How old is kurt angle the wrestler

Eventually he had me wrestle, but by then my body was arthritic. Styles and Roman Reigns. Milk challenge accepted MFers!!! Sign in.

All Sport. By Alex McCarthy. View this post on Instagram. Following this victory, Angle began preparing for the Summer Olympics under Dave Schultz at the Pennsylvanian Foxcatcher Club, training between eight and ten hours a day. Angle faced further hardships while taking part in the Olympic Trials, when he suffered a severe neck injury, fracturing two of his cervical vertebrae, herniating two discs, and pulling four muscles.

Nonetheless, Angle won the trials and then spent the subsequent five months resting and rehabilitating. By the Olympics, Angle was able to compete, albeit with several pain-reducing injections in his neck.

In the fall of , Angle stated that he temporarily became addicted to the analgesic Vicodin after injuring his neck. He won his gold medal in the heavyweight 90— kg; — lbs weight class despite his injury, defeating the Iranian Abbas Jadidi by officials' decision after the competitors wrestled to an eight-minute, one-one draw.

The bout saw Jadidi earn a point after two minutes and 46 seconds by turning Angle, and Angle earning a point of his own with a takedown after three minutes and eleven seconds. The officials' decision was protested by Jadidi. He provided guest commentary during a match between Tazz and Little Guido, but left the building after Raven "crucified" The Sandman by attaching him to a cross using barbed wire.

Loverro, Thom. He was assigned to the Power Pro Wrestling developmental territory in Memphis, Tennessee, where he began training. This angle involved Singh paying him money to blow his nose on the American flag. Angle instead blew his nose on Singh's flag and fought him off.

In the following months, he wrestled in house shows and other dark matches in preparation for his televised debut. After several weeks of vignettes, Angle made his in-ring debut on November 14, at the Survivor Series , defeating Shawn Stasiak. In his initial push, he remained undefeated for several weeks, eventually losing to the debuting Tazz at the Royal Rumble. Angle's television character was an "American hero" gimmick based on his gold medal win at the Summer Olympics.

In his promos, Angle presented himself as a role model and stressed the need to work hard to realize one's dreams, stressing the 3 I s, "Intensity, Integrity, and Intelligence". In his promos and ring entrances, Angle would always wear replicas of his gold medals around his neck.

Despite standing for many principles that are associated with fan favorites , Angle's character was arrogant, talked down to the audience, and behaved as if he thought he was better than the fans, leading to him quickly becoming a heel. He dropped both of his titles without ever conceding a fall in a two falls Triple Threat match with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho at WrestleMania The match had been agreed on to Angle's behalf by his mentor, Bob Backlund.

As a change to the intended storyline of Stephanie turning on her husband and going with Angle, he lost to Triple H at Unforgiven. With his victory over the Rock, Angle became the first wrestler to have won both an Olympic Gold medal and the World title.

He then feuded with Chris Benoit, whom he defeated at WrestleMania X-Seven but lost to him at Backlash in an Ultimate Submission match ; Benoit defeated Angle four falls to three in sudden-death overtime.

Continuing the feud, Angle again defeated Benoit in a two out of three falls match for Angle's Olympic gold medal at Judgment Day.

Angle won the third fall, a Ladder match , with the help of Edge and Christian to reclaim his gold medal. At the close of the match, Austin nailed Angle with a Stone Cold Stunner, causing him to get pinned by the other team. As part of the storyline, Angle subsequently turned into a villain again and joined the Alliance himself; during a WrestleMania X-Seven rematch between Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon , he interfered seemingly to aid Vince but instead struck the members of team WWF with a steel chair.

He remained a villain by claiming sole responsibility for the destruction of The Alliance. During this feud, Edge started the "you suck" chants every time Angle entered a WWE ring, usually in tune with Angle's entrance music.

The chants followed Angle throughout the rest of his WWE career. In the course of the feud, Angle lost a " hair versus hair " match to Edge at Judgment Day , and his head was shaved bald. Following the loss of his hair, Angle's storyline called for him to wear a wig and insult bald people, leading to a feud with Hollywood Hogan , who stripped Angle of his wig.

