If you had asked me six months ago that Kurt Angle would no longer be working for the WWE in September, I would have never believed you.
Above all news in the last few weeks, Kurt Angle and the WWE’s relationship has been the most talked about. It’s no secret to anyone who can legally see, that Kurt pushes himself 1000% each and every time he performs, whether it be a house show or a pay per view. Eventually, that will take a toll on you, and it has on Kurt’s body and everyday routine. Despite what has been said and implied, no one really knows what happens in that room other than Kurt, his agent and the WWE. Was Kurt forced off the road by the WWE for his own good? Has Kurt come to terms with the fact he must slow down and heal before he can come back? How mutual was it?
However, Kurt says he’s not done in his quest to be the best wrestler ever. He is taking this time off to work on his relationship with his family and do something that is foreign to most people in the wrestling business: to rest.
It would do wonders for morale, for the spirit of the wrestling condition, if the wrestling business would give some designated time for their talent to have a life outside of their companies, spend time with their family and friends off the road and to rest their bodies from the grueling road life. The hardest thing for a wrestler to deal with is, however, is time off because they are so trained to be “on” all the time, and to keep going, town to town, performing even if they have a family at home to support. Supporting a family is the other battle in a wrestler’s minds, less dates means less money, so even though it would be a change to their lifestyles to have designated time off, they would come home with less money in a year then they normally do.
The business, the way it is set up, requires a wrestler to make his life existence around the business. To get up and train, eat a balanced diet, be accessible to fans no matter how good or bad their day is, to perform and then go “home” which is a hotel, nurse their bruises and pains without complaint, and try to come down from the natural exhilaration of performing without being tempted by drugs, alcohol or sex. This happens at least five days a week for talent in the WWE. The fans have accepted this system that the wrestling business has set up for their employees, as grueling as it is, because there isn’t a public outcry from talent saying they need to stop touring so hard. If you are working in the wrestling industry, you only know one thing: you just keep going.
Kurt Angle has always been the first wrestler I’ve named as my favorite and one of the best in the history of the industry. It has always been his drive to achieve and excel above his already high goals that I have admired him about him. What you see is what you get about Kurt Angle’s intensity and standards for himself. I keep a poster of Kurt Angle from his Olympic career in my home and I see it everyday – the quote speaks to exactly who Kurt is as a person:
“I set no limitations. Therefore I am a champion. Train like there is no tomorrow!” – Kurt Angle
If anyone has seen the Olympic training videos of Kurt Angle or read his autobiography, Kurt has always been this way. Kurt Angle knows no other way to live his life, he could NEVER ask himself to be any less than the best. The WWE can’t ask Kurt to slow down or to stop, whether it is in his best interests or not, that decision is entirely Angle’s to make for himself.
I do hope that Kurt will come back, rested and ready physically, mentally and emotionally, to be the very best for his own personal standards. Kurt has already met my own.
Always remember, for things to change, you have to make movement. I am taking a mini-vacation to New York City until September 17th, everyone take care. Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
