10 Terrifying Transformations Caused By Wrestling

3. Raven

Kurt Angle
WWE.com/Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo

Even at his career peak, Raven was the first to admit that he'd lived a thousand lives within the single one he'd had as a successful professional wrestler. And not just because he worked his way through several different gimmicks before landing on the one that finally stuck.

It was during dominant runs in ECW and WCW that he took breaks to attempt to kick his drug and alcohol problems, and though he didn't crack them then nor in the years that followed, he did at least manage to keep working long past the demise of those promotions and his runs in WWE and TNA.

Age caught up with him in a hurry, but he remains on the peripheries of the industry to this day, appearing in the crowd at an AEW show shortly before the pandemic for a tease of something that might have been dropped as result of the world going to sh*t. Now at least wearing the weathering well, there might still be a role for a unique talent once thought mostly lost to the pro wrestling abyss.

In this post: 
Kurt Angle
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett