10 Times WWE Went Further Than The Attitude Era

4. ...As Does Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle Sharmell
WWE.com

Angle was essentially a puppet here.

You can just tell from his cadence that this was a storyline very close to Vince McMahon's insane heart. The way Angle spoke was identical to that Vince used in the imagined pitch meeting: the spaces between the words for...dramatic...effect, the idea that...Angle was so strangely ravenous that...he...had to...collect those dark...thoughts...

He growled at the exact times Vince would growl, too.

"Bestiality sex" became bestiality sex or perhaps even bestiality sex.

Kurt Angle wanted to f*ck Booker T's wife Sharmell, but he wasn't interested in your garden variety intercourse. No: he wanted to really maul her. He wanted that perverted sex.

The problem is that Sharmell wasn't remotely interested in Angle's advances - even after he tried to woo her by calling her a "gutter sl*t"! - and an intense machine of a hard bastard who could draw heat with one beat-down was essentially repackaged as a sexual offender. Because...WWE was really, really into that sort of thing for a while there.

This company's stated mission statement is to "put smiles on people's faces".

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!