10 Greatest Pure WWE Wrestlers

It almost went so horribly wrong. In 1996, Olympic champ Kurt Angle paid a visit to ECW. Any blossoming thoughts of giving pro-wrestling a try were quickly kiboshed when he witnessed Raven crucifying Sandman. Kurt decided it was not for him.

Eventually, though, WWE managed to tempt him to sample their relatively clean project, and from there, a legend was born. After just over a year of developmental, Angle hit the big time, and demonstrated an astonishing aptitude for the business.

The fact that he could do the ring work was no surprise; it was his charisma, mic work, and grasp of psychology that really stood out. From the off, Angle’s persona was tweaked subtly; instead of a babyface babbling on about American values, he was an annoying, pushy heel, though still peddling exactly the same stuff.

The result was a body of work that can stand against anyone’s, in WWE and later in TNA. WWE didn’t have to invest too much to make Angle one of the greatest of all time; they knew a great thing when they had it.