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Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9 1968 in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania) is an American 1996 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and a professional wrestler. He is currently performing for the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Amateur wrestling

Angle attended Mt.Lebanon High School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and won varsity letters in football and wrestling. In football, he was an All-State linebacker. In wrestling, he placed third at the state finals as a junior, and was the 1987 Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion as a senior.

Angle had an exemplary career in amateur wrestling. He was a 2-time NCAA Division I champion (1990 and 1992) and a 3-time NCAA Division I All-American while attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Angle has a tattoo of the Clarion University Golden Eagle on his upper back. He was also 1987 USA Junior Freestyle champion, 2-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and 1988 USA FILA Junior World Freestyle champion. Before Angle won his 1996 Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling, he sustained amateur wrestling losses to former PRIDE and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion Mark "The Hammer" Coleman and mixed martial arts (MMA) legend Mark Kerr.

In 1995 Kurt Angle won the gold medal at the World Championship, but he reached the pinnacle of his amateur career one year later, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, winning the 90-100 kg (198-220 pound) weight class. In WWE, Angle often gloats that he won the gold medal with "a broken freakin' neck!", exaggerating the severity of a neck injury he had sustained and healed before the event. According to the official rule book of the International Olympic Committee, no competitor will be authorized to participate in an event if they are seriously injured, unless a waiver of release form is signed.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

On October 26, 1996 Angle was convinced to attend the taping of an Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) event named High Incident by Shane Douglas. He provided guest commentary during a match between Taz and Little Guido, but walked out of the building after the infamous "crucifixion storyline" (where Raven attached The Sandman to a cross using barbed wire). Angle was shocked by the controversial imagery and feared that his career prospects would be damaged if he was associated with the incident, so much that he threatened to sue ECW owner Paul Heyman if he was shown on TV in the same broadcast as the stunt. Following this incident, Angle worked as a sportscaster in Pittsburgh, PA. During this time, Angle was very critical of professional wrestlng, possibly in light of his experience with ECW.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

In 1998, Angle was signed to a contract by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He was assigned to the Power Pro Wrestling developmental territory in Memphis, Tennessee, where he began training as a professional wrestler.

1999

In 1999, Angle began competing in dark matches for the WWF. He even appeared on an episode of Sunday Night Heat that was taped in Pittsburgh when Tiger Ali Singh tried to pay Angle to blow his nose on the American flag in front of his hometown crowd, but instead blew his nose on Singh's Indian flag. After several weeks of vignettes, he made his on-screen debut on November 14, 1999 at the Survivor Series 1999 pay-per-view, defeating Shawn Stasiak. Angle's somewhat sanctimonious character, touting morality and "the three I's" -- intensity, integrity, and intelligence -- spoofed the wholesome babyfaces of the 1980s. Angle was intended to be a heel in the anti-hero, "Attitude" era 1990s. He initially embarked on an undefeated streak, though he suffered a loss in a tag team match when his partner, Steve Blackman, was pinned by The Rock. This led to a match between the two at Armageddon 1999, which Angle won with a bridging belly to back suplex.

2000

Angle's unbeaten streak continued into 2000, when he was scheduled to face an unknown opponent at the Royal Rumble 2000. The opponent was revealed as the debuting Tazz, who rendered Angle unconscious using his Tazzmission hold. Angle claimed that the Tazzmission was an illegal choke hold, and that his streak therefore remained unbroken (he was finally beaten decisively by The Rock the following night on RAW is WAR in Angle's hometown of Pittsburgh).

Angle won the WWF European Championship on the February 10, 2000 edition of SmackDown!, defeating Val Venis. On February 27, 2000 at No Way Out 2000, Angle defeated Chris Jericho for the WWF Intercontinental Championship, and began referring to himself as the "Eurocontinental" Champion. He was the third wrestler to hold both titles at once, following D'Lo Brown (who, Angle claimed, "doesn't count") and Jeff Jarrett (rarely acknowledged on WWF television following his acrimonious departure from the company in 1999).

Veteran wrestler Bob Backlund became Angle's mentor, but, unfortunately for Angle, agreed to a match on Angle's behalf that would see him defend both his titles in a triple threat match. As this meant that Angle could potentially lose both of his titles without being beaten, he was understandably angry, and used Backlund's own Crossface Chickenwing hold on him. On April 2, 2000 at WrestleMania 2000, Angle lost his Intercontinental Championship to Chris Benoit and his European Championship to Chris Jericho without being involved in either fall.

