10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Kurt Angle
4. Alleged PED Usage
No party has ever been able to prove that Kurt Angle illegally abused performance-enhancing drugs, but just like those affair rumours, it only takes a single allegation to cast a shadow over someone's reputation.
The stories first surfaced in March 2007, when Sports Illustrated found the former WWE Champion's name on a list of clients at a Floridian facility suspected of distributing PEDs to athletes. They alleged that Angle had been distributed two separate anabolic steroids, but Kurt was quick to shoot them down, issuing the following statement on his official website:-
"I did not improperly receive prescriptions. It is well documented that in my career I have broken vertebrae in my neck on five occasions and each time the course of treatment was under the care and supervision of my doctors. Any attempt to link me to the athletes in the current news accounts who may have improperly sought performance-enhancing drugs is without foundation."
Neither side presented an inarguable case, but Kurt was suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy one year prior. Angle failed a steroid test for allowing his nandrolone prescription to expire, attributing this to working hurt and not being allowed time off to heal his many ailments, but rules are rules, and he fell short. Still, the prescription's existence suggests the situation wasn't as wretched as SI suggested.