Kurt Angle admits he is risking his life

[Guest caboose]

Kurt Angle admitted to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he is risking "paralysis or maybe even death"

That scares the fucking crap out of me.

I do not want to see anyone die on TV live, least of all Kurt Angle, a man who has entertained unrelentingly for over 3 years.

[Guest Anglesault]

If ANY of you think this will be sold as anything but "Brock destroyed Angle and retired him" You're kidding yourselves.

[Guest IB2BLACK]

Anglesault, are you a fan of kurt Angle, cause you seem to hate every thing that he's involved in.

[Guest Anglesault]

No I don't. I hate when the WWF goes out of their way to make Angle look bad (99 % of the time)

[Guest IB2BLACK]

The dude is the champion, how is that looking bad. So if, he retires after Mania,are you going to say he had a bad career, considering all that he has done in 4 years.

[Guest jester]

One thing is for sure, this has the potential to be the most famous match in Wrestlemania history...for all the wrong reasons.

 

I wonder if they will even mention the injury? Angle is a heel, wrestling while injured will get him face heat.

 

God what a mess.

[Guest JMA]

One thing is for sure, this has the potential to be the most famous match in Wrestlemania history...for all the wrong reasons.

 

I wonder if they will even mention the injury? Angle is a heel, wrestling while injured will get him face heat.

 

God what a mess.

They mentioned on TV that Shawn was injured. They even showed the bump that caused it.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Here is the article from the Pittsburgh Gazette:

 

By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

 

 

A neck injury that almost kept Kurt Angle from wrestling in the 1996 Olympics has flared again, and this time it will eventually end his athletic career.

 

Angle, who wrestled at Mt. Lebanon High School and won an NCAA championship at Clarion before winning the heavyweight gold medal in '96 in Atlanta, will have two vertebrae surgically fused sometime in the coming weeks or months.

 

That will put his pro wrestling career with World Wrestling Entertainment on hold for about a year.

 

"Then in five, six, seven, maybe 10 years if I can last that long, I'll have to have surgery to have two other vertebrae fused, and I won't be able to wrestle anymore," Angle, 34, said yesterday from his home in Moon, a day after a WWE Smackdown event at Mellon Arena.

 

In the meantime, he plans to work through his pain and do what he can to lessen some substantial risks so that he can make a few more appearances for WWE, beginning with a gig Tuesday in Louisville, Ky. He will defend his WWE title March 30 at Wrestlemania XIX in Seattle.

 

"I can't wait too long for the surgery, but chances are I could win at Wrestlemania," Angle said. "That means I could hold the title for another month or more."

 

He would like to put off surgery until he is dethroned.

 

Before he became an Olympian, Angle was told he should retire from wrestling because of a similar neck injury that also included a cracked bone, but he was able to overcome that injury.

 

This time, the problem is two herniated disks that are pressing on his spinal cord, causing pain and nerve problems in his left shoulder and arm. He said he has been given medical clearance to continue pro wrestling until the surgery, as long as he takes precautions and understands the high risk.

 

"I could get a worse neck injury, possibly paralysis, and they said, yes, maybe even death," Angle said. "It's a very big risk, so I have to take care of myself and be very careful."

 

Besides a reduced schedule, Angle said he is avoiding certain moves in the ring that could aggravate his injury, adding that his opponents know what is off-limits. He also is rehabilitating his neck to try to make it stronger and lessen his pain.

 

The injury doesn't surprise him given the nature of pro wrestling.

 

"Wrestling is probably the most dangerous sport there is, and I've been more injured in pro wrestling than in amateur," he said.

 

"We have taken wrestling to such a high level with such high risk and high expectations for the fans. We're doing more fighting, more bouncing around, more acrobatics. We need to go back to the true grit of what pro wrestling was."

 

Angle and his wife, Karen, who have a 4-month-old daughter, Kyra, talked about him trying to go to the 2004 Olympics in Athens but decided against it even before the neck injury.

 

"We wholeheartedly considered it," he said. "But for me to go back to the Olympics, I would have to train eight or nine hours a day, and I don't think I'm capable of that now."

