10 High Profile Wrestlers With Forgotten NWA Championship Runs
1. Kurt Angle
By the time Kurt Angle arrived in TNA in 2006, the NWA was on its way out and the relationship between the two parties would fall apart just eight months after his arrival - but not before Angle could get his hands on the NWA gold.
Factually, Kurt Angle’s time with the NWA Championship lasted less than a week. Technically, the victory is far from that simple. On the day of TNA Sacrifice in 2007, the NWA officially withdrew from their association with TNA. As such the NWA stripped all TNA talent of their NWA championships, making Christian Cage’s NWA Title defence that night effectively null and void.
Nevertheless, the belt itself was still in the possession of TNA and “Captain Charisma” defended the NWA Title as planned. Angle defeated Cage and Sting in a Three-Way main event to walk away with the NWA gold in hand yet, despite leaving with the NWA Championship, the win itself is not currently recognised by the NWA.
The NWA has a history of retroactively validating title wins, so whether or not this decision stands remains to be seen. With an ironclad pedigree as one of the greatest amateur wrestlers in US history, Kurt Angle is the ultimate blueprint for what an NWA Champion should be. If the NWA were to validate Angle's win, adding an Olympic Gold medalist to their list of official champions would benefit the NWA most of all.