Yet Another Wrestling Channel: July 2025

While most of todays wrestlers came to wrestling through loving it as a fan, this isn't the case for everyone. In fact some wrestlers famously didn’t love it before they gave it a go, and one of those wrestlers, maybe one of the most successful wrestlers, is Kurt Angle. A while back I made a video about an appearance Kurt made on the March 3rd ‘99 episode of Sunday Night Heat, several months before his in ring debut in November. It’s since bothered me that I wasn’t more thorough with my research, and so in this video I’m going through the timeline, from Kurt winning his gold medal at the ‘96 Olympics, to his WWE debut in ‘99. I’m going to be using a few sources, one being Kurt’s 2001 autobiography, which I’ve had since the man himself had hair. I’ve also scoured every Wrestling Observer from July ‘96 to November ‘99, as well as interviews I found too. I’m sure you’ve seen that this is a long video, so I’ve put time stamps underneath.

Life after the 1996 Olympics

After Kurt won his Olympic Gold Medal on July 31st 1996, his life completely changed. In his book he notes “For six months my gold medal was an industry. Everybody wanted to rub elbows with a gold medalist, and they were happy to pay for the opportunity.” Kurt decided to make the very most of this, taking on as much as possible including commercials, sponsorships and motivational speaking appearances. He notes that he loved the speaking gigs that he did in high schools, saying “I spoke at two hundred and sixty schools and I enjoyed that. I had a message I wanted to get out to kids. I was proof of what you could do if you dedicated yourself and made sacrifices.”

Kurt then talks about doing TV appearances, from appearing on the late night shows with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, to appearing on Beach House on MTV with Jenny McCarthy. He took on more TV work becoming a reporter covering sports for Fox, but found that by doing this he was distancing himself from his former world. “I found out pretty quickly that once you cross that line and become part of the media, a lot of pro-athletes never look at you in quite the same way. The more I worked, the more I would go to games, the more I realised that athletes didn’t respect me as much.” He says he found this transition hard, going from feeling like one of them, to being a guy with a microphone asking them questions. In later Wrestling Observers, Dave Meltzer writes that Kurt wasn’t any good as a sportscaster, but to be fair to him, from what he says in his book he never seemed to like it anyway.

1996

As far as wrestling of the professional kind, the first mention of Kurt in the Wrestling Observer comes in the September 9th ‘96 issue. Dave Meltzer reports that Kurt had “received an offer from Linda McMahon. Angle has also received offers from at least two Japanese promotions, at least one of which was either RINGS or UWFI.” In the next week’s issue, it is noted that on September 5th, he had a meeting with Vince McMahon at the WWF’s offices, and they must have felt fairly confident in signing him as it was even mentioned on television. Dave also adds that silver medalist Matt Ghaffari was also approached. He would receive an offer from WCW, and would even be introduced on television as joining the company, but wouldn’t in the end. On September 23rd, it’s is said that Nikkan Sports in Japan was claiming that Kurt had signed with WWE, but also that this wasn’t the case. By the end of the month, it seems that Kurt was turning down offers, as the Observer says, “It appears right now that Kurt Angle is interested in continuing until the 2000 Olympics and won’t be taking the offers thrown his way by both WWF and WCW.”

Around this time, Kurt would make his infamous appearance at ECW, the night that nearly put Kurt off pro-wrestling entirely. In his book Kurt explains that what he was sold on ended up being nothing like an ECW that anybody would recognise. “Someone from ECW called me and gave me this pitch about how they were a new organisation, trying to make pro wrestling more legitimate, and they were hoping I would give them some credibility. I thought they meant they were trying to be more like amateur wrestling, so I agreed.” It’s hard not to have the feeling that Kurt is partly to blame here, as had he tuned into the previous week’s episode of Hardcore TV, he would have seen a brutal weapons filled match between the Gangstas and the Eliminators, and maybe gotten a better idea of what ECW was.

The person who called him turned out to be former ECW World champion Shane Douglas, who reached out to Kurt based on their mutual links to Pennsylvania, with the two growing up not far from each other. In a 2020 interview with PWInsider, Kurt offered more information on this, actually naming Shane as he doesn’t in his book, and reiterating that Shane sold him on ECW being quote, “structured more like amateur wrestling, more like your sport than WWE.”

