Pulse Wrestling’s Top 100 Wrestlers of the Modern Era: #9 – Kurt Angle

Features, Top 100, Top Story

9. KURT ANGLE

Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Debut: 1992 (amateur), 1999 (professional)
Titles Held: IWGP Third Belt; PPW Heavyweight; TNA World Heavyweight (2x); TNA World Tag Team (with Sting); TNA X Division; WCW United States; WCW World; WWE World; WWF/WWE Heavyweight (4x); WWF European; WWF Intercontinental; WWE Tag Team (with Chris Benoit)
Other Accomplishments: 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist in freestyle wrestling; 1987 Pennsylvania State wrestling champion; 1988 Clarion University Freshman of the Year; FILA Junior World Freestyle champion in 1988; USA Junior Freestyle wrestling champion in 1987; NCAA Division I All-American for 1990, 1991, and 1992; NCAA Division I champion for 1990, 1991, and 1992; USA Senior Freestyle champion in 1995 and 1996; Winner of PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year award in 2000; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Best Gimmick award for 2000; Winner of PWI Feud of the Year award for 2000 (vs. Triple H); Winner of PWI’s Rookie of the Year award for 2000; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Most Improved award for 2000; Ranked #1 on the PWI 500 in 2001; Winner of PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year award in 2001; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award from 2001-2003; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Best on Interviews award in 2002; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Best Technical Wrestler award in 2002; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Wrestler of the Year award for 2002; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Readers’ Favorite Wrestler award in 2002 and 2003; Winner of Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Feud of the Year award in 2003 (vs. Brock Lesnar); Winner of PWI Comeback of the Year award in 2003; Winner of PWI Feud of the Year award in 2003 (vs. Brock Lesnar); Winner of PWI Match of the Year award in 2003 (vs. Brock Lesnar – September 16, 2003); Winner of PWI Most Popular Wrestler award in 2003; Winner of PWI Wrestler of the Year award in 2003; Winner of PWI Match of the Year award in 2005 (vs. Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 21); Winner of PWI Feud of the Year award in 2007 (vs. Samoa Joe); Member of USA Wrestling Hall of Fame (class of 2001); Member of Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (class of 2004)

Kurt Angle has been a wrestling machine since he first stepped onto a wrestling mat. He excelled at the mat game through high school and college, picking up two NCAA heavyweight-wrestling championships along the way. He reached the pinnacle of amateur wrestling in 1996 by winning an Olympic gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. After proving himself at that level he initially resisted moving on to the pro game.

His first foray into pro wrestling was months after his Olympic victory when he attended an ECW taping at the request of fellow Pittsburgh native Shane Douglas. Unfortunately that event saw Raven “crucify” The Sandman on a homemade cross. Angle was so disgusted by the event that he threatened to sue Heyman and ECW if he was shown on ECW TV during the same time as the “crucifixion.”

He soured on pro wrestling but was eventually wooed by the WWF in late ’98 and signed a long-term contract. Not surprisingly a natural athlete like Angle took to pro wrestling like a sponge and he was called up to the main roster just a year after signing his contract; a legit rookie in the business.

Angle debuted at Survivor Series ’99, playing up his legit Olympic background only with some over-the-top heel mannerisms. He defeated Shawn Stasiak in short order in his debut and shot up the WWF ranks very quickly. He went on a brief undefeated streak before running into the buzz saw of the debuting Tazz in January 2000. The next month he rebounded by beating Val Venis for the European Championship and then just weeks later he pinned Chris Jericho to also win the Intercontinental Championship, becoming the self-proclaimed Euro-Continental Champion. At WrestleMania 2000 he lost both belts in two-fall triple threat match to Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho without being pinned for either belt.

Through the spring of 2000 he fell into a nice upper mid-card spot, displaying his over-the-top heel mannerisms, his superb technical ability and his comedy timing, thanks to his alliance with Edge & Christian. In June 2000 he won the King of the Ring, the only man to win a 32-man tournament field. He continued his banner summer by facing Undertaker in July as part of a “young lions” triple main event at Fully Loaded and then challenged for the WWF World Championship for the first time at SummerSlam 2000.

Then at No Mercy in October 2000 he did the unthinkable by beating The Rock for the World Championship in just under a year of being on television. He defended the belt against all the top stars of the day, including Undertaker at Survivor Series, Triple H at Royal Rumble and then escaped the first (and only) six man Hell in a Cell still as Champion, an early precursor to the Elimination Chamber. Angle dropped the World Title back The Rock in February and then spent the spring battling Chris Benoit in a series of great matches.

He was integral part of the InVasion, first acting as a lieutenant on the WWF team and then its captain once Stone Cold Steve Austin deflected to the WCW side of things. It was during this time that Angle became a hero for the first time in his WWF career and ended up beating Austin for the WWF Championship in his hometown of Pittsburgh just days after the September 11 attacks. The reign wouldn’t last as he would drop the belt back to Austin just weeks later.

After the InVasion mess was settled, Angle once again become one of the company’s top heels and continued his battles with Stone Cold, The Rock and Triple H. During this time he was also able to pull out Kane’s best matches of his career, including a great undercard bout at WrestleMania X8.

