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WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle had a great run with WWE, which stretched from 1998 to 2006, before he returned to the company a decade later. The Olympic Gold medallist had zero pro wrestling experience before joining WWE, but took to it very quickly, and reached the top of the company in no time.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon first spoke to Angle about joining WWE soon after the 1996 Olympics where he won gold, but that move did not come to fruition. Kurt Angle eventually joined the company two years later in 1998.
But, there was a small possibility of Angle joining ECW, headed then by Paul Heyman.
Kurt Angle "considered" joining ECW over WWE
Kurt Angle, in an interview with PWInsider, said that he would have "considered" joining ECW, if Paul Heyman had offered him a contract.
Here's what Angle said about joining ECW:
"By then they kind of came out of the closet and said 'Hey, we're sports entertainment, we're not wrestling,' Vince McMahon did around that time and decided, you know, bury the kayfabe thing, but I just thought, 'Geez, I can't be any part of this.' And you know... I don't know, ECW was running pretty hard back then, they were doing pretty well, I mean, you know, if Paul Heyman would have offered me a deal, you know, as popular as it was back then, you know, I would have possibly considered signing it, just like I did WWE's contract, but um, when that crucifix thing happened that was it - no way I was going to go there, so that's when I reapproached Vince McMahon and decided to go to WWE."
Kurt Angle did make one appearance in ECW in 1996, but he was taken aback by the brutality that he witnessed at the show, and was shocked by the crucifix angle that happened.
Angle eventually joined WWE in 1998 and just two years after joining the company, he won the WWF Championship after he defeated The Rock. He then went on to have three more reigns as WWF Champion, while also winning the WCW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. Kurt Angle will go down in history as one of the greats to step into a pro wrestling, one who took to the business like a fish to water.
