Oh it's true, it's damn true!! (Kurt Angle)

Member Name: mmmbuffy

Product:	Kurt Angle
Date:	31/07/01 (249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: My, Olimpic, Hero

Disadvantages: Not, Too, Many

Kurt Angle is one of the most impressive WWF superstars today, he is arguably the best athlete on the WWF roster, simply because of one of his many achievements. In the 1996 Olympics, held in Atlanta, Kurt Angle won the gold medal in the Olympic Freestyle Wrestling at 22 pounds, not only that though, he was the very first American to win gold in Olympic Wrestling.

Kurt Angle is one of many WWF superstars to have a college education. He attended Clarion University and got a B.S. in geography. Once Angle graduated from college he began training full time for the Olympic team, he also had a few part time coaching jobs in wrestling. Angle's abilities earned him a place on Team USA for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and later that year he realised his dream by defeating Abbas Jadidi (Iran), winning 220 pound freestyle wresting competition.

After his Olympic victory, Kurt turned from amateur wrestling to the world of sports-entertainment by joining the WWF. Kurt has firmly established himself as one of the top heels (bad guys) in the WWF, and if there was any doubt of his heel attributes, they were erased earlier this year after he broke Scotty Too Hotty's ankle using his ankle lock.

Kurt has two main finishers, and a finisher he sometimes uses, first off his Olympic Slam, recently being called the Angle Slam, I tend to prefer Olympic Slam. This is a pretty good manoeuvre, although I have to say, it doesn't look as painful as some other moves. To execute it he puts his opponents arms round his shoulder , he then uses his other arm to hook the opponents leg, then he swings his opponent so their body is racked over his shoulder and spins around, slamming their body into the canvas after about 180 degrees.

Kurt's second finisher is a particularly effective and easy to execute (especially for a great amateur like Angle) move, known as the Ankle Lock, and more recently the Angle Lock. He has many was to get his opponent face
down on the mat, but once there they are finished. He grabs his opponents left leg, hooks it around the ankle, and with his other hand he begins to turn the ankle, applying great pressure to the ankle. Very painful if it were to be done in reality.

Kurt's other finisher is the moonsault, now this is a move usually associated with high-flyers, Lita is a good example. To perform this he climbs to the top rope, with his opponent lying below the rope, and faces the crowd, he then jumps off backwards and goes around 270 degrees, landing with his front on his opponents front. This is a particularly risky move, for his opponents, he put Hardcore Holly out for a while doing this, he shattered Hardcore's arm.

What makes Kurt so funny is that he thinks he is SO good, he is, but not as good as he thinks. He has two gimmicks (these are things that they do that no other wrestler does, such as The Rocks, "If ya smellllll, what The Rock, is, cookin'"). He refers to himself as the peoples 'Olympic Hero', I guess he is in a way, but still, it is rather amusing. He also likes referring to his three I's, Integrity, Intelligence, and Intensity, saying how he has them, but no one else does.

One feat that makes Kurt Angle so funny is the way he insults the fans, not only that, but the way he does it. Whenever the WWF go to a different state, he takes something about that state and uses it to skit the people, it's usually something about their ice hockey team, or football team. Not only that though, his go home line (last word so to speak) is truly great, he likes to finish with, "Oh, it's true, it's damn true".

Despite Kurt's abilities, the fans really don't like him, mainly because he insults them and is a REAL brown-noser, he sucks up to Vince McMahon like there is no tomorrow. Not only this though, he tends to have rivalries with the fans favourites, he recently had a rivalries with Th
e Rock, Chris Jericho, and to more amusement Chris Benoit, where Benoit took Kurt's gold medals, and kept them in a safe, warm place (in other words, down his kegs!) Rivalries such as this have led Kurt to be booed by the fans, also having a relationship with big time heel tag-team Edge and Christian.

No matter how much Kurt WAS booed, he has now recently found himself being cheered, and I mean CHEERED, the fans reaction to his new found bravery, and loyalty to the WWF have sky rocketed him into being a fans favourite. The recent invasion on the WWF by WCW and ECW have meant that Stone Cold Steve Austin has left the WWF and joined the WCW/ECW alliance. Why is this important? well let me explain. Stone Cold and Vince have had a relationship since Wrestlemania, and recently Kurt has been a part of it. During the recent pay-per view, WWF Invasion, the main event was a ten man tag team match, the WWF team consisted of Kurt, Stone Cold, Kane, Undertaker, and Stone Cold, and the WCW/ECW team was formed of the Dudley Boyz, Rhyno, DDP, and Booker T. During the main event, Undertaker chased DDP out of the ring because of a recent rivalry, and all of the wrestlers were totally wasted, except for Kurt and Booker T who were fighting in the ring, and Stone Cold, on the outside. Kurt was beating on Booker T, he was totally dominating, and then locked in the ankle lock on Booker T, this would normally result in the end of the match, but no, Stone Cold turned on the WWF and hit Angle with the stunner, and the alliance own the brawl.

On the episode of Raw is War the following day, the show opened with the alliance owners in the ring, with Stone Cold, and he was explaining how he felt there was no competition in the WWF, and so jumped ship to a team who appreciated him. Then, he was interrupted by Angle, and the crowd absoloutley loved him, I mean they were going nuts. Stone Cold began insulting Angle saying, "Look at ya, you're pathetic", in typic
al Stone Cold fashion, he then said to come down to the ring. Kurt then began sprinting down to the ring, to the fans delight, got in and he and Stone Cold began exchanging punches, Kurt then ducked a punch and hit Stone Cold with one of his belly to belly suplexes. The fans were going nuts, and have loved him ever since (a whole week!)

I feel Kurt makes a much better babyface (good guy) than he did a heel, and hope that he continues as he is. No matter whether he is a heel or a babyface he is still unquestionably on of the best athletes in the WWF, this was shown in his rookie (first) year in the WWF, unquestionably the best rookie year of any WWF superstar in history. First of all, he won the European and Intercontinental titles, as if that wasn't enough he then went on to win the 2000 King of the Ring tournament. Wait, that wasn't enough either, he then went a top it all by beating The Rock to win the WWF Championship at the November 2000 No Mercy.

Not only is he a good athlete, he is an impressive role model. You can look at Kurt and his achievements, you can't help but be impressed, I mean read them, Olympic gold medallist, WWF superstar, and he was recently inducted into the amateur wrestling hall of fame, quite impressive. And hey, if Kurt can do it, so can everyone else, he is truly inspiring, "Oh it's true, it's damn true!"

At the tender age of 28, Kurt Angle has a great career ahead of him. If he can remain on the good side of the fans he can go on to achieve greatness in the WWF.

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