In mid-2000, Angle joined forces with Edge and Christian to form "Team ECK". Team ECK feuded with Too Cool and Rikishi throughout mid 2000. On June 25, 2000, Angle defeated Rikishi in the finals of the sixteen man King of the Ring tournament. Immediately following his victory, Angle began a short-lived feud with Hardcore Holly that ended abruptly after Angle inadvertedly broke Holly's arm with a botched moonsault.

Angle began showing feelings for Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, with the two implictly engaging in an affair. At SummerSlam 2000 on August 27, 2000, Angle and Triple H faced The Rock in a triple threat match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. In the course of the match, Angle suffered a legitimate concussion, and was assisted from ringside. In his autobiography, Angle claims that the plan all along was to make it look like he had a concussion and be helped to the backstage area only to come back later on, but he had in fact suffered a real concussion. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley asked the groggy Angle to return to the ring to aid her husband. Angle re-entered the match, but instead of helping Triple H, attempted to win the title for himself, disrupting Triple H's momentum and enabling The Rock to retain his title. The feud between Angle and Triple H ended at Unforgiven 2000 on September 24, 2000, with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley helping her husband defeat Angle.

Following his feud with Triple H, Angle refocused on the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, finally defeating The Rock at No Mercy 2000 on October 22, 2000 following botched interference on behalf of The Rock from Rikishi and hitting the Angle Slam to get the pin. He went on to successfully defend the title at Survivor Series 2000 on November 19, 2000, with his brother Eric distracting his opponent, The Undertaker, and enabling Angle to roll-up the challenger. Angle went on to retain his title once again in a six man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon 2000 on December 10, 2000 turning back The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, The Undertaker and Rikishi.

2001

Angle retained the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a match with Triple H at the 2001 Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001, but lost to The Rock at No Way Out 2001 on February 25, 2001. Following his defeat, Angle began a feud with Chris Benoit. He prevailed over Benoit at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, but lost to Benoit in an "Ultimate Submissions" match at Backlash on April 29, 2001. The feud continued in a two out of three falls match at Judgment Day 2001 on May 20, 2001, with Angle's gold medals (which had been purloined by Benoit in the course of their feud) on the line. Angle won the second and third falls, with Edge and Christian assisting him in the third fall. On the June 11 episode of RAW, Angle and Benoit met again in a steel cage match. In a moment that would be replayed on WWE programs for years, Angle missed an attemped moonsault from the top of the cage. Angle won the match when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who joined announcer's table for the match, slammed the cage door in Benoit's face as he tried to escape, allowing Angle enough time to climb over the top to the floor. At the 2001 King of the Ring, Angle defeated Christian in the event's opening match to advance to the finals against Edge. He did this with the help of Shane McMahon, who wanted to ensure that Angle would have to wrestle another match before their street fight later in the evening. Angle lost to Edge in the finals but won the street fight when he gave Shane an Angle Slam from the top rope. Both men went to the hospital after the match.

When The Alliance invaded the WWF in mid 2001, Angle was forced to join forces with WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to repel the invaders. After Austin betrayed Angle and the WWF by joining The Alliance at WWF Invasion on July 22, 2001, Angle became a face for the first time in his career, and assumed leadership of the WWF. During this time, Angle won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (defeating Booker T), the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (defeating Rhyno) and the WWF Hardcore Championship (defeating Rob Van Dam).

After gaining a disqualification victory over Austin at SummerSlam, Angle defeated Austin for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven 2001 on September 23, 2001 by making Austin tap out to the Ankle Lock in his hometown of Pittsburgh. As a result, Angle became the second man (joining The Rock) to win the WCW and WWF world titles in the same year despite never working for WCW. However, he lost it back to Austin on the October 8, 2001 episode of RAW when WWF Commissioner William Regal turned heel and joined The Alliance. Although Angle was scheduled to team up with WWF superstars to face off against The Alliance at Survivor Series 2001, he decided to join The Alliance himself, thus turning heel once more and calling all members of Team WWF losers. At Survivor Series 2001, Angle was eliminated by The Rock. Later during the match as Austin was about to win, Angle struck Austin with the title belt which led to The Rock getting the victory. Angle then returned to the WWF and remained a sneering, patronizing, yet humorous heel.

