What’s the story?
Kurt Angle is heading to the WWE Hall Of Fame as part of the 2017 class. The former Olympic gold medalist made a huge name for himself in the world of professional wrestling and had the choice of going to one of the two premiere companies in the industry at the time, in WWE and WCW.
Angle ultimately chose to go to the WWE and it ended up paying huge dividends for him, and he owes it all to ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair.
In case you didn’t know...
Ric Flair served as one of the top stars in WCW prior to its extinction as Vince McMahon purchased the company to put it to the cleaners once and for all. Angle avoided going to the company which was on the brink of doom, and it was all thanks to some timely advice from Flair.
The heart of the matter
Here’s what Angle had to say about Flair advising him to sign with the WWE, rather than going over to WCW prior to their going out of business (quotes courtesy of WrestlingInc.):
"Before I signed with WWE, I did speak with Ric Flair and he told me flat out, he said, 'you don't want to come here. They're going to ruin your career. Go to WWE. Let Vince McMahon mold you into the star that you deserve to be.' And I listened to Ric." Angle added, "WCW went out of business, I think, the first year I started, so he was right."
What’s next?
Angle will enjoy the cherry on top of a historic professional wrestling career when he is inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame later this year and has a huge debt owed to Flair for helping him avoid a disaster had he chose to go to WCW that first year of his career.
Sportskeeda’s take:
Kurt Angle was used as a huge Superstar during his heydey but had he gone to WCW and been picked up by the WWE after the buyout, the former Olympian would have possibly been used as nothing more than a comedic goof to get fans laughing in between shows.
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