Kurt Angle

He is best known for his tenure in the WWF, now WWE. Angle was involved in amateur wrestling during both high school and college. In college at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, he won numerous accolades, including being a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champion. After graduating, he won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships. Angle then competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he won a gold medal in heavyweight freestyle wrestling. He is one of only four people to complete a Grand Slam in amateur wrestling (junior nationals, NCAAs, World Championships and the Olympics). In 2006, he was named the single greatest shoot wrestler and one of the top 15 college wrestlers of all time by USA Wrestling.

Angle made his first appearance at a professional wrestling event in 1996, with his in-ring debut following in 1998. He had previously turned down an offer to join the WWF, but signed a multi-year contract with the company that year, and participated in his first televised storyline in March 1999. After months of unaired matches, Angle made his official debut that November and received his first major push in the company in February 2000, when he held the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship simultaneously. Four months later he won the King of the Ring tournament, and not long after, began pursuing the WWF Championship, which he won in October; this capped off a rookie year which is considered by many as the greatest in sports entertainment history.

Throughout his tenure in the company, Angle was a six-time world champion (a four-time WWF/E Champion, a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time WCW Champion), and he also held the WCW United States Championship, Intercontinental Championship, European Championship, Hardcore Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship once each. He is the tenth Triple Crown Champion, and the fifth Grand Slam Champion.

After leaving WWE, Angle joined TNA, where he became a six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, a two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion and a one-time TNA X Division Champion, the second Triple Crown winner in TNA history and the only one to hold all the required titles at once. While in TNA, his then real-life wife Karen began accompanying him to the ring and playing a part in his on-screen storylines. As part of TNA, Angle has also made appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as well as Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), where he held their version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Angle is the only wrestler in history to be a Triple Crown winner in both WWE and TNA. He is the first man to have held the WWE, WCW, TNA, IWGP, and World Heavyweight Championships in his career. Angle is also a two-time King of the Mountain winner, winning at the 2007 and 2009 Slammiversary pay-per-view event, making him the only wrestler to have been both King of the Ring (WWE) and King of the Mountain (TNA). Between WWE, TNA, and Japan, Angle has won 12 world championships and 20 total championships. In 2010, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Angle the Wrestler of the Decade of the 2000s, and in 2013 he became the second inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame.

Former opponent and industry veteran John Cena said of Angle’s legacy within WWE: “He is, without question, the most gifted all-around performer we have ever had step into a ring. There will never be another like him.”

Notable Matches

vs. Brock Lesnar on Smackdown, September 16th 2003

w/ Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio at No Mercy 2002

vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 21

vs. Chris Benoit at Royal Rumble 2003

vs. Steve Austin at Summerslam 2001

vs. The Undertaker at No Way Out 2006

vs. Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2006

Notable Feuds

vs. Triple H

vs. Brock Lesnar

vs. Samoa Joe

vs. Chris Benoit

vs. Steve Austin

w/ Chris Benoit vs. Los Guerreros vs. Edge & Mysterio

vs. Shawn Michaels

Amateur Wrestling Achievements

Canadian Cup Championship: Winner (1990)

Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion (1987)

Clarion University Freshman of the Year (1988)

Espoir: Runner-up (1989)

FILA Junior World Freestyle Champion (1988)

FILA World Championships gold medal in freestyle wrestling (100 kg) (1995)

National Amateur Wrestling National Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 2001)

NCAA Division I All-American (1990–1992)

NCAA Division I Champion (1990, 1992)

NCAA Division I Runner-up (1991)

USA Junior Freestyle Champion (1987)

USA Senior Freestyle Champion (1995, 1996)

USA Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 2001)

Greatest Shoot Wrestler of All-Time

Yasar Dogu Tournament: Runner-up (1989)

Other Notable Achivements

WCW Championship

WCW United States Championship

IWGP Heavyweight Championship

WWF European Championship

WWF Hardcore Championship

WWF Intercontinental Championship

WWE Tag Team Championship – with Chris Benoit

WWE King of the Ring (2000)

TNA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Sting (1) and A.J. Styles (1)

TNA X-Division Championship

TNA King of the Mountain (2007, 2009)

PPW Heavyweight Championship

Cauliflower Alley Club Future Legend Award (2000)

George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame (2012)