On October 26th 1996, Kurt Angle would arrive at the ECW arena for High Incident, named after the main event of the night, where Tommy Dreamer would meet Brian Lee in a scaffold match. Kurt left before this match would take place, but I’d love to know what he would have thought about that given his views on the rest of the show. Matches from the night would air on the following week’s episodes of Hardcore TV, including a shoot fight rules match pitting Taz against Little Guido, which was no doubt put on to give Kurt an idea that ECW wasn’t all about violence and gore, just mostly.

The October 29th episode of Hardcore TV would begin with Joey Styles welcoming us to the show in the ring. He takes some pretty savage shots at WWE, and the olympian they had recently signed, Mark Henry. By this time Mark had already had his first televised match, defeating Jerry Lawler at In Your House Ten in a less than popular effort. Styles uses the fact that Mark is not a medalist to introduce Kurt to the crowd, as he comes out, gold medal and all. They are clearly pulling everything to try and impress Kurt, and Little Guido is introduced while Styles notes his amateur background. Guido takes the microphone and calls Kurt his idol, perhaps laying the praise on a bit thick. Next out comes Taz, accompanied by his team of cornermen, to the tune of War Machine by Kiss. taz shows some respect to Angle, shaking his hand and calling him the best amateur wrestler around, but Taz also tells him that he is the best professional.

Kurt then joins Joey Styles on commentary for the Taz vs Guido match, where he notes that he would be excited to get five minutes in the ring with him. Kurt would eventually almost get his wish, having a three minute match with Tazz at the 2000 Royal Rumble, but no doubt ECW wished it would have happened sooner in their ring. Throughout the match a graphic is displayed on the screen letting you know that Kurt is still there. While he seems impressed by the wrestling holds, he doesn’t sound at all familiar with pro wrestling, with Joey at one point explaining the rope breaks to him. In the relatively one sided match, Taz wins with his Tazmission. Post match Taz gets on the mic and tells Kurt that he just had a gold medal performance, and we get one last shot of Kurt from the crows nest. In the next segment, Joey claims that Kurt had offers from WWE and WCW, but chose to endorse ECW, and once again tells us what an honour it was to have Kurt there, but Kurt does not appear again.

Later on the same episode of Hardcore TV, the Sandman would retain the ECW world title in the main event, defeating Too Cold Scorpio. After the match Tyler would enter the ring, and give his Dad a hug, only for this to be a trap, leading Raven to attack from behind. The show would go off the air here, but in the building the segment ended with Raven and his lackeys Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie producing a wooden cross from under the ring, and proceeding to depict the crucifixion with Sandman, complete with barbed wire as a crown of thorns.

The following week’s episode begins with more of what happened, with Raven hitting a piledriver off the apron through a table. The crucifixion would never actually air on ECW TV, likely because Kurt threatened to sue if it was associated with him. As Kurt says in his book, “I left the arena thinking how badly my image would be damaged if people saw or heard me being a part of that match. Fortunately, Paul E. decided to not even show the match, and I just tried to forget that I’d ever agreed to be there.”

After the crucifixion happened, later that night Raven would be sent out to awkwardly apologise to the crowd. It was later reported that this was largely due to how angry Kurt Angle had been by what he saw. “Angle was so upset about it because he does so much work in the community and has a certain image and felt that it would reflect negatively on him being a part of a group that did something like this.” A couple of weeks later Heyman would claim to the Observer that Kurt’s reaction was part of the reason for the apology, but not the whole reason. It’s worth noting that around this time wrestling as a whole was under scrutiny for it’s over the edge content, as on November 4th the Brian Pillman and Steve Austin gun incident happened on Raw, creating a lot of media attention.

In the years since, the question has been posed many times, even by the Sandman in the ECW documentary Forever Hardcore, why Kurt had such an issue with what ECW did, but seemingly had no issue with The Undertaker using a cross- ahem, symbol a few years later on. There are some differences that you can point to, like the use of barbed wire to symbolize a crown of thorns, or the overall grittier presentation of it. In Kurt’s book he notes that aside from the cross, he didn’t like the aspect of Tyler Fullington, the Sandman’s young son being included in the storyline rooting against his father. Kurt has also stated many times that his understanding and tolerance of pro wrestling was much different back then, and this coupled with feeling like he had been sold up the river won’t have helped matters.

1997

1997 is going to be a fairly short chapter, as following the ECW experience, Kurt was pretty down on pro wrestling, but his manager and friend, a bodybuilder named Dave Hawk, was persistent in trying to get him to consider WWE. Dave had interacted with Kurt through approaching him to promote Ostrim, an Ostrich meat based product that is still around today. Dave also had made contact with WWE, as he “was also trying to sell the World Wrestling Federation on the idea of endorsing Ostrim.” In his own words, “Dave kept working on me, telling me that the World Wrestling Federation was the top organisation in the business, and I could be a star there.” It was at this point that I realised who owned the copyright for this book. Fair play to Dave though, he was right about Kurt becoming a star.

For the sake of thoroughness, in the March 17th ‘97 Observer, it’s mentioned very briefly that Kurt worked at an indie show in Pittsburgh on February 15th. I tried to find anything else about what this event might have been or what Angle might have done but I found nothing at all other than the Observer noting it a month later. This is the only mention of Kurt relating to wrestling in the whole year, except in October, where he was announced as one of the judges for a grappling event put on by IWF, a short lived MMA style company.

1998

From here we jump to August 24th 1998, when the Observer makes its first mention of Kurt Angle attending wrestling training. Remember that reporting job I mentioned earlier, Dave Meltzer says that “After doing poorly as a TV sportscaster, he contacted WWF and they wanted him to train for a week under Dory Funk before offering him any kind of deal. His marketability after two years of being an unknown on a national basis is way down from what it would have been had he started right after winning the medal.” Kurt Angle has actually told a similar version to this on his podcast, saying that it took him several attempts to get through to anyone. His book also says that they didn’t seem to take him seriously, especially when he told them that he wouldn’t be losing to just anyone. Kurt puts this down to not understanding the business yet in hindsight.

Kurt’s training would take the form of WWF endorsed training camps, led by Dory Funk Jr. and Dr. Tom Prichard. In Kurt’s book he explains that these training camps were “one week a month in Stamford Connecticut, where they’re always looking for new talent.” On his podcast, he offers more detail about what these were like, and it sounds nothing like the performance center of today. *Pod clip*

Also attending Kurt’s first training camp were Shawn Stasiak, Christian Cage, Andrew Martin, the future Test, Teddy Hart, as well as the Hardys. Kurt goes on to say that he got cold feet nearer the time of his first camp, so Dave Hawk went with him as his room mate. Kurt says that “Dave didn’t stay long though, Even though everything was new to me - the bumps, the falls - I picked it up so quickly that I blew them away with my tryout. On my second day there, Jim Ross signed me to a five year deal. I’ve been told that they’ve never done that with anyone else.”

In the next week’s newsletter on August 31st, just days into his training, Kurt's first matches would be reported. “He worked some matches with Dory Funk in his corner as a manager and was put over on all the house shows and got a big babyface reception.” His first match took place on August 20th in Salem Massachusetts for the World Wrestling Alliance. According to Cagematch this was against one of his trainers Tom Prichard. On his podcast Kurt recalls his memory of this match. *Pod Clip* With one of his trainers across the ring from him, and another in his corner, it feels like Kurt was being put in a strong position to make a good first impression.

Video actually exists online of his second match, which took place the day after in Quincy against Shawn Stasiak, the same man he would have his WWE debut match against. One thing that’s interesting about this match is that on commentary it is noted that Kurt has already signed a five year deal with WWE, though this wouldn’t make it to the Observer until September 14th, nearly a month later. Kurt says in his book that “It’s unheard of for someone to be put into a match after only three days in the business, but they let me do it because I picked up on everything so quickly.”

On the third night of WWA’s Summerslam Fest a day later, Kurt would win a battle royal, and win a singles match against a man he would come to know well in WWE, Christian Cage, who is described in the Observer as a “Chris Jericho look alike”. Kurt was described as having a strong training camp, and it seems like he stood out among his class early on, as in the September 7th issue he, Test and Christian were noted as being the most impressive.

