5 current wrestlers with a legit amateur background

WWE's large roster contains dozens of talented professional wrestlers, each unique in their own way. As pro wrestlers, they all put on a great display of character, technical abilities and risks.However, how many of these professional wrestlers come from an amateur background? If you're unfamiliar with what this means, amateur wrestling is not the same as backyard wrestling.Amateur wrestling accounts for competitive wrestling that isn’t storied or scripted. College, high school and even Olympic wrestling count as amateur wrestling, and the following article looks at five wrestlers who have had a documented amateur career, before they headed into professional wrestling, where they made a global name for themselves.Interestingly, two of the entries on this list wrestled together on the amateur stage.  

#1 Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle wears his gold medals

Probably the most widely known former amateur wrestler, Kurt Angle has had wrestling in him for a long time.

Initially wrestling from the age of seven, Angle wrestled through high school, and at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where he won the NCAA Championship twice. That was only the tip of the iceberg, though, as he had many more accomplishments to boast.

These include:

1. Three-time NCAA Division I All-American
2. 1987 USA Junior Freestyle Champion
3. Two-time USA Senior Freestyle Champion

Angle went on to wrestle post-college, and in 1996, he wrestled for the United States wrestling team in Summer Olympics.

There was controversy surrounding his training for it, in which his trainer was murdered, and he had several injury problems along the way, but he secured a gold medal. Before this, he won another gold medal at the Wrestling World Championships, in 1995.

Shortly after this, Angle signed a contract with Extreme Championship Wrestling and hasn’t looked back since.

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