WWE announced earlier this week that Kurt Angle will finally get his rightful place in the WWE Hall Of Fame, headlining the HOF class of 2017. Angle is a former Olympic Gold medalist and a former 5-time WWE World Champion (not including his solitary WCW Championship). Apart from his world titles in WWE, Angle is also a former United States champion, Hardcore Champion, Intercontinental Champion while also holding the WWE Tag-Team Championship along with Chris Benoit. To add to his laurels in WWE, Angle also won the King Of The Ring in the year 2000.
Despite all his accomplishments in the WWE, Angle left the company in 2006, citing health reasons before showing up on TNA some months later. Even though Angle hasn’t been in a WWE ring for nearly 10 years, fans have been clamouring for a return for the better part of a decade. Every time a surprise entrant or tag-partner was announced, some part of the WWE Universe speculated about the possibility of a returning Kurt Angle.
Rumours of an impending return for Kurt Angle had been doing the rounds for a couple of months but WWE finally made the official announcement last week to the delight of WWE fans. Angle is one of the most beloved Superstars from an era where pro wrestling really was at the top of its game, popularity-wise. As we prepare for the Olympic Hero’s return to the WWE, let’s take a look a few things some fans may not know about Kurt Angle.
5: Two-time NCAA Champion and National Wrestling Hall of Famer
We’ve all heard about how Brock Lesnar is a NCAA Division 1 champion from WWE. What WWE don’t tell us as often is that Kurt Angle is also a NCAA Division 1 champion. Not just that, Angle actually won the NCAA Championship twice – in 1990 and 1992 while attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Unlike other WWE Superstars who are NCAA champions like Lesnar and Jack Swagger, Angle is the only WWE Superstar to win the NCAA championship twice.
Despite his NCAA and Olympic success, Angle later successfully transitioned to pro wrestling and took the WWE by storm. However, his former colleagues from the world of amateur wrestling still honoured his achievements in the sports by inducting him into the National Wrestling Hall Of Fame in 2001 as a distinguished member, 16 years before he was finally inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame.
4: He attributes his success to his brutal training regime
Kurt Angle has always attributed his success to his insane training regime and no to natural talent or suchlike. Angle has said in the past that he started his real training after he’d already reached the point of exhaustion. In his mind, if he could wrestle exhausted then it would be much easier when he was at a 100%.
His training started early in the day with a six-mile run followed by 40 hill sprints and a half-hour of jumping rope. This was followed by lunch after which he started with technique and condition training. By the time he reached the point of absolute exhaustion, he started his evening session that consisted of heavy weight lifting and plyometric jump training.
By the way, Kurt only took one half-day a month off from training. That’s the kind of dedication you need to be one of the greatest of all time.
3: His PPV streak
Kurt Angle took to pro wrestling like a fish to water. It’s widely recognised that Kurt Angle had the best rookie year in WWE history, a moniker that only AJ Styles can challenge. In Angle’s first 11 months with the WWE he won the European championship, Intercontinental championship and the King Of The Ring 2000. Apart from these, he also won the most coveted prize in WWE, the WWE Championship.
Following his 1999 debut, Angle went on to appear at 46 of the next 47 PPV’s, only missing the Insurrextion PPV in London, until his WrestleMania 19 match with Brock Lesnar, after which he, unfortunately, had to take time off to heal his neck.
2: His sister passed away the night before his Iron Man Match with Brock Lesnar
Kurt Angle is a beast. Not just in the ring and physically, but also mentally which he proved during his 60-minute Iron Man match with Brock Lesnar on SmackDown. A 60-minute Iron Man match is gruelling enough under normal circumstances but a family tragedy hit Kurt on the eve of his match with Brock Lesnar.
The night before their Iron Man match, Kurt got the devastating news that his sister Le’Anne had passed away from a heroin overdose. Despite the news, Angle went out the following night and tore the house down with Brock Lesnar in front of thousands of fans. Angle himself later explained that he just didn’t deal with the news of his sister’s death till after the match was over.
1: First person to kick out of the F5 in WWE
Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar’s WWE careers will forever be intertwined from the days on top of SmackDown’s roster during the Ruthless Aggression era.
When Brock Lesnar first made his WWE debut, he looked like an unstoppable force. He came out from the crowd during a Hardcore match and destroyed everyone in the ring. Following his debut, everyone who got in Brock’s way fell to the F5 including The Rock, Big Show and The Undertaker. That was until Lesnar faced the wrestling machine that is Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania XIX. Even though Angle would eventually lose the match to Lesnar, he did end up being the first person to kick out of the F5, that night.
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