What was relevant the last time Kurt Angle was in the WWE?
My favourite WWE wrestler changes on a daily basis. Yesterday, it was Kevin Owens, and today it’s Nikki Cross. There are mainstays like Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan. There are last generation’s top shelf wrestlers who I look back on fondly, like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mankind and The Hurricane. There was a stretch in the 90s where I mirrored my life to Billy Gunn’s, and last week I wore an Asuka wig to a dive bar. I change my mind a lot, is what I'm saying, and I make no apologies.
But if you held a gun to my head and told me I had to pick just one favourite wrestler of all time, it’d be hard for me to answer with anyone other than Kurt Angle. Angle was wholly original, had the pedigree, and worked the heel side so well, so quickly and for such a solid run. He’s almost impossible to argue against. He’s also got comedic timing you can’t teach.
Also read: Kurt Angle set to replace Mick Foley as RAW General Manager
I’m pretty excited about him coming back to WWE, in any role. He’ll shine wherever he ends up, assuming he does at all. It could be he gets inducted into the Hall Of Fame and is featured in future video games, and that’s it, but I doubt it. The man is too talented to waste.
Angle hasn’t wrestled (in WWE) in a long time. Like, it’s been over a decade. A lot has changed, but not just in the WWE. The whole world looked a lot different last time Kurt “YOU SUCK” Angle stepped into a WWE ring. Let us travel back and see what it was like…
In the wrestling world
WWE was basically John Cena and Edge passing the World Championship back and forth.
Kurt hadn’t held the belt in 3 years.
John Hennigan was Johnny Nitro and held the Intercontinental Championship before he was John Morrison or Johnny Mundo.
The Impact World Wrestling Championship belt did not exist.
Bam Bam Bigelow, The Fabulous Moolah, Mike Awesome, and Nancy Benoit were still alive.
Samoa Joe was a star in Ring of Honor.
CM Punk debuted in WWE.
Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis were probably doing illegal substances.
So was RVD.