Kurt Angle: A true American hero

 

This article is written in wake of recent gossip doing rounds that Kurt Angle hinted at a possible WWE return. Kurt Angle, probably one of the industry’s most technically gifted wrestler,s made his highly anticipated wrestling debut in 1998.

Angle bears the credentials of being the only ‘Olympic gold medalist’ in WWE history to compete in the squared circle. Portraying himself as an American patriot and sporting the American flag in his attire, Angle stressed on the 3 I’s “Intensity, Integrity and intelligence” and soon became a crowd favourite.

Standing at just over 6 feet, Angle was never an imposing figure to start with. But he was so technically perfect with the tricks of the trade that he could make anybody submit at will. Kurt possessed a deadly armoury of moves at his disposal, ranging from the Angle lock (Ankle lock) to the German suplexes to the Angle slam.

Kurt Angle feuded with the top names in the business. His feuds with Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Edge, Hulk Hogan, Eddie Guerrero and Brock Lesnar were legendary. Edge, however, deserves special mention here for two things that stuck with Angle throughout his wrestling career. Firstly, the ‘You Suck’ chants that is synced with his entrance music even to this day and secondly, for making Angle shave his head after he lost a ‘hair vs hair’ match to Edge at Judgment Day.

Angle accomplished a lot in his wrestling career. He is, in fact, the only wrestler to be a Triple Crown winner in both WWE and TNA. He is the first man to have held WWE, ECW, TNA, IWGP and World Heavyweight championships in his career. In addition to this, he is one of the three wrestlers (Edge and Big Show being the others) to have held every currently active male championship in WWE.
Angle was always a ‘main event’ wrestler throughout his illustrious career, headlining many Wrestlemanias. He was also instrumental in launching the careers of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas who were a part of his ‘Team Angle’ stable. He retained his ‘American Hero’ gimmick for the most part of his career before being drafted to ECW, where he earned the nickname ‘The Wrestling Machine’, wearing a mouth guard and quickly squashing opponents.

He later feuded with Randy Orton before being released by the WWE due to health issues. Angle battled neck injuries throughout his wrestling career. He had two neck surgeries done too, to add to his woes. He felt overworked with his WWE schedule and signed   with Total Non stop Action. Angle has lasted in TNA now for over seven years, becoming one of their top paid stars. Angle is a five time ‘TNA world Heavyweight champion’ and two time ‘King of the Mountain’. He was also recently inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame.

It has been a season of returns in the WWE with The Rock, Brock Lesnar and Tensai all making successful comebacks. But a Kurt Angle return would be of a magnitude like none other.