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A Fresh Angle For TNA?
By Adam Dean
Oct 14, 2006 - 11:37 AM

Hello there. My name is Adam Dean. I have been a wrestling fan for all my life and I am a big fan of this website. This is my first article on wrestling, so please bare with me. I am here to talk about one of the best if not the best technical wrestlers in the wrestling business today. Yes I‘m talking about the one and only Kurt Angle. Angle has accomplished a lot throughout his career; An Olympic Gold Medalist, 2 time World Heavyweight Champion, 4 time WWE Champion, United States Champion, The winner of The King of The Ring 2000, Intercontinental Champion, European Champion, Hardcore Champion and held one half of the Tag Team belts with Chris Benoit. Kurt has had a fantastic career in amateur and professional wrestling and because of that, Kurt Angle arguably is the greatest wrestler ever to step into the square circle. However, over the past month, the ‘Wrestling Machine’ has shocked the world by being the first true headliner to jump ship to the six sided ring of TNA.

Any true wrestling fan’s first reaction would have been of the feeling reminiscent of the Monday Night Wars. The genuine shock of one of WWE’s golden boys appearing on a TNA screen was arguably the biggest news in wrestling for a long time, no one saw it coming, and to be fair it was a stroke of genius on the part of Angle and the few who knew within TNA. From the time Angle departed Stamford, the feeling was that we were not going to be seeing him in any type of ring for a long period of time. The WWE locker room were also honestly disappointed at his release and showed their whole hearted affection, truly believing what we all did. However within weeks, amid rumours that Angle was making a move into the ultimate fighting world were ones which were also believable. Angle is a genuine fighter, and the possible change into real competition for a world class competitor is understandable and probably seen as admirable from the WWE office…so they would have no problem with Angle’s people making statements that Angle is a big MMA fan and teasing at the idea that he may be competing…right?? The WWE probably saw it as a great way to show how tough their superstars were, creating even more exposure for their company.

So why did Kurt Angle leave the WWE? Obviously, those things were discussed between Angle and the company. What we do know for certain is that for the last few months, Kurt was not used to his full potential by the WWE. He was drafted to Raw to finish his feud with the “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, and then had a brief feud with Nick ‘Eugene’ Dinsmoore, and then Kurt found himself in a feud with WWE champion John Cena. Throughout this feud, the WWE management tried their best to make Angle a ‘super’ heel, because the fans were booing Cena (who was the baby-face) and cheering Angle (who was the heel at the time).The management tried everything to get the fans to start booing Angle, but everything they tried had failed. In the end, the boss, Vince McMahon and the management decided to keep the belt on Cena because they thought ratings would go up if Angle was chasing Cena for the title. After the new year, the management sprang a big surprise, as they gave the WWE championship to Edge, which boosted ratings, a move that surely would have made Kurt Angle upset, given all the hard work he had put in with his feud with Cena. Had all Angle’s hard work been done for nothing?

Around that time, injury struck World Heavyweight champion Batista, forcing him to give up the title. WWE management had had enough problems to deal with, so they decided to draft Kurt back to Smackdown! Here, he won the vacated title on the night of his return. As the World Heavyweight Champion, Angle filled in for the injured Batista and continued Batista’s feud with “The World Strongest Man” Mark Henry and then had another great feud with “The Deadman” The Undertaker. After a few months feuding both men, the ‘Wrestling Machine’ then dropped the World Heavyweight championship to Rey Mysterio. After that, the Gold Medalist was drafted to WWE’s version of ECW to draw ‘WWE fans’ and spike up the ratings. With another quick change in career paths, Kurt was again unhappy about this decision and made it clear. Even though this was a waste of his time and talent, Kurt remained professional. There were rumours that he would return to Smackdown but it never happened.

Other reasons why Kurt Angle was eager for a release from his contract were his injuries and drug issues, and due to the WWE’s schedule, Kurt Angle was unable to heal these injures or sort out his personal problems. WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon saw this and suspended Angle to try and get his life sorted out. After his suspension, the ‘Wrestling Machine’ return with a buzz, but his happy return to the WWE was short lived as Angle was struck down by another injury. Now he’s returning to the ring again, perhaps still with lingering injuries.

Whether you like it or not, Kurt Angle is going to TNA. This is huge and it could only boost the ratings of TNA. Over the last two years the company has been looking for someone who they could build their company around. TNA have focused on trying to build wrestlers like; AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Rhino and Raven and many more, but they had all failed to captivate fans. However, with Angle, TNA could start building the company around him and could also use him to help build their ‘up and coming’ talent like; Samoa Joe. Also, if Angle succeeds in TNA, it could convince even other big stars to come to TNA.

Again. it’s his burning desire to do what he loves which has driven Angle to turn his back on the WWE. Like most fans, I’m torn between my burning desire to see wrestlers like ; Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle going at it, but I’m also compassionate enough to worry about Angle’s health.

I would like to say thanks to my brother Jonathan and my mate Nic for helping me with this article. Thank you very much for taking the time to read.

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