What’s the story?
On a recent episode of his podcast, Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, former WWE manager and producer Bruce Prichard revealed how Kurt Angle nearly ruined his WWE career even before it started.
In case you didn’t know…
During the time between his gold medal win at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and his entry into the WWE, Kurt Angle worked as a sportscaster for the Pittsburgh-based television station, WPGH-TV. He also worked as a marketing representative for a food manufacturing firm named Protos Foods. Apart from that, Angle even served as a guest commentator during a taping for ECW.
The heart of the matter
Prichard spoke in his podcast about his meeting with Kurt Angle when the WWE had first approached him to join the company soon after his Olympic gold medal win. He revealed how Angle clearly told him that it wouldn’t be possible for him to lose a match as he was the best in the business and could not be beaten. This made him end the meeting and request ‘The Wrestling Machine’ to leave.
Here’s what Bruce Prichard said:
“I met Kurt when he came in. First, he met with Vince. They all went in and met with Vince alone. Afterwards, Vince sent him into my office to talk to him a little bit more about the business and get a feel for what Kurt's desires were, what he was really looking for, what he knew about the business, and what have you.
And in that meeting, there was a comment made by Kurt that I kind of just ended the meeting because Kurt made it very clear that being an Olympic gold medalist that he couldn't possibly ever lose a match.
He's the best there is and no one could ever beat him. No one would ever believe that he could lose a match. So I thanked Kurt for his time and I wished him very well with his gold medal and moved on.”
Talking about when Angle got back to the WWE in 1998, he claimed that Jim Ross was the one who assured him that things could work out for him again. He also spoke about how the superstar’s attitude had undergone a lot of change by that time. Prichard stated:
“I want to say Kurt reached out to the WWF at this point. I believe J.R. reached… kind of extended the olive branch a little bit after Kurt had not been setting the world on fire with his sportscasting and pizza sales. So, 'hey kid, if you're still interested, we can come back and talk, come back to the table, maybe it ain't so bad.' And Vince, J.R., spoke with him and Kurt's attitude had changed quite a bit.”
What next?
The WWE have already named Kurt Angle as an inductee into their Hall of Fame Class of 2017 and it looks likely that we may see him compete inside a WWE ring in the near future, too.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Kurt Angle’s decision to join the WWE was certainly a pivotal one in his career as a wrestler and provided him with the perfect platform to eventually establish himself as a legend in the pro-wrestling world.
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