Real Name: Kurt Angle
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 220 lbs
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Titles Held: WWF European Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship, 2000 WWF King of the Ring, WWF Heavyweight Championship, WCW Heavyweight Championship
Federations Worked With: World Wrestling Federation
Finishing Manuevers: Olympic Slam
Wrestling Aliases: Kurt Angle


Career Sketch

Kurt Angle is a man that just may be the future of the WWF. He is charismatic, talented, and became a main event player in the WWF in less than 6 months in the pro wrestling business. He is an outstanding athlete, and he can prove it by showing you his gold medals from the 1996 Olympics. This is his story.

Always a great athlete, Kurt Angle got his first taste of gold in 1995, when he won a world ametuer wrestling championship. His road to Olympic gold however, was very rocky. In January of 1996, his coach and patron saint Dave Schultz, was murdered, in preparation for the Olympics, he pulled a muscle in his leg, but it didn't stop him. He got to the finals where he was matched up in the 220-pound class against Iranian Abbas Jadidi, this was perfect movie material, the small USA man fighting against a big evil Iranian. After many rounds, and a brutal eight minute overtime, after much deliberation, the refs chose Angle for the victory. Jadidi took it very sorely, and refused his silver medal for a time, but that didn't matter, as Kurt was the Olympic Gold medalist, in Atlanta of all places.

Angle was now a national hero, so he tried many fields to promote himself, but his fame did not last, so neither did that work, thats when Kurt turned to the exact opposite of what got him his gold, pro wrestling. In October of 1998, Kurt signed a five year deal with the WWF, and immediately began training with Dory Funk, Jr.

Angle spent over a year in Memphis and wrestled dark matches until the WWF put him on TV in March of 1999. American hater Tiger Ali-Singh was once again bashing the USA, when he offered $500 to any American who would blow their nose on the flag, and he chose a man out of the crowd. The man just happened to be a former Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle. Angle began to blow his nose, but then slammed Singh, getting a huge pop from the crowd.

After that Sunday Night Heat appearance, Angle returned to simply dark matches and Memphis. In the fall of 1999, the WWF began airing Kurt Angle vignettes, where he bragged about his Olympic accomplishments, and his "Three I's: Intensity, Intellegence, Integrity."

Kurt debuted at the 1999 Survivor Series to a rousing round of boos, because of his vignettes. However he handily defeated Shawn Staziak. He went on over the next few weeks, and eventually, formed a strange alliance with Steve Blackman, whos interference was keeping Kurt undefeated. Things went on like this until around the 2000 Royal Rumble, where Blackman had left Angle. Triple H booked Angle against a mystery opponent, HHH hated Angle because his wife Stephanie had a crush on Kurt. At Royal Rumble, Angle's opponent turned out to be a debuting Tazz, who destroyed Angle, and knocked him out with the Tazzmission. However, Angle claimed the chokehold was illegal, so he kept his undefeated record.

After a few more weeks undefeated, Angle finally lost clean to The Rock. However, a short time after, Angle defeated Val Venis for his first title, the European Championship. Right after winning the Euro title, Angle challenged Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho for a title match at the No Way Out PPV. At No Way Out, Angle did cheat to win the IC title, now holding two belts, Angle considered himself the Euro-Continental Champion.

Over the next few weeks, Angle developed his own catch phrase, "It's True, It's True" and formed an alliance with Bob Backlund, who helped him keep his belts. Backlund and Angle had a falling out though, and Angle was booked for Wrestle Mania 2000 to defend his IC and Euro titles in a triple threat two fall match against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. It was a bad night for Angle, because even though he was never pinned, Benoit won the IC pinning Jericho, and Jericho the Euro pinning Benoit.

After that, Angle creeped into a feud with the Big Show, where Angle was mad at TBS's recent comedic antics, which cost Angle and Show the tag team titles. At Backlash 2000, Big Show came out parodying Hulk Hogan, and beat Angle too, it was a bad night for Kurt.

Angle began to slow down a little, and began tagging along with Edge & Christian quite a bit. At Judgment Day 2000, Angle, Edge, and Christian lost a six man tag match to Too Cool and Rikishi. Soon after that, Kurt qualified for the 2000 King of the Ring, and also began helping out Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley quite a bit.

At King of the Ring, Angle defeated Chris Jericho in the quarter finals with the help of Stephanie, he then defeated Crash Holly to advance to the finals. In the finals, Angle put on an outstanding match with Rikishi, and came out on top, the 2000 King of the Ring.

The next night, his coronation ceremony was interrupted by Shawn Michaels, to name Mick Foley the new WWF Commisioner. Foley then booked Angle and Triple H to be in a triple threat match against The Rock for #1 contendership, but Rock won this match. Angle then began to feud with the Undertaker, which brought a match between the two at Fully Loaded 2000, unfortunately, Angle did the squash to Taker.

After Fully Loaded, Angle began getting heavily involved in the Triple H- Stephanie relationship. Angle was caught many times flirting on, and advancing on Stephanie, which enraged Triple H. A match was booked for Summerslam 2000, Rock defending his WWF Title in a triple threat match against Triple H and Kurt. When the match came, Angle went down early with a concussion, but returned after the match, which Rock had won, to carry Stephanie out of the arena.

