Kurt Angle released!

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Angle's GONNA wrestle. Anyone who believes him when he says he won't is a fool. In 90 days, Angle's gonna be freaking out over not wrestling, and most of his minor injuries are going to be healed. He's probably going to delude himself that he's fine, despite his neck being fucked.

 

When those 90 days are up, Angle's going to probably work as much for indies and Japan as he can. TNA he might not do due to not wanting to get on Vince's bad side, but you never know. If TNA throws a good offer, and then dangles a few big matches in front of him, the possibility of him going there is high.

 

Fact is, Angle is a competitor. He considers wrestling his chance to prove himself, and without it, he's going to go insane. This isn't a case where he's going to go "Oh, I see now...I've been a fool. I'm gonna get everything straightened out!". No way. By the end of the 90's days, Angle may be a bit sharper in his head, but that burning desire will still be there, and he WILL wrestle, and if he ends up in ROH, NOAH or NJPW, then you had best pray for him, because with no restrictions on what he'll do? Angle's gonna break shit out that he's never done before, and possibly hurt himself REAL bad.

[snuffbox 0]

PWInsider said that when he was going for the gold in the Olympics, he had a doctor with him at all times to be able to shoot him up with some sort of painkiller before every match just so he could make it through without letting the pain get to him. This has been his nature for years, it's nothing new.

 

Is that legal?

[Downhome 0]

Yeah, he talked about it in his book, and it's legal, but it does go to say a lot about his nature, and how this is "him", it's nothing really new. What we're seeing is a guy who is getting older while being forced to deal with a number of injuries, and he's trying to do all he can to stay in the game just a little while longer. He doesn't want to let go, it's not in his nature to just let go and quit. As he grows older, and as the injuries pile up on him, he's getting more and more desperate to find a way to stay in the game, and unless forced out he's never going to slow down. Not for good, and not even just to rest up.

[Guest Floridian Cool]

He should probably get that follow-up surgery on his neck done while he's out. When he first had it done in 2003, he said in his WWE.com interview that he would need to go back to that doctor (Jho?) at some point to get the bone spurs or whatever cleaned out...it's 2006, and he's in a lot of pain, so I'd say he's due.

[mfn 0]

If he goes to TNA, I'd love to see him and Samoa Joe do a program.

[Guest Floridian Cool]

He's not going to TNA. He's obsessed with topping Bret Hart's legacy, not Jeff Jarrett's.

[Downhome 0]

If he refuses to do what WWE wants of him, and they refuse to take him back, you'll see Kurt Angle wrestle somewhere in 90 days. If he can't wrestle in WWE, he'll wrestle somewhere else.

[Ginger Snaps 0]

All of you people so eager for indy dream matches kind of bother me. We might be seeing the final stages of his self-destruction, and you're just eager to see him in ROH or wrestle the fat Samoan.

[Hawk 34 0]

All of you people so eager for indy dream matches kind of bother me. We might be seeing the final stages of his self-destruction, and you're just eager to see him in ROH or wrestle the fat Samoan.

 

Aside from a couple people saying that they want Angle/Joe, who has been advocating Angle to partake in said dream matches?

 

The general consensus has been that Angle needs to leave for good and that no promotion should hire him. Of course, that doesn't mean we're going to make the mistake of assuming that will occur. TNA, ROH and NOAH will be making offers and Angle will listen to them.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

...No one, outside of maybe two people have talked about "indy dream matches"

 

Angle's going to wrestle. If you think otherwise, then you have a REALLY huge rude awakening coming real soon.

[MrRant 0]

Meltzer mention anything on WO Live?

[spman 0]

Meltzer mention anything on WO Live?

Good question, nobody was able to stream WOL tonight since shitty Sports Byline was down.

[Jericholic82 0]

Forget the selfish part of us missing him. He needs to get his life together before we got stuck watching another "tribute" edition of RAW and SD. Plus WWE has to treat every "wellness" case like this, you can't just pick and choose cuz hes a top star.

