Kurt Angle had one of the best rookie years in WWF history after his debut at the 1999 Survivor Series. He defeated Val Venis on Smackdown! in February of 2000 to win the European Championship, and added the Intercontinental Championship (to become the Euro-Continental Champion) with a victory at No Way Out over Chris Jericho. Even when Angle lost the two titles, he wasn't pinned: he dropped the European to Chris Jericho and the Intercontinental to Chris Benoit in a triple-threat match at WrestleMania 2000, when the two Chrises pinned each other in two-straight falls. After dropping the titles, Angle added a touch of silliness to his athletic prowess, forming a loose teaming of sorts with Edge and Christian. But even that layer of "goof" was covering his growing layer of professional wrestling skills, and that continued into the 2000 King of the Ring. Angle defeated Jericho, Crash Holly, and Rikishi that night to win the crowd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMM8763IOr8 Angle was the first King of the Ring winner since Mable in 1995 to wear the crown to the ring as part of his gimmick following the tournament victory. And on the accomplished, Olympic gold-medalist's head, it looked out-of-place; it looked ridiculous; but it worked, because Kurt Angle made it work. Angle made winning the tournament seem like a big deal, and it was those skills combined- wrestling, comedy, and believing in all the aspects of his character- that launched him towards the WWF Championship, which he won from The Rock that year at No Mercy, 11 months and eight days after his debut against Shawn Stasiak at Survivor Series 1999.
The 'House is a father of two and husband of one in Minnesota. He is an improv comedian, and in his spare time follows WWE, MLB, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. Growing up he was a huge fan of He-Man, and refuses to believe that it was in fact terrible.