Edited March 14, 2003 by Kurt Angle Mark

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

Just walk away Kurt, it's not worth it.

[Guest JMA]

Just walk away Kurt, it's not worth it.

He's not going to walk away. That's just not Kurt Angle.

[Guest Anglesault]

The dude is the champion, how is that looking bad. .

Oh, I have no idea. He's been treated SO well in this feud. He certainly looks like the champion and favorite in this match! I mean, in two months, he's gotten ONE WHOLE move in on Brock! Meanwhie, Brock shattered Angle's knee, and can repeatedly take out all three members of TA out at the same time.

 

But he's the champ!

[Guest HartFan86]

"Then in five, six, seven, maybe 10 years if I can last that long, I'll have to have surgery to have two other vertebrae fused, and I won't be able to wrestle anymore," Angle, 34, said yesterday from his home in Moon, a day after a WWE Smackdown event at Mellon Arena.

 

This is the most depressing thing I have read in a long time. !!!!

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

If ANY of you think this will be sold as anything but "Brock destroyed Angle and retired him" You're kidding yourselves.

With all due respect, that's how it SHOULD be. He's going one way or another, he should job decisively. That ends Brock's 5 month storyline, and gives Angle an instant feud if he ever returns.

[Guest El Satanico]

If there's a possibility it could be three discs, I almost have to agree with his choice. There's still the risk, but Dreamer wrestles with two disks every week.

 

When did Dynamite leave early? Man kept on coming back to bury his ghost. Almost twenty years.

If he didn't get injured/abuse drugs, the man could have went wrestling great matches for years to come. The guy is like 45 now. He has been retired for over 10 years, so how was he wrestling for 20?

Didn't he start when he was 15 or 16?

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

I'd also say that when you put too much muscle on a frame that wasn't designed to carry it, as Angle did you invite injury.

 

Compare Angle now to Angle in 00. He looked like a CW then, compared to now.

[Guest Anglesault]

If ANY of you think this will be sold as anything but "Brock destroyed Angle and retired him" You're kidding yourselves.

With all due respect, that's how it SHOULD be. He's going one way or another, he should job decisively. That ends Brock's 5 month storyline, and gives Angle an instant feud if he ever returns.

Actually, no. The feud would actually be more interesting (In theory, because, well, the next feud won't be any better than this) if Angle looked somewhat decent in the end.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

If ANY of you think this will be sold as anything but "Brock destroyed Angle and retired him" You're kidding yourselves.

With all due respect, that's how it SHOULD be. He's going one way or another, he should job decisively. That ends Brock's 5 month storyline, and gives Angle an instant feud if he ever returns.

Actually, no. The feud would actually be more interesting (In theory, because, well, the next feud won't be any better than this) if Angle looked somewhat decent in the end.

To be honest, he should look as well as HBK did at the end of WrestleMania XIV.

 

He's probobly never coming back. It helps NO ONE to keep him strong.

 

I thought this was Booking 101.

[Guest Brian]

If there's a possibility it could be three discs, I almost have to agree with his choice. There's still the risk, but Dreamer wrestles with two disks every week.

 

When did Dynamite leave early? Man kept on coming back to bury his ghost. Almost twenty years.

If he didn't get injured/abuse drugs, the man could have went wrestling great matches for years to come. The guy is like 45 now. He has been retired for over 10 years, so how was he wrestling for 20?

Kid was wrestling as late as 1996 (in M-Pro) that I have on tape and I'm pretty sure into 1998 or so. He's been around since the late seventies.

[Guest SP-1]

Judging from Kurt's own words, I think he's going to try to come back. And next year, whenever his music hits and he runs in to help a face or attack somebody out of the blue . . . well I bet the fucking roof caves in from that crowd's reaction.

[Guest Retro Rob]

If there's a possibility it could be three discs, I almost have to agree with his choice. There's still the risk, but Dreamer wrestles with two disks every week.

 

When did Dynamite leave early? Man kept on coming back to bury his ghost. Almost twenty years.

If he didn't get injured/abuse drugs, the man could have went wrestling great matches for years to come. The guy is like 45 now. He has been retired for over 10 years, so how was he wrestling for 20?