 

God speed Kurt and good luck

 

 

Well miss you, but if you end up retiring cuz of this, but living a full life, it was well worth it, since your legacy in pro and amateur wrestling is already set in stone

 

sad I missed that house show in White Plains, as it may have been his last match.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I hope he really does call it a day, but I'd be surprised if we never saw him again.

 

Whether anyone avoids signing him up on principal or not, Angle will find someone, somewhere. He'll convince someone he's good to go, all healed up and he'll wrestle his match. Guys like Flair and Hogan and even Austin toned their styles down/wrestled a toned down style from the get-go and they're naturally broken down. With Angle's style, he's broken down a lot faster. And yet, he'll still throw suplexes and get dumped on his head as and when he thinks it's needed.

 

Also, if Angle's working for ROH, he won't be working 6-7 dates a month. ROH aren't exclusive, so he can take bookings on whatever indy shows he wants in the meantime. The Danielsons and Shelleys and the Sydals of this world certainly don't just work Ring Of Honor and sit sipping tea the rest of the month.

 

The only thing is who'll take a gamble on him. And if the gamble is going to bring in a lot of attention and fans, therefore money, people will keep dipping in the Kurt Angle pool, be it regular or just 'one shot' after 'one shot'.

[EricMM 0]

I think the telling thing FOR ME is that he got this banged up in seven years on WWE workschedules.

 

Whereas many, many wrestlers have been wrestling for longer and are in better shape.

 

Even "dangerous indy wrestlers" like Christopher Daniels, Danielson, even Samoa Joe have been doing this for so many years. Maybe Angle was older and/or more hurt coming in, but I've always been irked that WWE workers HAVE to work 4 days out of the week.

[Guest DRH 502]

There are plenty of guys walking around just as hurt as Angle, its easy to blame physical pain for a drug addiction. Sabu can barely walk, Chris Benoit's neck is documented as fucked, i'm sure Kobash Kenta has problems getting out of bed in the morning. My point is I think alot of you are overexaggerating the extent of his injuries, or just plain ignoring the fact that damn near all pro wrestlers work through some degree of pain. I've been hearing all this shit with people on message boards talking about how bad shape Kurt is in...blah blah. The truth is, when you are in pain, REAL PAIN, there is no pain pill in the world that will numb the pain. Angle may have worked through a severly injured neck, but so have lots of other people. Its also very unfair to compare him to Chris Daniels or Samoa Joe because thats a whole other ball of wax. Angle has been wrestling a full pro schedule and has been a decorated amature his whole life. I think its pretty obvious amongst the WWE that Angle's injuries aren't the real problem, his behavior and his addiction to pain medicine is. There will be plenty of people to tell me how wrong I am, but honestly the majority of you know nothing, just as I know nothing. The only person who truley knows the severity of his injuries is Kurt Angle and his private physician...

[Hawk 34 0]

I think the telling thing FOR ME is that he got this banged up in seven years on WWE workschedules.

 

Whereas many, many wrestlers have been wrestling for longer and are in better shape.

 

Even "dangerous indy wrestlers" like Christopher Daniels, Danielson, even Samoa Joe have been doing this for so many years. Maybe Angle was older and/or more hurt coming in, but I've always been irked that WWE workers HAVE to work 4 days out of the week.

 

 

You are aware that those people you mentioned, do work 2-4 times a week regularly. For at least 12 matches a month, at much faster and less rescricted pace...Joe, Daniels and Danielson are working more strenously then you think. Are you seriously going to say that Bryan Danielson, who worked two 60 minute draws over this weekend including a entire match with a seperated shoulder has it easier compared to Kurt? Who would work 2-3 10 minute matches at a reduced pace?

 

All wrestlers are pushed to the brink regardless of how much they work per week.

[EricMM 0]

Then I guess I would say that they work self-booked, whereas Kurt has to work that schedule.

