Kurt Angle's 10 Greatest Moments

6. “You Do Not Boo An Olympic Gold Medallist”

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WWE

The mid-match promo that would transform Kurt Angle's entire life, a simple boastful moment of frustration proved the catalyst for one of the greatest tenures in company history.

Making his debut at the 1999 Survivor Series, Angle was bolstered by a selection of knowingly obnoxious tribute videos that had aired in the weeks prior.

Focussing on his 1996 Olympic success, the vignettes intentionally hammered Angle's status as 'the most celebrated real athlete in WWE history', to the point where fans had already grown weary of his appearance before even debuting.

Fostering the growing resentment from the Attitude-era fanbase, Kurt then deliberately worked in amateur submission holds in the early portion of his first match with tackling dummy Shawn Stasiak, encouraging chants of 'boring and a chorus of boos.

Pausing after taking Stasiak down with a clothesline, an angry Kurt rolled to the floor and took to the house microphone to admonish the fans for their perceived mistreatment of him, which simultaneously triggered yet more disdain and underscored the sanctimonious character the Olympian would impressively portray in his early months with WWE.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett