Intro:
Kurt Angle was born on 12/9/68 in Pittsburgh, PA. While an amateur wrestler, Angle suffered a broken neck that has hampered his pro career. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Kurt won a gold medal in the Freestyle Heavyweight 100kg Division. He made his first national pro wrestling appearance shortly after his Olympic win in ECW and got into a confrontation with Taz. That night, the Sandman crucifixion angle took place and Angle stormed out of the ECW arena and never returned.
The Best Rookie Year Ever:
Kurt made his WWF debut at the 1999 Survivor Series. Within one calendar year, he won the King of the Ring Tournament, the I-C Title, the European Title and most importantly the WWF Championship by beating The Rock. His title reign was prolonged by the most cowardly and biggest fluke wins by any champion. The highlight of this title reign was his Hell in a Cell victory over Austin, The Rock, Triple H, British Bulldog, & Rikishi.
The Invasion:
During the Invasion angle, Kurt started off on the WWF side. He went on to beat Steve Austin for the WWF title but after losing the belt back he joined WCW. After WCW was disbanded, Kurt said that he was working for Vince McMahon and was a double agent for the WWF. During this time period, he released his autobiography It's True, It's True.
SmackDown! Star:
Angle was drafted to SD as Vince McMahon's #2 pick. He started a feud with Edge and wound up losing a hair vs hair match. A few months later, he became tag team partners with Chris Benoit and they won the newly created WWE Tag Team Titles. Despite their success together they didn't like each other and the team quickly broke up.
Team Angle:
Kurt beat The Big Show for the WWE Title with the help of Brock Lesnar because Lesnar was screwed by Paul Heyman and The Big Show. It turned out Angle was behind that double cross and as a reward, Heyman gave him his own wrestling team which consisted of Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin. He eventually lost the title to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and then took some time off to repair his bad neck.
More Neck Problems:
2004 began with Kurt feuding with Eddie Guerrero. In April, Kurt was named as GM of SmackDown as a way to keep him on TV while his neck healed again. A few months later, he returned to the ring and resumed his feud with Eddie Guerrero. The beginning of 2005 saw him start a feud with RAW star Shawn Michaels and featured a classic WrestleMania battle between the two men.
RAW Star:
Kurt was drafted to RAW in 2005 and continued his feud with Shawn Michael's while also feuding with John Cena over the WWE Title. Kurt brought in Daivari as his personal referee and later as his undefined something that would accompany him to the ring. In a total shock, RAW Star Angle appeared on the 1/14/06 edition of SmackDown! and won a battle royal to become the World Heavyweight Champion.
WWE Title History:
WWE Championship
10/22/00 No Mercy – The Rock
9/23/01 Unforgiven – Steve Austin
12/15/02 Armageddon – The Big Show
7/27/03 Vengeance – beat Champ Brock Lesnar & The Big Show
World Heavyweight Championship
1/10/06 – won battle royal
WCW Heavyweight Title
7/26/01 – Booker T
I-C Title
2/27/00 No Way Out – Chris Jericho
US Title
10/22/01 – Rhyno
European Title
2/10/00 – Val Venis
WWE Tag Team Championship
10/20/02 No Mercy – w/Chris Benoit beat Edge & Rey Mysterio in a tournament final for the new titles