Angle was finally booked against Triple H one-on-one at Unforgiven 2000, but Triple H became the one to win the match. However, the next night, Angle defeated Triple H to become #1 Contender to Rock's WWF Title. In the next few weeks, because she was so angry at Triple H, Stephanie agreed to become Kurt's "Buisness Advisor," basically accompanying him to the ring. At No Mercy 2000, after loads of interference by Triple H, Riksihi, Stephanie, Angle defeated The Rock to become the WWF Champion for the first time, tailing off the best rookie year in WWF History, the three big singles titles, PPV Main Events, and the King of the Ring.

After No Mercy, Angle was now the most hunted man in the WWF. The Undertaker was the first man Angle was to face on PPV for his WWF Championship. When Survivor Series 2000 rolled around, Angle-Taker was set as the main event for the WWF Title. It appeared Taker had it won, when strange controversy occurred. Undertaker pinned what was thought to be Kurt, and Taker was believed to be the WWF Champion. However, Kurt then appeared outside the ring, and ended up pinning Taker for the win. The next night it was revealed that Taker had pinned Eric Angle, Kurt's brother, as Eric had hidden under the ring waiting for an opportune moment.

Obviously unhappy with Angle as the Champion, Mick Foley booked Angle to defend his WWF Title at Armageddon in what was billed to be the most brutal match in WWF History, a 6-Man Hell in the Cell match, with Angle against Steve Austin, Triple H, Undertaker, Rikishi, and The Rock. When Armageddon came, Austin was favored to leave the PPV with the WWF Championship. However, the cards definitely fell Angle's way, after big injuries to Hemsley and Rikishi, Angle took advantage of a situation, with Austin out of the ring, Angle was able to sneak a quick pin on Undertaker to retain the WWF Championship.

A few weeks after Armageddon, Angle defended against Steve Austin, and it was a great match for Raw. It went back and forth, and Austin appeared to be primed for a win when Triple H returned from Armageddon injuries and saved the belt for Kurt. A little later, Kurt was booked to defend his championship against Helmsley at the 2001 Royal Rumble. Just like at the Raw of weeks earlier, Kurt appeared to be ready for a loss when Austin returned HHH's favor and saved the title for Angle. Kurt made it out of another title match unscathed.

It appeared that the main event for Wrestlemania XVII would be Kurt Angle defending his WWF title against Austin the main event, but after a booking, Angle would have to get through The Rock at No Way Out 2001 to get to Wrestlemania. As was predicted by many, Angle's title reign came to an end at No Way Out, as Rock defeated Angle, setting up the Rock-Austin match all wanted.

After a few weeks of being a man without a feud, Kurt was placed in one with Chris Benoit. It was a decient feud, and provided many tag matches with Angle teaming with William Regal to take on Benoit and Jericho. At Wrestlemania, Angle defeated Benoit. However, the feud was not over, as it was continued in the weeks following Wrestlemania, with Angle being booked to take on Benoit in a 30 minute master of submissions match at Backlash 2001. This was a much better match than Wrestlemania, however, it resulted in a Benoit win.

This feud wasn't over yet though, Benoit stole Angle's gold medals which of course, infuriated Angle. The two were then booked for a 2 out of 3 falls match at Judgment Day 2001. Benoit won the first fall, a regular pinfall match. Angle, took the second, a submission match. Angle then took the third, a ladder match, and got his medals back in the process.

The next night, Kurt attempted to reenact his gold medal ceremony, but was interrupted by WCW owner Shane McMahon, who tried to cut a pro-WCW promo, and got an Olympic Slam for his efforts. Kurt would have a busy King of the Ring 2001, as not only would he be taking on Shane in a Greenwich Street fight, but he would also be defending his King of the Ring crown.

Kurt's first match of the night was the first round of the KOTR, and with help from Edge, Angle defeated Christian, setting up the Angle-Edge final. This took place, and with Christian's help, Edge defeated Kurt to become 2001 King of the Ring, but Kurt had bigger fish to fry. He took on Shane-O-Mac in the street fight, and with lots of bumps and action, Angle defeated McMahon.

The next night, Angle began hanging around with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon. Angle and Austin went to WWF New York to beat up WCW Champ Booker T for Vince, but Booker had gone to Raw, and he and Shane beat up Vince. Angle and Austin became major players in the weeks to come in the WWF vs WCW war. After time, WCW merged with ECW to form The Alliance, and WWF would take on The Alliance the first ever Invasion PPV. Angle would be on team WWF in the main event along with Austin, Jericho, and Kane & The Undertaker. The match went to hell when Austin gave the stunner to Kurt, turning on the WWF.

Angle became the WWF's #1 Face with Rock gone, and Austin with The Alliance. After being on the losing end in a tag team table match with Edge & Christian against The Alliance, things changed for Angle. On Smackdown, Angle took on Booker T for the WCW Title, and despite Alliance/WWF brawling, and the interference of Austin, Angle defeated Booker and became WCW Champion.

That brings me to today, Angle is one of the brightest young stars in the business, no one has entered wrestling like he has. He has already had one of the most remarkable careers in WWF history. The sky is the limit for this young man.

Pat McGregor
Send feedback to PatMcGregor@tpww.net

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