On September 28th, Kurt’s second training camp is reported on. Many of the same names are with him, but with Matt Bloom, the future Prince Albert among many other gimmicks, and Giant Silva are added to the list. Just look at that trio for a second. “Angle is apparently the star of the camp and is again being compared with Ken Shamrock as far as how quickly he picks everything up. He’s not going to debut that soon because plans are to give him a major push and they don’t want him shown on television until he’s ready to carry the push” On November 16th it would be reported that he was again the star of a training camp, and that they had high hopes for him debuting early in 1999.

On October 24th, the National Wrestling Alliance would present it’s 50th anniversary show. On that card a “WWF dojo battle royal” would be presented, with many of the wrestlers I’ve listed in the match. Dr. Death Steve Williams would win, but Kurt Angle would also take part, making it to the final four of the match. Afterwards, he and Williams would have a staredown, but as best I can tell a match between the two never happened.

Remember when I told you Kurt’s autobiography jumps ahead in time a bit? We rejoin it in October ‘98, as Kurt begins to have an epiphany. “Finally, one night in October 1998, I turned on Raw is War and nobody was being hung on a crucifix or anything. It was great entertainment and more athletic than I ever realised.” I don’t think I have to tell you that this doesn’t match at all with the timeline of his early matches, or the reporting on him, so instead I’ll point out that on the October 5th episode of Raw McMahon got attacked by Steve Austin in the hospital. The week after Austin fills Vince’s brand new Corvette with cement and destroys it. On the 19th Austin held a fake gun to Vince’s head, who pissed himself in the middle of the ring. This is just McMahon and Austin, other messed up stuff was happening up and down these shows as well. Perhaps Kurt caught the October 26th Raw, on which Shane McMahon denounced his father in the ring, but as we established earlier, Kurt doesn;t like sons turning on their fathers in storylines.

To close out 1998, Dave writes in the December 14th issue that Kurt had been training a lot with Steve Williams, who he interacted with in the ring at the NWA 50th show. “They had Steve Williams and Kurt Angle train together and wrestle each other a lot at the last camp. It appears that they are targeting March or April to start Angle off, with a big push, possibly as a heel.” It’s interesting how much of this would remain the case when Kurt would eventually debut later than thought he would here. He did in fact start with a big push, and would be a heel, though a heel who thought he was the face.

In this same issue it’s also reported that Steve Bradley, who had also been attending the training camps around this time, had just been signed to a developmental deal. This feels like a good place to talk a bit about Bradley, as Kurt on his podcast refers to Steve as his “best friend” around this time. Bradley would never make it to the main WWE roster, eventually being released in 2002. His only appearance that I’m aware of on main roster television was at Wrestlemania Seventeen, as a bloke pulled from a golf cart in the Hardcore title match. Steve would pass away in 2008, just thirty-two years old. In his podcast Kurt calls Steve “the greatest wrestler to never make it”, and in 2017 when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, he made sure to thank Steve, calling him an “unsung hero.”

1999

In the early months of 1999, Kurt would continue to take part in WWE training camps. Dave Meltzer would repeatedly note that Kurt was the highlight, with more familiar names coming and going. In January, Glamour Boy Shane, known to TNA fans as Shane Sewell would join, as well as Rasta the Voodoo Man, who looks like a Papa Shango knock off, but actually predates him. Again, get a look at that trio. In February, former Truth Commission members Luc Poirier and Barry, later known as Bull Buchanan are brought in, as well as Carl Oulette, PCO, long before he ran on car batteries. Many of the names come and go off these lists, but Kurt as noted earlier was a special project, and they wanted him ready for his debut, and the push they had planned.

In Mid February, the Associated Press ran a story with the headline “Olympian Insists He Hasn’t Sold His Soul to WWF.” The article which is now no longer available but is described in the Observer sounds quite derogatory towards wrestling of our kind, referring to it as “fake wrestling,” and suggesting that he will end up with a silly gimmick. I don’t know what you mean. “The story says that amateur wrestling people are troubled by Angle going to WWF claiming that “Angle’s abandonment of his amateur roots probably shouldn’t be a surprise in an era when once-legitimate wrestlers such as Mark Coleman and Dan Severn make their living in fake wrestling or the Ultimate Fighting Championships, a bizarre mix of street fighting and martial arts.” The article also predicts that he will bring his wife into the business, which he eventually did many years later. On the Heat episode that happens in March, Kurt can be seen sitting next to Karen in the crowd long before her TNA debut.