Kid was wrestling as late as 1996 (in M-Pro) that I have on tape and I'm pretty sure into 1998 or so. He's been around since the late seventies.

I had no idea he stayed active that long. I thought he was practically crippled by 1994. I should check Pure Dynamite tonight to see.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Actually, no. The feud would actually be more interesting (In theory, because, well, the next feud won't be any better than this) if Angle looked somewhat decent in the end.

You know, if Undertaker decided to retire (I know, but bear with me here) and his last match was followed by some finish that made him look strong and "preserved his heat" and let him go out on top, you'd be posting something with enough rage to fuel a jet engine, if one existed.

[Guest teke184]

DK's in-ring career ended for the most part during the early 90s. He did some shots for M Pro and All Japan between then and about 1996 but those were mostly one-shots to cash in on his name or pity work by Baba.

 

Once the companies saw DK have a seizure while he was in Japan, he was not asked to come back.

[NYU 0]

Am I really the only one who thinks that it's not definite that Kurt Angle will be retiring ? I see him sitting out for a year, healing, then coming back for perhaps 2 or 3 years before finally retiring. That's how I take it when I read these articles, but some of you are SO pessimistic that you're bringing me down. Sure, Kurt's going to say he's preparing to retire - no point jinxing yourself. But I still don't think it's set that Angle is retiring, and I won't think it until Angle says for sure he's retiring.

[Guest RicFlairGlory]

All I know is I was sure HBK had retired after WM 17 had come and gone, and low and behold....

 

Who knows if Kurt will make it back, lets just all hope he does

[Guest Deebo]

"Then in five, six, seven, maybe 10 years if I can last that long, I'll have to have surgery to have two other vertebrae fused, and I won't be able to wrestle anymore," Angle, 34, said yesterday from his home in Moon, a day after a WWE Smackdown event at Mellon Arena

 

 

That quote put me at ease a little bit. When I read the first post I thought Angle would retire AFTER Wrestlemania. Hopefully, all goes well, Kurt has a little girl to live for and a whole life ahead of him,he doesn't need to risk it all just for one match.

[Guest EternallyLazy]

No I don't. I hate when the WWF goes out of their way to make Angle look bad (99 % of the time)

If Vince hates Angle as much as you think he does... he would be wrestling Funaki on Velocity or he wouldn't be with the company at all. Sure, this whole feud has been booked wrong, but sometimes you go way overboard when you claim that the WWF seems to be completely out to get Angle

[Guest snuffbox]

I think that a classic match can still take place here...

 

Start it out with a lengthy amateur tinted run of spots, a good 5 minutes or so. Brock takes control and kicks Angles ass for awhile. Angle makes slight comeback and they punch-kick outside the ring. Brock hits a big spot somewhere then takes a monster bump himself. Brief rest, then back in the ring where its back and forth drama. Maybe have Brock miss a ssp then hit the f-5. Brock gets the pin. This can go upwards of 30 mins, draw good heat, and only really requires mostly mat wrestling and basic brawling from Angle.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

I'm going to be shitting myself watching this match. I know they'll take every care to make it safe though, WM main events are meticulously booked as it is. A load of amateur sequences, a missed SSP (or that might be the finish, depending on whether Kurt wants to risk taking an F5 or not) and brock won't have any trouble bumping for Angle to take the pressure off him.

 

I hate to bring it up, but this is another blow to brock's career too, he's always been booked to look strong, however he hasn't really had any good opponents, save the rock and now what could be the defining match of his career is one where he's got to ensure he doesn't KILL his opponent.

[Guest Anglesault]

No I don't. I hate when the WWF goes out of their way to make Angle look bad (99 % of the time)

If Vince hates Angle as much as you think he does... he would be wrestling Funaki on Velocity or he wouldn't be with the company at all.

Then you explain it.

[Guest JMA]

No offense Sault, because I think you're a really good poster, but you sometimes seem to be very paranoid when it comes to Angle and his relationship with WWE. I'm pretty sure Vince really likes the guy. The only guy in the company who probably doesn't like him is Triple H.