10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Nov 28)

3. Kurt Angle Turned Down Million Dollar Deal With The WWF In 1996

Winning a Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Kurt Angle was hot news that Summer. Ranked as the best Amateur wrestler in the entire world, the man was courted by the pro wrestling industry relatively quickly. His first appearance would oddly come for the original ECW, but Angle was horrified by a crucifixion angle between Raven and The Sandman. Right there and then, any chance of Kurt signing a deal with the extreme promotion was cancelled. As it turns out, he also had another contract offer on the table, this time from Vince McMahon's WWF. Raven told Chris Jericho on 'Talk Is Jericho' that Angle had a deal pending with the WWF. In 1996, the company hired another Olympian, Mark Henry. The power lifter was viewed by McMahon as a top prospect, and he wanted to give Kurt Angle the same treatment. The offer was in excess of one million dollars annually, but Angle pulled out of the negotiations. It must have been irritating for McMahon to then hear that his top target was appearing for Paul Heyman in ECW. As aforementioned, that idea didn't last long. It wasn't until October, 1998 that the WWF finally convinced Angle to put pen to paper on a bumper contract. By that time, he had already ignored previous offers.