On March 1st, a note was made that Kurt is scheduled to be at a WWE event on March 3rd. “Kurt Angle is going to appear in some form at the Pittsburgh Raw taping. He may not appear on the live show. The Weekend Today show is doing a series on Angle starting out in pro wrestling and they have training footage and indie matches and they wanted a big-time match, so they figured the best place to tape it for the show was Pittsburgh since that’s his home city and he’s got a name locally” This would end up being the Heat appearance where Kurt would best Tiger Ali SIngh, another wrestler who he had already worked with in developmental. I won’t go over the whole segment here as I detailed it in my last video, but Dave said of it in the Observer that “The pop was said to have been disappointing for Angle, said to be the reaction of a mid-level face.” He had previously noted that Kurt wasn’t the same local celebrity as he would have been had he signed in 1996, and this might be why the reaction wasn’t as big as expected.

On March 20th Kurt would make his debut for Memphis based Power Pro Wrestling, defeating the Yellow Jacket, otherwise known as Kevin Lawler, in just twelve seconds. Kurt would wrestle regularly for Power Pro right up until his main roster debut. According to Kurt on his podcast, he requested more in ring time, as the couple of matches he was having a month weren’t helping him get any better. Initially, they started Kurt out by having him beat all of his opponents in thirty seconds or less, which Dave compares to how Dusty Rhodes got Magnum TA over, and more recently how Goldberg started in WCW. Later on Baron Corbin would do a similar gimmick when he started in NXT. Aye, that Baron Corbin who nobody wanted as Angle’s last match. Sorry. It turns out that the real reason for Kurt wrestling these short matches, as claimed by Angle on his podcast, was that Power Pro’s promoter Randy Hales didn’t see much in Kurt, only booking him in opening matches. If this is true, and again it comes from Kurt’s words, Randy clearly wasn’t looking in the right direction. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UI4tlfyMsQ )

In his first few appearances for Power Pro, he very much played an early version of the character he would eventually debut as, but with a bit more babyface self-awareness. In his debut he would cut an impassioned promo talking about the other wrestlers not wanting him in the big leagues, and threatening to show them all up by defeating them as quickly as possible. The following week he would address his brashness from the week before, explaining that his words were so harsh because of the other wrestler’s opinions of him. Kurt Angle here, displaying more character development in his second ever week on television than some wrestlers do in an entire career.

While on his podcast about developmental Kurt says that he had a blast in Memphis. However, in his book he details some issues that it caused back in Pennsylvania. He was newly married to Karen at the time, but living in a small apartment with Steve Bradley, leaving Karen back home. “The Pittsburgh post gazette sent a reporter and a photographer to do a story on my new career. And they took pictures of me at the wrestling arena and at my apartment too. I found out later that they decided not to run any pictures of the apartment complex because they thought it looked like a crack den or something. That’s how bad the place was.” He then notes that the conditions didn’t bother him though. He said that many of the other wrestlers lived in the same complex, and it was all about wrestling for them. It was all they talked about and focused on.

On April 11th, Kurt would start wrestling in WWE rings, defeating Brian Christopher in a dark match he would wrestle on a fairly regular basis in dark matches including one notable match against Owen Hart. Kurt claims in the pod that this was again at his request, wanting to gain more experience on Mondays and Tuesdays while still wrestling in Memphis for the rest of the week. A lot has been made online of Kurt’s match on May 10th ‘99, where he would wrestle Owen Hart less than two weeks before his passing. Kurt said of Owen that he was the first person to make him feel comfortable in his transition to WWE. Of their time in the ring, Kurt says “It turned out to be my best match to that point by far, and it was because Owen was such a pro. He put the match together, how it would go, then he carried me through it, and made it look so easy.” Ever since footage of Bret Hart vs Tom McGee was found, this might well be the Holy Grail of wrestling matches. We’re unlikely to ever see it, as the WWE Vault channel recently reminded us.