Angle was the second man picked for the SmackDown brand during the initial brand expansion. He spent the spring of 2002 putting Edge on the map with a series of great matches. He then welcomed Rey Mysterio to the WWE in style and then formed an unlikely alliance with his old rival Benoit. Angle, Benoit, Mysterio, Edge and Eddie & Chavo Guerrero put on a series of spectacular free TV and pay per view matches in the fall of 2002 under the watchful booking eye of Paul Heyman. These men became lovingly known as the “SmackDown Six.” During this run Benoit and Angle became the first ever WWE Tag Team Champions, and then Angle picked up a third WWE Championship by beating The Big Show in December 2002. He and Benoit welcomed in 2003 with an absolutely fantastic Championship match at Royal Rumble ’03.

The legit wrestler then transitioned into probably his greatest rivalry, with fellow NCAA championship wrestler Brock Lesnar. They tore up the show in the main event of WrestleMania XIX where Angle dropped the Championship to Lesnar. He took some time off for a neck injury and returned in the summer. He took the belt back at Vengeance in July by beating Lesnar and Big Show in a triple threat and then defended the belt against Brock at SummerSlam. Brock ended up with the belt once again a few weeks later on SmackDown in a great 60 man Iron Man match. Angle feuded with Lesnar through the rest of the fall and then transitioned into a run against Eddie Guerrero in early 2004 after Guerrero had became WWE Champion. Angle lost to Eddie at WrestleMania XX and then became the GM of SmackDown through the spring and summer of 2004 as a way to heal more nagging injuries. He returned to the ring that summer continued his feud with Guerrero.

He remained a top card guy on SmackDown going into 2005 and started a cross-brand rivalry with Shawn Michaels that culminated in a match of the year candidate at WrestleMania 21. He was then drafted over to RAW that summer, beat Michaels in a rematch and squashed Eugene at SummerSlam. In the fall of 2005 he became the top contender for John Cena’s WWE Championship. He and Cena battled numerous times through the rest of 2005 on free TV and on PPV, but Angle was never able to win the Championship.

When Batista was injured in early 2006, Angle was hastily transferred to SmackDown to win the World Championship and replace the big man as the face of the blue brand. Angle carried SmackDown through the winter and spring of 2006 until he was then switched over to the fledgling ECW brand.

Angle was poised to take the re-launched ECW brand into a new direction, but ultimately his piling injuries and rampant drug abuse caused WWE to suspend Angle and subsequently release him unconditionally from his contract in August 2006.

On the September 2006 TNA PPV, No Surrender, it was announced that TNA had signed Angle to a long-term deal, easily the biggest signing in TNA history and one of the few legit surprise payoffs in wrestling history.

Angle instantly became the face of TNA and went on to have a great three match series with Samoa Joe before he even touched another opponent. The matches and build-up to their initial rivalry were fantastic and it was no surprise that their matches drew some of TNA’s highest buyrates.

He went on to win the TNA World Championship in May 2007, defeating fellow WWE alum Christian Cage. Ultimately he was stripped of the Title, but won it back for real a month later at TNA’s flagship King of the Mountain match. It became the Angle Show in TNA, and he even brought his wife Karen out on TV with him for constant love/hate drama. He also built an Angle Alliance with AJ Styles and Tyson Tomko.

At Victory Road, Angle, as TNA Champion, teamed with his old rival Samoa Joe, TNA X-Division Champion, to defeat Team 3-D for the TNA Tag Championships. The pair couldn’t co-exist so they battled the next month with winner take all. Angle came out of the match as the holder of every Title. In September at Turning Point, he defended all three belts in one night. He successfully defended the World Championship against Abyss, teamed with Sting to lose the Tag belts to Team Pacman and dropped the X-Title to Jay Lethal. This led to a Sting-Angle main event at TNA’s flagship event Bound For Glory in October 2007, which Sting ultimately won. A couple weeks Angle won the belt from Sting on an episode of Impact.

Angle continued to dominate the top of the card in TNA, having battles with everyone from Samoa Joe, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Kaz, Christian and his old lackey AJ Styles. In April 2008 he dropped the TNA Championship to Joe in the main event cage match at LockDown, effectively putting Joe over as a legit superstar.

In the fall of 2008, the Kurt Angle show in TNA finally gained some direction as Angle joined up with other top stars Booker T., Sting, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash to form the Main Event Mafia, the evil foils to TNA’s Frontline, a group of young stars led by Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Team 3-D and Rhino.

Angle has recently become embroiled in a personal rivalry with Jeff Jarrett, in a different take on the old wrestler versus owner angle. The interviews and matches have brought the best out of Jarrett and made him over and relevant in TNA fans’ eyes for the first time years.

In pure wrestling ability, Kurt Angle is one of the top four or five guys in wrestling history. He is a natural athlete and makes it look easy in the ring. Plus his fierce competitive spirit won’t let him have a bad match.

Yet he has never been viewed as top guy. For all those years in WWE when he was putting on the best match of the card there always a Rock or Austin or HHH who was more “important” to the company. It seemed as if Angle would only get his top card due when they needed him in a pinch. When someone was injured or in trouble, Angle would be there to fill in that min event void with ease.

It’s a shame when someone with the talent of Angle gets so easily overlooked. We here at Pulse Wrestling want to give Kurt Angle his proper due.

The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.

Mark was a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over four years, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking” commentary-style column into the Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.” He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.