Awesome / Kurt Angle

• Let's start with the big one: winning Olympic gold with a broken freaking neck! (Or rather, a bad neck sprain, but still impressive.) Fans may joke he brings it up all the time, but in his defense, if you'd legitimately won an Olympic gold medal in a combat sport with a serious injury, you probably wouldn't shut up about it either.
• Angle had one of the most successful rookie years in WWE history in 2000; within one year of joining the company, he won the Intercontinental and European Championships (proclaiming himself the Euro-Continental Champion), won that year's King of the Ring tournament, and won the WWF Championship by defeating The Rock.
• His savage street fight against Shane McMahon at King of the Ring 2001 is rightly held up as a crowning moment of awesome for Shane (who took some of the most brutal bumps of his career) but by no means should Angle's contribution to the gruesome contest be overlooked (ironically, while Shane escaped the match with no serious injuries, Angle broke his tailbone). And as Paul Heyman repeatedly pointed out on commentary, the 26-minute slugfest was Angle's third match of the night. The top rope Angle Slam from the board Angle had laid across the corner of the ropes was an epic finish to an unforgettable match.
• His instant-classic match with Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship saved Royal Rumble 2003, having immediately followed the god-awful match between Triple H and Scott Steiner for the World Heavyweight title on the card.
  • Really, any of his matches with Chris Benoit are noteworthy. The two had a fantastic chemistry with each other, due in large part to their technical prowess.
• His Iron Man match against Brock Lesnar on Smackdown. Both wrestler put on a show using their technical wrestling backgrounds to put on one of the best matches that both men had been involved with, showcasing both their technical skill and making it feel almost like a real match. Even more awesome being that this was a PPV level match on a regular showing of Smackdown.
• Most of his WrestleMania engagements, including his triple threat match against Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit and his epic match with Shawn Michaels.
  • There is also his X-7 match with Chris Benoit, notable because the first 5 minutes or so was an actual wrestling match, a pure technical affair like you'd see at an amateur rather than a professional event. This was (and still is) virtually unheard of in a World of Ham like wrestling entertainment, and the fans loved it because they knew skill when they saw it. After the first tussle the arena didn't cheer, nor did they boo- they applauded, and quite right too.
• Both Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker have tapped out only once in their careers. Both were to Kurt Angle.
  • He was also the first one to make Brock Lesnar tap out.
• His real life attitude to TNA. Many ex-WWE and WCW stars signed by the company both before Angle's arrival (Sting, Kevin Nash) and after (Booker T, Rob Van Dam and most infamously Hulk Hogan) would be well-known for a total indifference to anything bar their paycheck, often proving to be a severe detriment to the company's young talent yet getting pushed in major roles. Angle, by contrast, came in all guns blazing, putting on killer matches with the likes of Samoa Joe, Christian Cage, Abyss, AJ Styles, James Storm and Nigel Mcguinness and being happy to put them over cleanly for the good of the business and the future of the company. In fact, when he lost the X-Division Championship to Jay Lethal in 2007 he apparently insisted he lose cleanly when TNA Creative tried to have him lose in a screwjob finish. Joe and AJ in particular praised him hugely during the WWE 24 special on Angle, where it was in no way certain Angle's TNA time would be spoken of positively.
• Winning the X Division and Tag Team Championships on the same night at TNA Hard Justice 2007 against Samoa Joe. Not only did this make Kurt the second Triple Crown champion in TNA. But for a month, he held every title within the company as he was also the World Heavyweight Champion at that time, as well as the holder of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
• To quote JR, "Milk-o-Mania is running wild!"
  • It was his spin on Austin's earlier CMOA with the beer truck, Kurt using a milk truck and Stone Cold among the recipients given he was with the Alliance.
• It was heavily implied that he took out the entire Aces And Eights apart from their leader Bully Ray when he was revealed as the second member of Sting's new Main Event Mafia. Considering he was and is still a continual target for their beatdowns ... glorious. Utterly, utterly glorious.
• His self-defensive and retaliatory beatdown of Mark Henry at Judgment Day 2006, despite losing the actual match, definitely counts. And with injured ribs, no less.
• Returning to WWE in style as the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017. The man definitely deserves it.
  • And after all these years away from the WWE, the Universe is more than happy to remind him that he sucks, not that he wouldn't have it any other way.
  • And on the post-Mania Raw, he returned as the new RAW GM.
• He once beat Brock Lesnar in a real amateur wrestling match backstage before an episode of Raw. While Brock is bigger than Kurt, the latter used his technique to eventually get the takedown and score a point.
  • Whether or not Brock's size would have eventually helped him in the long run, we'll never know as Vince McMahon reportedly put a stop to the proceedings and told everyone to get back to work. Hilariously, Vince himself tried and failed to out wrestle Kurt as well.
  • It should be noted that Brock is more than just a big guy, having been a former collegiate wrestling champion which makes Angle’s ability to score over him even more impressive.
• TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2017. Due to Roman Reigns having a medical issue, Kurt Angle filled in for him in the main event — a three-on-five handicap Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match pitting The Shield against The Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, and Kane, and man, did Kurt deliver. Early in the match, Kurt got a great (and nostalgic) sequence of solo offense against his opponents, starting with German suplexes on half the team and culminating in an ankle lock on Kane. Then, after being temporarily taken out of the match by Strowman slamming him through a table, he ran back in, back body dropped Cesaro on the ramp, hit Sheamus with an Angle Slam, hit Cesaro with an Angle Slam onto a table, then hit an Angle Slam on Kane before putting the Miz in an ankle lock. And the match's finish consisted of Seth Rollins using his ripcord knee strike on the Miz, followed up by Dean Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds, and capped off by Kurt hitting an Angle Slam. And finally, the three hit the Miz with the "Olympic Shield Bomb" (as coined by commentator Corey Graves), and Kurt scored the winning pinfall over him. Welcome back to the ring, Kurt.