As time went on Kurt would receive some mixed reviews for his dark matches. A match he had with Terry Taylor on May 15th was described as “anything but positive”, while his effort against Bob Holly on June 7th had Dave writing that he looked ready for the main shows. Later in June, he worked his first house show tour, defeating Tiger Ali Singh on every show including in Pittsburgh, following up from the Heat appearance. The Observer notes that he was added to the shows because it was a North-East tour which passed through his hometown.

On June 29th, the first reported Olympic Slam, later known as the Angle Slam happens. I’m only mentioning it here because Dave Meltzer describes it as a “a torture rack dropped into a death valley driver which was a totally sick move the few times I’ve seen Kenta Kobashi do it.” What he’s actually describing is the Burning Hammer, the long protected move of Kobashi, which the Olympic Slam looks like a much safer version of. To be fair, the match took place in Fayetteville North Carolina so Dave’s description is likely based on a fan report sent in to the Observer. Still, leave it to Dave to make what is essentially a spinning samoan drop sound as lethal as a piledriver through eleven tables. Kurt tells us on his podcast that the Olympic Slam wasn’t originally meant to be his finishing move, but when he used it on the main roster dark matches, he was told that he should have been using it all along.

On July 27th, Kurt would defeat JR Smooth for the Power Pro Wrestling championship. You might not recognise that name as I didn’t, but JR Smooth had previously been on the main WWE roster as Fatu and as The Sultan. He would return from development later in the year under perhaps his most famous name, Rikishi. Kurt would say on his podcast that Bruce Prichard would oversee what he was doing in Power Pro, and had to get involved to get Kurt some experience at being higher up the card *pod clip*

In the August 9th Observer, Dave notes that Kurt is now set to debut in October or November, “because they don’t want him exposed nationally before he’s ready.” On August 7th Kurt would lose the Power Pro championship to Steve Bradley, perhaps a sign that they were beginning to wind him up in Memphis, though it would take a little while longer until he would be ready. Speaking of winding up, a several week story that starts on October 18th revolves around Kurt potentially being sent to a promotion called Seikendo for a show in Yokohama on November 5th. This appears to be a response to a company called Dream Stage Entertainment attempting to make a deal with WWE to bring wrestlers to Japan. Dream Stage would eventually be the company behind HUSTLE.

On November 1st, it is mentioned that the deal with Kurt Angle fell through, and the Seikendo card with go on without him. The Observer says that the promotion claimed it was a visa issue, but disputes that a deal was ever finalized. Dave also says the idea that Kurt failed to get a visa was doubtful given that he would have had to do this in his amateur background. Ordinarily I might not have included this story, but how fascinating would it have been if WWE had sent an about to debut Kurt Angle to go and wrestle in Japan. Later in November more talks with Dream Stage would happen, but this would again end up fruitless. “DSE wants WWF to send them someone like Kurt Angle to make a personal appearance at the 11/21 Pride show or send some people to the 1/30 Pride show to basically show the Japanese public they are involved in some form with the WWF to start building interest, although at this point no plans are for anyone to attend the shows yet.”

On November 1st, the first vignette teasing the arrival of Kurt Angle aired on Raw. The Observer says “He was playing such an old style babyface that it looks as though they are planning on setting him up for a quick heel turn when it doesn’t go over.” Dave also made note of him being referred to as “the most celebrated real athlete in WWF history,” which would end up being the line that told us the viewers that he is a little full of himself on his arrival. Kurt says “I’d talk about how all my life I’d gone after this dream, and I reached it, which makes me an American hero - a role model for kids. But right away they were giving me kind of an odd twist. Vince wanted me to rub people the wrong way. He wanted them to say "there's something about this guy, he’s always talking about himself.”” Kurt also tells us here where his trademark catchphrase early in his career, it’s true, it’s true, came from.. “That was something I used to say to people when I was doing motivational speaking after I won the gold medal…. …I’d say that if you put your mind to it, dedicate yourself, you will succeed eventually. And I’d always say “You will. It’s true. It’s true.”

