Shortly after winning a gold medal in the heavyweight weight class at the 1996 Olympics, Kurt Angle turned down an offer of a multi-year WWF contract worth quarter of a million a year.
Immediately after I won, they flew me out and offered me a very nice, very sweet contract. I never took it seriously because I was always told not to watch it and not to do it, since I was doing the legit wrestling, the amateur wrestling. I was told to turn my back on pro wrestling.
Convinced by Shane Douglas to give pro wrestling a chance, Angle tested the waters by getting involved in an ECW event, providing guest commentary during one of Taz matches. However, he didnt quite realise what some of the more hardcore elements of the business were about: when he witnessed Raven crucifying the Sandman with barbed wire, he panicked and bailed from the event early, threatening to sue the company if they used his voice or image on the event. Angles other option at the time was sportscasting, and he gave it a fair crack of the whip. He worked for a full year at his local Fox-affiliate as the weekend sports anchorman, but never really connected with the role. Angle was a man pursued by demons; the same devils that made him train for the Olympics by carrying a grown man on his back for 200-yard uphill sprints. A desk job wasnt his thing. He returned to the idea of professional wrestling, eventually signing an eight-year contract with the WWF in October 1998 and heading off to Memphis to begin his training. By every account going, Kurt Angle was a beast, a prodigy. He devoured professional wrestling as a business, a craft, and as an art form, showing the same single-minded commitment and drive as he had in his amateur days when headed towards the Olympics with a broken freakin neck.
The first day of training was a Monday. By Friday they had me do a wrestling match in front of a live crowd. No ones ever done that. For some reason they thought I could.
He debuted on WWF television in March 1999 in a patriotism angle with Tiger Ali Singh, and worked a dark match with Jerry Lawlers son Brian Christopher the following month: but his debut proper took place in November 1999, when he defeated Shawn Stasiak at Survivor Series. Hed go on to win both the European championship and the Intercontinental championship in February 2000, claiming to be the Eurocontinental champion. Four months later, Angle would win the King Of The Ring tournament, like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H before him, and Edge and Brock Lesnar after him: at that time, it was a badge of honour for a man considered to be meant for great things, and not a comedy heel gimmick with a crown and robe. That promise was realised four months later in October 2000, when Angle won his first WWF championship. Kurt Angles gone on to become one of the most respected and decorated professional wrestlers in WWF and WWE history, as well as the lynchpin of TNA following his much-publicised falling out with WWE in 2006.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