[Guest wildpegasus]

There are plenty of guys walking around just as hurt as Angle, its easy to blame physical pain for a drug addiction. Sabu can barely walk, Chris Benoit's neck is documented as fucked, i'm sure Kobash Kenta has problems getting out of bed in the morning. My point is I think alot of you are overexaggerating the extent of his injuries, or just plain ignoring the fact that damn near all pro wrestlers work through some degree of pain. I've been hearing all this shit with people on message boards talking about how bad shape Kurt is in...blah blah. The truth is, when you are in pain, REAL PAIN, there is no pain pill in the world that will numb the pain. Angle may have worked through a severly injured neck, but so have lots of other people. Its also very unfair to compare him to Chris Daniels or Samoa Joe because thats a whole other ball of wax. Angle has been wrestling a full pro schedule and has been a decorated amature his whole life. I think its pretty obvious amongst the WWE that Angle's injuries aren't the real problem, his behavior and his addiction to pain medicine is. There will be plenty of people to tell me how wrong I am, but honestly the majority of you know nothing, just as I know nothing. The only person who truley knows the severity of his injuries is Kurt Angle and his private physician...

 

There aren't plently of wrestlers walking around who are just as hurt as Angle. If they were than they pretty much wouldn't be walking. Angle with the exception of wrestlers like Kobashi is easily among the most crippled wrestlers out there. His injuries have been well documented over the years. And that's only the ones we hear about. Yeah, I know how often wrestlers get hurt and I read the stories from Leo Burke and Misawa getting "temporarily" paralyzed to Steve Austin's neck and knees to the Iron Sheik but man; Angle is beyond screwed up. People aren't joking when they say he's the next Dynamite Kid.

 

And yeah his behavior is perhaps a problem and his addiction to pain medicine is no doubt a bad problem. There's no denying that.

 

We do know something. There've been lots of reports about Angle's health.

[mfn 0]

I'm not saying that I want Angle to go anywhere and keep working... All I said that IF he does go to TNA... IF and only IF... I'd like to see a program with Samoa Joe.

 

I'm not pushing for it, I'm not hoping for it, I just think it would be something nice.

[Promoter 0]

The post about Vince not wanting an Olympic gold medalist dying on his watch is so true. That will be a complete disaster especially with this

"Wellness Policy" they implemented because of Eddie Guerrero. The media and country would have field day with that one. I'm surprised they didn't get too much backlash from the documentary(can't recall now) with Foley's post match reactions after facing Rock at Royal Rumble.

 

I think the wwe letting things get public over the last few months about Angle's condition is deliberate to prevent Angle from going to another compnay if they had decided to let him go. The company that would be hiring him is just asking for backlash imo. How would it look for them to take Angle when the big dog wwe fired him for not getting help? Angle trying his thing in MMA is another possibility with how obsessed he is with proving he is the best.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

The post about Vince not wanting an Olympic gold medalist dying on his watch is so true. That will be a complete disaster especially with this

"Wellness Policy" they implemented because of Eddie Guerrero. The media and country would have field day with that one. I'm surprised they didn't get too much backlash from the documentary(can't recall now) with Foley's post match reactions after facing Rock at Royal Rumble.

 

I think the wwe letting things get public over the last few months about Angle's condition is deliberate to prevent Angle from going to another compnay if they had decided to let him go. The company that would be hiring him is just asking for backlash imo. How would it look for them to take Angle when the big dog wwe fired him for not getting help? Angle trying his thing in MMA is another possibility with how obsessed he is with proving he is the best.

 

 

Angle would get slaughtered in MMA.

[Jericholic82 0]

so in light of this news, how about everyone shares their favorite moments/matches/skits/promos of Kurt

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The Chairman speaks on Kurt Angle

By Louie Dee

August 28, 2006

 

On Friday afternoon, WWE and Kurt Angle came to a mutual agreement on releasing Angle from his contract early. Several WWE Superstars have given WWE.com their reactions to Angle’s release, and on Monday afternoon, WWE.com spoke with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about it as well.

