Kurt Angle Biography

Kurt Angle Biography

Kurt Steven Angle (born in December 9, 1968 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), is an American 1996 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling and now a professional wrestler performing for World Wrestling Entertainment on its RAW brand. Among his trademarks is the audience--whether he is face or heel--chanting "you suck!" in tune with his entrance music.



Statistics
Stage names Kurt Angle
El Gran Luchadore
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Born December 9, 1968
Hometown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Trained by Dr. D David Schultz
Tom Prichard
Dory Funk, Jr.
Debut 1999


Amateur wrestling
Angle had a distinguished career in amateur wrestling even before winning in the 1996 Olympics. He was a 2-time NCAA Division I champion and a 3-time NCAA Division I All-American while attending Clarion University of Pennsylvania. He was also 1987 USA Junior Freestyle champion, 2-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and 1988 USA FILA Junior World Freestyle champion. Angle reached the pinnacle of his amateur career at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, winning the 100 kg (220-pound) freestyle wrestling competition even while suffering from two fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck.

Not long after his high-profile Olympic success, he decided to enter the world of broadcasting. He was hired to do sports commentary during the 10 PM nightly newscast on Pittsburgh TV WPGH channel 53. Promoted as "The Angle on Sports", Kurt was visibly nervous and had trouble speaking on camera. His news career lasted only a few short months before he turned to pro wrestling. The move brought sharp criticism from his peers in the freestyle wrestling community who regard pro wrestling as a mockery of their sport.

Extreme Championship Wrestling
On October 26, 1996 Angle was convinced to attend the taping of an ECW event named High Incident by Shane Douglas. Angle provided guest commentary during a match between Taz and Little Guido, but walked out of the building after the infamous "crucifixion storyline" (where Raven attached The Sandman to a cross using barbed wire). Angle was shocked by the controversial imagery and feared that his career prospects would be damaged if he was associated with the incident, so threatened to sue ECW owner Paul Heyman if he was shown on TV in the same broadcast as the stunt.