At Vengeance 2001, Angle was one of four men to take part in the tournament to crown the first ever Undisputed Champion. After a strong battle with Austin, he became a victim of the Stone Cold Stunner and was eliminated.

2002

In 2002, Angle competed in his first Royal Rumble match, making it to the final two before being eliminated by Triple H. By the time No Way Out 2002 rolled around, Angle had gotten himself into a number 1 contender's match with Triple H where Stephanie McMahon was the special referee. After a chair shot and an Angle Slam, Angle pinned Triple H to become the number 1 contender for WrestleMania X8. However, the next night on RAW, WWF co-owner at the time, Ric Flair gave Triple H a rematch with Angle in which he defeated Angle to regain his title shot. Angle then developed a short feud with Kane. At WrestleMania X8, Kurt Angle defeated Kane.

During the next month, Angle would ignite a feud with former friend Edge. At one show, Edge told the fans that instead of chanting the "What?" catchphrase made popular by Stone Cold during Angle's promos, they should instead chant, "You Suck!" Shortly after this the fans started chanting "You Suck" at Angle at certain parts in his entrance music, a practice that continued until mid 2006 when his music was edited to remove that part of the theme music. At Judgment Day 2002 the two engaged in a "Hair vs. Hair" match in which Edge won. Although Angle tried to escape the building in order to save his hair, Edge caught him and applied a sleeper hold which knocked out Angle long enough for Edge to shave his head. Angle wore a wig along with wrestling head gear to keep it on for a few weeks following the event, claiming it to be his real hair. Angle made comments against the bald and balding, which led to multiple matches against Hulk Hogan, during which Hogan attempted to remove Angle's head gear and wig. On a particular episode of Smackdown! Kurt ditched the wig and issued a challenge to face any wrestler who he has not faced. A debuting John Cena responded to the challenge. Cena slapped Angle in the face and went on to nearly defeat Kurt. Angle has maintained his bald head since.

The following month, at King of the Ring 2002, Angle faced Hulk Hogan for the first time, winning the match via his Ankle Lock submission. While Angle was billed as being the first person to defeat Hogan via submission, Lex Luger had actually done it on WCW Monday Nitro to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1997 and later that year Sting did as well. Angle's win was Hogan's first defeat via submission on WWE programming.

Angle went on to feud with Rey Mysterio, culminating in a victory at SummerSlam 2002. Afterwards, he again feuded with Benoit. The feud ended when Stephanie McMahon forced them to form a tag team and participate in a tournament for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which Benoit and Angle won to become the first WWE Tag Team Champions.

Angle went on to his third WWE Championship reign, defeating Big Show in December at Armageddon, thanks to the help of Brock Lesnar and the F-5. Angle then turned heel again by hiring Paul Heyman, who was feuding with Lesnar at the time.

On the December 26, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, as a Christmas 'gift' to his new client, Paul Heyman gave Kurt Angle his own back-up team, Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin, who debuted that night under the name Team Angle.

2003

Angle defeated Benoit to retain the WWE Championship at the 2003 Royal Rumble. He lost his title to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX in March and turned face by congratulating and befriending Lesnar immediately afterward.

Angle seriously considered trying to make a comeback to freestyle wrestling for the 2004 Summer Olympics, but he abandoned that plan late in 2002 when neck problems that dated back to his past amateur wrestling career recurred.

In mid-2003, Angle opted for a new type of neck surgery that allowed him to return in three months rather than a year. During this time Angle would gain respect from the audience, and told them that he was proud of the "You Suck!" chants. Team Angle, however, turned on him. Angle told his former protégées that he "earned" the "You Suck" chants, and kicked them out of his group. Haas and Benjamin later re-dubbed themselves "The World's Greatest Tag Team".

Angle regained the WWE Championship to begin his fourth title reign in a triple threat match at Vengeance against Big Show and Lesnar after hitting the Angle Slam on Lesnar. Lesnar turned on Angle a few weeks later by aligning himself with Mr. McMahon. At SummerSlam 2003, Angle became the first of only two men to ever make Lesnar tap out, getting the submission victory with the Ankle Lock. Lesnar eventually regained the title in September in a 60 minute Iron Man Match on SmackDown!.

2004

In March 2004, Angle's neck problems returned again and he feared the possibility of career-ending surgery. For a time, he considered having an operation similar to the one he had in 2003, but has decided against it for the time being.