 

“It’s unfortunate that Kurt was released, and it’s really unfortunate for the WWE fans who for a while at least won’t see Angle in action,” the Chairman told WWE.com. “(Angle) is a consummate professional; obviously he’s a great athlete, and he’s the only Olympic Gold Medalist in WWE history. Not to have Kurt with us is really unfortunate all the way around...but circumstances were such that Kurt should have been and was granted his release.”

 

However, McMahon also said that Angle’s success has come at a price, and that price is part of what led to his situation.

 

“Kurt has a history of being one of the greatest athletes that America has ever seen. It’s no secret that even when Kurt won the Olympic Gold Medal, he did so with a broken neck,” he said. “Kurt has been dealing with that pain, and the advancement of that pain, as well as other injuries. He had been dealing with that injury since he won the gold medal; he had been masking it in many ways just so he could go out and compete. Kurt only knows 100 percent, he is not one of those guys who can go out and compete at an 85 percent level. He just cannot do that; he’s a thoroughbred. He has to go as fast and as great and as strong as he possibly can; that’s the only way Kurt Angle knows.”

 

The Chairman also confirmed that the door is always open for Angle to return if and when he is able.

 

“WWE would certainly welcome Kurt back with open arms,” the Chairman affirmed. “I think Kurt has some issues he has to face, as we all do from time to time. We all have our demons, and as human beings it is important for us to overcome them and become better human beings, athletes and business people.”

[Jericholic82 0]

The Chairman speaks on Kurt Angle

By Louie Dee

August 28, 2006

 

On Friday afternoon, WWE and Kurt Angle came to a mutual agreement on releasing Angle from his contract early. Several WWE Superstars have given WWE.com their reactions to Angle’s release, and on Monday afternoon, WWE.com spoke with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about it as well.

 

“It’s unfortunate that Kurt was released, and it’s really unfortunate for the WWE fans who for a while at least won’t see Angle in action,” the Chairman told WWE.com. “(Angle) is a consummate professional; obviously he’s a great athlete, and he’s the only Olympic Gold Medalist in WWE history. Not to have Kurt with us is really unfortunate all the way around...but circumstances were such that Kurt should have been and was granted his release.”

 

However, McMahon also said that Angle’s success has come at a price, and that price is part of what led to his situation.

 

“Kurt has a history of being one of the greatest athletes that America has ever seen. It’s no secret that even when Kurt won the Olympic Gold Medal, he did so with a broken neck,” he said. “Kurt has been dealing with that pain, and the advancement of that pain, as well as other injuries. He had been dealing with that injury since he won the gold medal; he had been masking it in many ways just so he could go out and compete. Kurt only knows 100 percent, he is not one of those guys who can go out and compete at an 85 percent level. He just cannot do that; he’s a thoroughbred. He has to go as fast and as great and as strong as he possibly can; that’s the only way Kurt Angle knows.”

 

The Chairman also confirmed that the door is always open for Angle to return if and when he is able.

 

“WWE would certainly welcome Kurt back with open arms,” the Chairman affirmed. “I think Kurt has some issues he has to face, as we all do from time to time. We all have our demons, and as human beings it is important for us to overcome them and become better human beings, athletes and business people.”

note he said "granted" so did Kurt ask for the release?

[Jingus 0]

There are plenty of guys walking around just as hurt as Angle

 

No. There aren't. Kurt's most RECENT injuries include a torn groin, a pulled abdominal muscle, and a torn hamstring. Any ONE of those is a legitimately serious injury which would put anyone on the disabled list. And that's not even getting into all his prior problems with his back, knees, shoulders, musculature, and especially his beyond-fucked neck.

 

My point is I think alot of you are overexaggerating the extent of his injuries, or just plain ignoring the fact that damn near all pro wrestlers work through some degree of pain.

 

Not "damn near all". All. Period. Once you've been in the business for more than a few months, the pain never really goes away.

 

The truth is, when you are in pain, REAL PAIN, there is no pain pill in the world that will numb the pain.

 

Um, yeah there is. Ever been on oxycontin? Believe me, no matter how bad the pain, there's always something strong enough out there to kill it.