Angle later scored a submission victory over Hogan at King of the Ring , being the first and only person to do so. Their team was successful but problematic, as the two bickered constantly, with Benoit often fed up with Angle's over-the-top antics. While still in his third reign, Angle began a new storyline when he gained the services of manager Paul Heyman and " Team Angle ".

He then began feuding with Brock Lesnar, who had won the Royal Rumble match , after Lesnar claimed to be the new top superstar on SmackDown! On April 11, , Angle underwent neck surgery performed by Dr.

Hae-Dong Jho to repair nerve and spinal damage, calcium buildup, bone spurs, and intervertebral disc problems. Rather than have Dr. Jho remove the afflicted discs and fuse his vertebrae together, Angle opted for a less conventional surgery where Jho removed only the spurs and selected portions of the discs.

The alternative surgery reduced Angle's rehabilitation time from one year to three months. He returned as a fan favorite in June. During this time, Lesnar seemed to become an ally to Angle. Lesnar, however, secretly worked with Vince McMahon on a plot against Angle and stated that he never tolerated losing the belt to him at Vengeance. After retaining the title in a singles bout with Lesnar at SummerSlam , he dropped the title to Lesnar in an Iron Man match on an episode of SmackDown!

Angle then formed a five-man team to rival Lesnar's team at the Survivor Series , with Angle's team coming out victorious. Angle then got involved in a feud with Eddie Guerrero. Initially being a firm friend and ally to Eddie during the latter's feud with his nephew Chavo, Angle turned on him when it was announced that Guerrero, not Angle, was the number one contender for the WWE Championship.

As a response, he was made the on-screen General Manager of SmackDown! Angle continued his feud with Guerrero throughout Angle was later fired by Vince McMahon as General Manager in July , after discovering that he was faking his handicapped status.

In November , Angle initiated the Kurt Angle Invitational , a worked weekly segment where "hometown heroes" plants , challenged him to a match, with Angle promising to give his Olympic gold medal to the first person to last more than three minutes in the ring with him.

The Invitational was won by Eugene in July starting a new angle for both men. As a result, Angle faced Eugene at SummerSlam , defeating him by making him tap out to the ankle lock. On November 4, , episode of SmackDown! The winner was Chris Nawrocki, and the prize Nawrocki won was a match against Angle. During the match, Angle and Puder wrestled for position before Angle took Puder down; in the process, Puder locked Angle in a real submission hold, a kimura lock. With Puder on his back, one of two referees in the ring, Jim Korderas , quickly counted three to end the bout, but some observed that during the pin, Puder's shoulders were not on the mat.

Puder later claimed he would have snapped Angle's arm, thus making Angle tap out on national television, if Korderas had not ended the match. Following the incident, Dave Meltzer and Dave Scherer gave these comments;.

In January , Angle took part in the Royal Rumble , but was eliminated by Shawn Michaels , who had returned to the ring to eliminate in retaliation. He continued to feud with Michaels upon being drafted from SmackDown! Angle returned to the SmackDown! He retained the title against Mark Henry at the Royal Rumble. Shortly after the match, The Undertaker made his return and challenged Angle for the title. At Judgment Day, he defeated Mark Henry. Angle appeared sporadically on WWE television throughout mid On August 25, , he was granted an early release from his WWE contract due to "personal issues.

He also states that when he quit, WWE lost their very top talent, as he was at the very top of the payroll. He returned in August during the G1 Climax in two special tag matches A.

Angle's team won both matches. Angle would get the win for his team. The new signing was viewed by some as a promotion not having concern for the health of a wrestler.

The two men ended up fighting while Jarrett took the title back. Angle was then the special enforcer for the Title vs. Career match between Jarrett and Sting at Bound for Glory , but, as part of the worked finish, he took out referee Rudy Charles and assumed the referee's role for the rest of the match-up.

