10 WWE Stars Who Were Fired For Unprofessional Conduct

3. Kurt Angle Is Fired For His Own Good

One of the greatest and most intense workers in professional wrestling history, Kurt Angle has had his fair share of problems over the years. In 2006, Angle was running on fumes, his body falling apart. Suffering from injuries to his neck, hamstring, groin and abdomen, alongside many other signs of physical wear and tear, Angle had also failed a drug test (allegedly, for a prescription drug), and was well known to have an addiction to the painkillers that were pretty much the only thing keeping him upright, never mind wrestling.

All that was bad enough, but Angle wouldn'€™t stop. He'€™d been advised to retire by doctors before Wrestlemania XIX, over three years earlier, due to his physical condition. Scaling down his style in the ring, reducing and rearranging his schedule, some forced vacations, not to mention a whole lot of high quality medical help from top neck specialist Dr. Hae-Dong Jho, and of course a whole lot of pills, had somehow kept him afloat and wrestling, not just well, but incredibly well. But not without cost.

Angle had begun acting strangely around colleagues and crew backstage. Various complaints had been made about his behaviour, which at times apparently bordered on being utterly unacceptable€ signs that his dependency on painkillers and other prescription medication was reaching intolerable levels. Angle and his manager were asked to attend a meeting at WWE€™'s Stamford offices in August 2006, where a sad but determined Vince McMahon would tell him that they were releasing him from his contract early.

Despite being highly respected for his talents, and highly valued for his contribution to WWE for seven years, they were letting him go because they considered that his physical condition made him a liability in the ring, and his conduct made him a liability backstage. They could not longer ethically countenance employing him to continue as a WWE superstar. Angle would beg them to reconsider -€“ one report has him bursting into tears as he was fired €“- but McMahon would not change his mind.

Angle would, only a month or so later, sign with TNA instead. The much reduced schedule allowed him time to rest between matches, which in turn allowed him to extend the lifespan of his wrestling career for years to come. Some say that this would again be at the expense of his health, and certainly further problems with drugs and alcohol, including an effect on his behaviour, would follow.