 

I think its pretty obvious amongst the WWE that Angle's injuries aren't the real problem, his behavior and his addiction to pain medicine is. There will be plenty of people to tell me how wrong I am, but honestly the majority of you know nothing, just as I know nothing. The only person who truley knows the severity of his injuries is Kurt Angle and his private physician...

 

Well, on the one hand you claim to know nothing, but on the other hand insist that Angle's injuries aren't that bad and that he's hooked on pain pills for reasons not invovling actual pain. Which is it?

 

 

so in light of this news, how about everyone shares their favorite moments/matches/skits/promos of Kurt

 

Um. Damn near all of 'em? But if I had to name just one, I'd say his match with Austin at Summerslam 2001. It's one of the finest examples of pure storytelling in a wrestling ring, even including the cheapass finish.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

--There is an AP story on Kurt Angle, which is him going public with the story that he asked to leave after suffering injuries on 8/13 because he no longer wants to take pain medication to continue to wrestle. It's the public story for him to save face in case other media investigates further and finds out he was actually let go, as opposed to him making the call to leave. This will likely be in many newspapers in the morning.

[Downhome 0]

From PWInsider:

 

quote]HE ASSOCIATED PRESS PICKS UP KURT ANGLE STORY

by Mike Johnson @ 5:09:00 PM on 8/28/2006

 

The Associated Press picked up the story of Kurt Angle's departure from World Wrestling Entertainment late this afternoon, so expect it to get a lot of play nationally in newspapers across the United States over the next several days.

 

This is likely the first time the departure of a WWE performer has made the national newswires, although it happened because of Angle's legitimate athletic background and Olympics accomplishment, as his entire wrestling career is framed as likely being over, not because of his status as a WWE contracted performer coming to an end.

 

The article notes that Angle was leaving "entertainment wrestling" yet wasn't (at this time) citing the departure as the official retirement for his legendary grappling career.

 

Chronicling the injuries Angle suffered during his final professional wrestling match at the White Plains, New York ECW event several weeks back, the article noted that Angle opted to leave the company after deciding he didn't want to continue to take "pain medication" in order to compete. The story does not attempt to delve deeper into Angle's current personal and professional issues beyond that lone mention of pain medication and does not mention his previous suspension from WWE. It also does not note that the decision to end the professional relationship at this time was a call made by WWE, not Angle.

 

The AP article is written in a way that was designed to bookend Angle's legitimate athletic career. To read the article on Angle's WWE departure, click here.

 

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/47-...006-704006.html

 

Kurt Angle says he's done with wrestling _ for now

 

The Associated Press

 

 

PITTSBURGH - Former Olympic heavyweight wrestling champion Kurt Angle says is he leaving entertainment wrestling, even though he is not formally announcing his retirement.

 

Angle said he decided to stop wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. after he injured his groin, tore an abdominal muscle and injured a hamstring during an Aug. 13 event in White Plains, N.Y.

 

The 37-year-old Angle, a former high school wrestling and football star at Mount Lebanon High School in the Pittsburgh area, has been a wrestler/entertainer for seven years for WWE. According to the company's Web site, Angle received an early release from his contract after he no longer wanted to take pain medication to compete.

 

Angle said he needs time to heal before he begins to think about wrestling again and the WWE told him he can return when he wants.

 

 

A two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Clarion University in western Pennsylvania, Angle won the 220-pound championship at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, defeating Iran's Abbas Jadidi for the gold medal despite competing with a badly injured neck.

 

Angle dropped to his knees on the mat and openly wept after being awarded the decision by the mat officials after he and Jadidi wrestled to a 1-1 draw during the eight-minute match.

 

After winning the gold medal, Angle left amateur wrestling and became a Pittsburgh TV sportscaster for a brief period, then became an entertainment wrestler in 1998.

 

August 28, 2006 3:51 PM

[snuffbox 0]

Once addicted to oxycontin, even it can only do so much for actual pain.

[bob_barron 0]

as I know nothing.

 

Bingo