At No Way Out 2004, Kurt Angle defeated Big Show and John Cena in a Triple Threat match to become the Number 1 Contender to the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX. After his short feud with Eddie Guerrero leading up to WrestleMania XX, and turning heel once again, Angle played the role of general manager on SmackDown!. This change came after Angle was thrown off a 25-foot high ledge by Big Show with a chokeslam and claimed he could no longer wrestle again (this was a storyline to allow Angle to recover from his recurring neck injury yet still participate in WWE shows). During his tenure as general manager, Angle regularly favored heels over faces, and attempted to get John Cena "fired" for misconduct. He also stripped John Cena of the WWE United States Championship. After costing Guerrero a WWE Championship match against John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Angle was "fired" from that position when his career-ending injury was proved to be fake. He returned to the active roster during SmackDown! on July 29, 2004 where he defeated former student Charlie Haas with the Ankle Lock. Angle then went on to defeat Eddie Guerrero at SummerSlam 2004 again using the Ankle Lock.

On November 16, 2004, Angle kicked off the "Kurt Angle Invitational." This meant that, at every location where SmackDown! took place, he would allow a "hometown hero", all of whom have been local professional wrestlers, to challenge him to a match. If that person defeated Angle, he would award them with his authentic 1996 Olympic gold medal.

2005

At the 2005 Royal Rumble, Angle was eliminated from the Rumble match by Shawn Michaels and later dumped Michaels over the top rope to eliminate him in retaliation. Meanwhile, other attempts to capture the WWE Championship came when Kurt Angle and United States Champion John Cena were the finalists of a #1 contenders' match. Cena defeated Angle at No Way Out 2005.

As a result of what happened at the Royal Rumble, Michaels issued a challenge to Angle for a match at WrestleMania 21, which Kurt Angle accepted when he appeared on RAW to attack Michaels. Angle defeated Michaels by submission with the Ankle Lock at WrestleMania 21 on April 3, 2005 in what many consider to be one of the greatest matches of all time.

On the May 12, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, Angle cut a promo about Booker T's wife Sharmell, saying he wanted to have "bestiality sex" with her and then "that kind of perverted sex." At Judgment Day 2005 on May 22, 2005 he lost the resulting match with Booker T. Angle then gave Booker T an Angle Slam, and went after Sharmell with handcuffs. Unfortunately for Angle, Booker T stopped him and handcuffed him to the ropes, and let Sharmell slap Angle in the face and kick him between the legs.

On June 13, 2005 Angle became the second person to be drafted from SmackDown! to RAW in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. His feud with Shawn Michaels ended at Vengeance 2005, losing to the HeartBreak Kid. Angle went on to face Ric Flair for the very first time on June 27, 2005 episode of RAW, winning the match with an Ankle Lock.

He continued the "Kurt Angle Invitational" and two weeks in a row defeated Matt Striker to retain his gold medal. The July 25, 2005 RAW saw the end of the Invitational when the returning Eugene survived three minutes against Angle to win his gold medal, becoming the only successful challenger in the event. Eugene then started "The Eugene Invitational" to begin on the August 1 RAW episode, the first edition of which Angle interfered in. On the August 8 RAW episode Angle lost to Eugene in his home town attempting to get the medal back. Angle and Eugene met again at SummerSlam 2005, where Angle regained his Olympic gold medal with the Ankle Lock.

On August 22, 2005 Angle was revealed as the number one contender for John Cena's WWE Championship. Angle defeated John Cena by disqualification in the main event of Unforgiven, as Cena struck Angle with his WWE Title belt. Angle attacked Cena after the match, only to be given an F-U through the Spanish announce table. He was almost awarded the title the next night on RAW by Eric Bischoff, but Vince McMahon intervened.

After Daivari helped Angle defeat Shelton Benjamin on the November 21, 2005 RAW, Angle announced Daivari would be his personal referee and the special guest referee for his upcoming match with Cena for the WWE Championship at the 2005 Survivor Series. Cena won the match after SmackDown! referee Charles Robinson counted the fall.

On the December 12, 2005 edition of RAW, Angle defeated Ric Flair to gain a spot in an Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution 2006 for the WWE Championship. He qualified to enter the chamber third on the December 26 edition of RAW.

