seeing him compete in 2018 and beyond, just as long I’m invested in what he’s doing and the company isn’t burying anyone significant.
All in all, Kurt Angle is one of the absolute best you’ll ever see lace up a pair of boots. Plain and simple. He struggled with drug abuse, serious neck injuries, and still pulled through, lived up to the hype, and became one of the greatest in the industry.
Thanks for reading.
Updated list:
Harley Race (20), Ricky Steamboat (19), Kurt Angle (18)