The next week, the full card for the upcoming Survivor Series ‘99 card was published, including the debut of Kurt Angle against Shawn Stasiak. Dave Meltzer suspected that the goal was to “debut Angle against the most boring wrestler in the promotion in a match actually designed to get fans to think Angle is boring to lead to his getting mad at the fans not respecting his talents and going heel”. To be fair to him, he wasn’t that far from what would end up happening that Sunday at Survivor Series.

On Sunday November 14th, the day would finally arrive for Kurt Angle’s debut. He and Shawn Stasiak had a pretty serious wrestling match for the first few minutes, which in the peak of the attitude era was bound to get Kurt booed, but would probably have done him well in 2025. After a few minutes, the crowd began reacting very poorly, even chanting “boring”. “That’s the one chant you never want to hear because it means you’re not entertaining the fans. But Vince had prepared me for this type of reaction and he had given me a plan of attack if it happened.” Kurt would follow this plan, and leave the ring. He would take the microphone and proceed to chastise the audience, telling them “you do not boo an Olympic gold medalist”. He would get back in the ring, and proceed to handily defeat Stasiak. The match was just under six minutes long, but might have been the perfect debut to get across Kurt’s past achievements, his character and how you are supposed to feel about him. Vince gave Kurt the plan to deal with any fan backlash, but what was his reaction? “Vince was waiting for the response, and it was exactly what he wanted.” This might have been made even better by the vignettes that had aired leading up to the night, as it was very clear that Kurt had achieved a lot, but also that he wasn’t shy about it either. As Kurt walked to the ring that night, it felt like the crowd weren’t sure if they were supposed to like him or not, but by the time he pinned Stasiak, everybody knew.

About his debut, Kurt makes one more very interesting assertion about where the inspiration for his character came from. “My character development stemmed from what happened with the Rock a few years earlier… … They thought he was a natural as a babyface, a guy the fans would love. But at the beginning the fans turned on him- they couldn’t identify with him. These fans aren’t idiots. You have to work to gain their acceptance, their approval.” Kurt also acknowledges that the fans in that era were into the rebellious stars, he jokingly notes that he wore plain black trunks while in development to resemble Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is about as close as he could get to emulating Austin, with so much about their personalities being like oil and water.

On the next night, Raw would take place in Pittsburgh, Kurt’s hometown, where he would defeat the Godfather. Despite him being the local hero, he would still get a negative reception from the fans, a testament to how well his debut had gone in making sure everyone knew he was to be booed. “The Kurt Angle character will continue to be built around annoying people by always saying “I” about himself. Even though WWF did have Angle insult Pittsburgh before Raw started to make sure he wasn’t cheered in his home town, everyone was surprised that even before he started talking he was already getting booed.”

After Survivor Series, Kurt would go on to have quite possibly the most remarkable debut year ever. It’s impressive in itself that I’m still able to call it that twenty five years later. He would win the Intercontinental and European titles and defend both successfully. He won the King of the Ring tournament on his first try, and for once, it actually helped that he looked like a geek in the crown and cape. At No Mercy in October, eleven months after his debut, he would defeat the Rock for the WWE championship. None of these things were groundbreaking, or anything that nobody else had ever done, but he was the first to put them all together his rookie year. Kurt would continue to be detested by crowds until the Invasion storyline in 2001. Of all of his three I’s, irritating being the important fourth one, and the key to his success. It’s true, it’s true.

Sources:

It’s True! It’s True!, Kurt Angle, 2001, Collins Willow p159, 167, 171, 170

Tonight Show August 13th 1996 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2315803/

WON Sept 9th 96 First pro offers https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-9-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-giant-joins-nwo-davey-boy/

1996

WON Sept 16th Meeting with Vince https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-16-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-american-pro-wrestling/

WON Sept 23rd Nikkan Sports 1999https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-23-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-welcome-wcw-1996-fall-brawl/

WON Sept 30th 2000 Olympics https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-30-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wcw-beating-wwf-handily/

PWInsider interview, October 6th 2020, https://411mania.com/wrestling/kurt-angle-shane-douglas-ecw-wwe/

WON Nov 11th Raven Apology https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/nov-11-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-infamous-angle-where-austin/

WON Nov 25th Not whole reason https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/nov-25-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-sid-wins-wwf-title-curt/

1997