"A shock to my fiancée" - When WWE thought Kurt Angle was gay
In 1998, Kurt Angle joined WWE. Before officially signing with the Stamford-based company, the Olympic Gold Medalist went to a training camp run by WWE's Tom Prichard and Dory Funk Jr., where he had a tryout.
In his autobiography, "It's True! It's True!" Angle revealed that everyone initially thought he was gay as he shared a room with his manager, Dave Hawk, in Stamford:
"I wasn't real comfortable about my decision. My manager, Dave Hawk, came with me to Stamford to ease some of the strain and advise me just in case they wanted to sign a deal. (...) We roomed together in Stamford and though the other guys never told me at the time, they thought we were gay. Dave would run errands for me. It's funny as hell to think back on it, because Dave was running around doing everything for me there. He'd make protein shakes. He'd rub down my neck. He was doing my laundry," he wrote.
The 6-time world champion explained that his manager was only trying to make him feel better:
"He just wanted me to feel better about being there because I was pretty uncomfortable about it. At the same time he was trying to work the Ostrim deal with the World Wrestling Federation. So everybody thought Dave and I were gay, which would have come as quite a shock to my fiancée at the time, Karen, and Dave's wife, Tracey," Angle added.
Despite being uncomfortable, Angle impressed WWE in the tryout. Hence, Jim Ross signed him to a five-year deal on his second day of training camp. The Olympic Gold Medalist later spent about a year in developmental before making his main roster debut in November 1999.
Kurt Angle takes on Owen Hart two weeks before Owen passed away in one of Kurt’s tryout matches for the WWF. WWE never released the footage til this day and there’s only one known photo of the match to date. https://t.co/usBptIB9sB
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Kurt Angle had a legendary career in WWE
After signing with the Stamford-based company, Kurt Angle spent about eight years as a regular competitor, during which he became a Grand Slam and Triple Crown Champion. However, he left the promotion in 2006 to join IMPACT Wrestling (fka TNA).
After nearly 11 years of absence, the Olympic Gold Medalist returned in 2017 to enter the WWE Hall of Fame. He also became the General Manager of Monday Night RAW.
Angle retired from in-ring competition after losing to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35. Although he later worked as a backstage producer, the company released him from his contract in April 2020 due to budget cuts. The 6-time world champion has since made several sporadic appearances on Monday Night RAW and SmackDown.
Kurt Angle's 11-year-old daughter saved his life after a jet ski accident. Check out the details here.