After Angle defeated Steiner, he was picked to lead a team of four other wrestlers against a team of Christian Cage's choice in a Lethal Lockdown match at April's Lockdown. Styles , Scott Steiner, Tomko, and Abyss. Team Angle was victorious after Jeff Jarrett hit Abyss with a gimmicked guitar full of thumbtacks and allowed Sting to score the pin. Angle was the victor of said contest by making Sting submit, who had technically just pinned Cage, and was announced as the new "World Heavyweight Champion".

The Impact! Due to the controversial finish to their match at Sacrifice, the title was declared vacant by Cornette. A tournament was held for the title which culminated in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary on June 17, Styles, and Chris Harris. He then attacked Joe after denying a request for a handshake, reigniting their feud. This would also cause Angle to fully turn heel in the process.

As part of the planned outcome of the match, Joe pinned Brother Ray of Team 3D to win both tag team belts, which he held by himself. On the following episode of Impact! While illustrating how he would take away everything important in Angle's life, Joe brought Angle's wife Karen into the fray, as she demanded a divorce.

During the match, however, Karen turned on Joe and aided her husband. As part of his next push, Angle won, gaining all the championships and becoming the second Triple Crown champion in TNA and the first to hold all three titles at the same time.

Angle then joined forces with A. After suffering a neck injury, Angle was out of action. In the storyline, he returned to Impact! Later that night, after Styles suffered a beating at the hands of Team 3D, Booker T , and Tomko, Angle added to the mugging by hitting Styles with a steel chair. At Slammiversary , Angle lost to Styles, being pinned after interference from Karen. The feud continued on the next edition of Impact!

As they both stood on the top of the ladder, the arena went dark and Jeff Jarrett's music played. When the lights turned on, Styles had a guitar and performed an Acoustic Equalizer on Angle to win the match.

Angle lost to Jarrett in this match, being pinned after taking the mandible claw from Foley and a guitar shot and Stroke from Jarrett. He started attacking other superstars backstage in order to get a rematch against Jarrett. On the first HD Impact!

Scott Steiner joined the group the following week. After weeks of torturing Jeff Jarrett to give him a rematch, Jarrett said that if Angle could defeat Rhino at the second Final Resolution of , with Mick Foley as the Special Enforcer, he would grant it. Angle defeated Rhino to earn a rematch with Jarrett at Genesis after Al Snow made a surprise appearance and distracted Foley for Angle to cheat.

At Sacrifice , Angle lost his leadership of the Mafia to Sting because of their match's stipulation. On the following edition of Impact! At No Surrender Angle lost his championship to A. Afterward, he was assaulted by the debuting Desmond Wolfe , who defeated him via knockout in a street fight the following week. At Turning Point Angle defeated Wolfe in a rematch. Wolfe managed to gain the first fall by pinning Angle following the Tower of London , but Angle forced him to tap out with the ankle lock to win the second fall.

In the final fall, which could only be won by escaping the Six Sides of Steel , Angle managed to escape first and won the match. On the January 4 , , live, three hour, Monday night edition of Impact! Angle received a shot at A. Styles' World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated in the main event of the show. Two weeks later at Genesis Angle received one last shot at the World Heavyweight Title, but was once again defeated by Styles, who turned heel with the help of Ric Flair and nailed him with the title belt.

As a result, Angle was barred from challenging for the belt as long as Styles is the title holder. Anderson , after Anderson used Angle's dog tags to bust him open. Angle promised to make Anderson suffer for disrespecting the U. At Destination X Angle defeated Anderson in a rematch.

Angle and Anderson were booked in a rubber match inside a steel cage at Lockdown. On the April 5 edition of Impact! Anderson defeated Angle in a ladder match to win possession of the key to the cage door. At Lockdown, Angle defeated Anderson in a steel cage match and afterwards announced that he would now be taking some time off from wrestling.

Angle returned on the May 20 edition of Impact! Angle, however, decided to take his name out of the running for a title shot and vowed to fight his way through the top 10 and earn his spot at the top of the company.