Kurt joined WWE on the back of his gold medal win at the Olympics and that aspect was the cornerstone of his persona in the WWE.
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There are very few wrestlers in the world that command as much respect as Kurt Angle. The Olympic gold medallist has achieved greatness throughout his wrestling career and has gone on to win various titles in WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling.
Kurt Angle was recently interviewed by WhatCulture Wrestling where he discussed Vince McMahon’s early advice about his character and also discussed why today’s wrestlers are perhaps better athletes than their predecessors.
Angle said, “I think people don’t buy into the fact that you have to be big to be dominating. There are a lot of athletes like AJ Styles that are undersized, that are doing tremendously well. I credit those guys. These guys today are so much better athletes than we were in our heyday. It’s because of the new training. The core training and the CrossFit training and everything that they have going on.
“Technology has put them ahead of the game now. Rey Mysterio is still going, and he’s been so undersized. 140 lbs, and look what he’s done in the business. I like where the business is headed. I just wish they would pull it back a little bit. Slow down and take their time in the matches, rather than it being a spot fest.”
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Kurt joined WWE on the back of his gold medal win at the Olympics and that aspect was the cornerstone of his persona in the WWE. Angle said that it was because of his Olympic background that he was able to get away with a lot of the goofier aspects of his character.
“What Vince McMahon told me was, ‘you’re an Olympic gold medalist,” Angle said. “You’re a badass. Everybody knows that, so you can be as funny or as dorky as you want, but when you get in the ring, you can be a serious competitor.’ I took that to heart, and I thought you know what I don’t have to, I can show my nerdy side, my funny side as much as I want to because everybody knows when I get in the ring, it’s gonna get serious.
“I had the ability to go further than others. Vince doesn’t like wrestlers who get too hokey and too funny because he doesn’t think the fans will take them seriously. With me, I was able to do that. Eventually, Vince McMahon sat me down and said ‘we’re done with the funny stuff. We’re gonna do the Wrestling Machine from now on”, concluded Angle.
