Once upon a time, Kurt Angle was a pro wrestling prodigy with an Olympic gold medal and a positive attitude. It wasn't long before cracks began to appear in his shining image, though -- just as Angle took to the sport quickly, so did he take to its hyperbole. In 2002, Angle claimed that he was going to try out for the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team. Maybe this was a genuine promise -- it seemed that way at the time -- but injuries prevented him from doing so. Those same injuries, however, were still issues when he made the same promises before the 2008 and 2012 games. Of course, he never participated in any tryouts. After being released from WWE due to an alleged drug problem, Angle began to express interest in fighting for the UFC. While there's no doubt that, with the proper training, Angle could have been a success in MMA at one point, this was 2006 -- he was nearly 38, with neck injuries that greatly reduced his arm strength. Despite Angle's claims, UFC boss Dana White later revealed that he invited the former WWE Champion to compete, only for Angle to fail a physical.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