2006

At New Year's Revolution 2006, Angle was the first man eliminated after getting hit with Sweet Chin Music from Shawn Michaels. During the January 13, 2006 edition of SmackDown! at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Angle was announced as the 20th participant in a 20 man Over-the-Top Battle Royal for the World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated earlier that night due to injuries suffered by the former champion Batista in a match the previous week. Angle would go on to win the battle royal and the World Heavyweight Championship, last eliminating Mark Henry.

On the January 16, 2006 episode of RAW, Angle competed in his final match on that brand in a non-title match with Shawn Michaels where if Michaels lost, he would be released from his contract immediately. However, Daivari's interference backfired, and Michaels was able to keep his job by rolling Angle up for the pin. Post-match, an extremely irate Angle confronted Daivari and fired him as his manager and Angle Slammed him over the top rope, thus starting a face turn.

Angle successfully defended his World Heavyweight Title against Mark Henry at the 2006 Royal Rumble and against The Undertaker at No Way Out 2006. At WrestleMania 22, Angle lost his World Heavyweight Championship title in a Triple Threat Match against Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton without getting pinned when Mysterio pinned Orton. This marked the second WrestleMania where Angle had lost a championship without actually being pinned, and the third championship he lost without being pinned, as his European Championship and Intercontinental Championship were both on the line in the previous match.

Angle went on to fight in the 2006 King of the Ring tournament. Angle qualified in the first round by defeating Randy Orton (and breaking Orton's ankle, in kayfabe, after the match). However, due to an broken rib injury caused by Mark Henry, Angle had to forfeit his second round match to Booker T. Angle made a surprise return on the May 12, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, demanding a match with Henry. Since Angle wasn't cleared to wrestle, general manager Theodore Long booked the match for Judgment Day 2006. Kurt Angle came up short in the match, when he was splashed into the ring post outside which led into a countout victory for Mark Henry. After the match Angle hit Mark Henry with a steel chair and slammed him through the announcer's table.

On the May 29 episode of RAW, Angle was announced by Paul Heyman as the SmackDown! draft pick for the revived ECW. Three days later, on the June 2, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, Angle defeated World Champion, Rey Mysterio in what was billed Angle's "farewell" match. Angle left SmackDown! after this but not before first issuing an open challenge to anyone who wanted to face him at ECW One Night Stand 2006, stating that he did not care if the challenger was from a "four-sided, six-sided or eight-sided ring". His challenge was accepted by the returning Randy Orton on the June 5, 2006 episode of RAW. Angle went on to defeat Orton at One Night Stand. A rematch between the two was held under WWE rules at Vengeance 2006, where Angle lost to Orton.

Wrestling facts

  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famer (inducted in 2004)
  • 2000 Most Improved Wrestler
  • 2000 Best Gimmick
  • 2001 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 2002 Wrestler of the Year
  • 2002 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 2002 Best Interviews
  • 2002 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 2002 Match of the Year (with Chris Benoit, versus Edge and Rey Mysterio)
  • 2003 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 2003 Feud of the Year (versus Brock Lesnar)

Personal life

Angle is married to Karen, with whom he has a daughter, Kyra Marie who was born on December 2,2002. Angle has four older brothers, including Eric, also a wrestler, and one late sister, the latter of whom died due to heart complications, a problem for several Angle family members. His father was killed in a construction accident, and Angle dedicated his autobiography, "It's True, It's True" to him as a result. Angle claimed in an interview that, following the death of his father, he regarded his wrestling coach as a paternal figure. He also became a born again Christian.

Angle is a graduate of Clarion University, where he received a degree in Geography and won two national titles.

Angle's older brother Eric has appeared with WWE on occasion, normally in order to impersonate Angle. Eric posed as Kurt during his WWF Championship title defense against The Undertaker at the 2000 Survivor Series, enabling Angle to roll-up his confused opponent, and switched places with Kurt during a title defense against Brock Lesnar on SmackDown! in 2003.

Angle has announced in several interviews that he intends to pursue an acting career after he retires from professional wrestling.

Books

  • Angle, Kurt and Harper, John (2001) It's True! It's True!, ISBN 0060393270

Videos

  • Kurt Angle: It's True! It's True! (VHS)

References

External links

1968 births | American professional wrestlers | Born-again Christians | Living people | Olympic wrestlers of the United States | People from Pittsburgh | Professional wrestling executives | Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics | Olympic athletes who wrestled professionally

كرت آنغل | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle | קורט אנגל | Conradus Anglus | Kurt Angle | カート・アングル | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle | Kurt Angle

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Kurt Angle".

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