History Wrestling / KurtAngle

* TranquilizerDart: He's on the short list of people who have used a gun on a professional wrestling show, although he "just" shot the Big Show with a tranquilizer dart. It makes a chair look a lot less effective but doesn't quite measure up to being chokeslammed off a ledge.

* UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}: He's one of the only professional wrestlers to sport a homegrown yinzer accent. Ax of Demolition and Shane Douglas are about the only other examples. Kurt's is by far the thickest of them, though (unless one counts Pat McAfee's comically exaggerated one).

* UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}: He's one of the only professional wrestlers to sport a homegrown yinzer accent. The only other prominent example has been Wrestling/ShaneDouglas, and Kurt's accent is far thicker.

* GameBreakingInjury:
** His Ankle Lock FinishingMove. Though he did not invent it (Wrestling/KenShamrock used that move during his WWF run between 1998-1999), he made it popular. He would fall victim to the Angle Lock himself during a Wrestlemania match with Chris Benoit, although he in turn caught Benoit with the Crippler Crossface, which was ''Benoit'''s FinishingMove.
** He ultimately lost the TNA World Title in October of 2011 to Wrestling/JamesStorm due to a knee injury. That same knee injury kept Angle from competing in the 2012 Olympics, effectively ending his hyped up return to amateur wrestling.

* [[WouldHitAGirl Would Put A Girl In the Ankle Lock]]: Even after WWE went PG and (among other things) abolished male-on-female violence, Angle was still willing to slap the Ankle Lock on Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon during their mixed tag match (with Creator/RondaRousey and Wrestling/TripleH) at Wrestlemania 34. To be fair, Steph had been provoking and taking cheap shots at him for the entire match, and Ronda had already opened up the intergender can of worms by beating up Trips. Either way, it got a ''[[KickTheSonOfABitch massive]]'' pop.

* DorkKnight: Angle's character was a supremely skilled athlete who acted (more or less) like the obnoxious, strait-laced teacher on a sitcom. For example, he was obsessed with [[LactoseOverLiquor milk]] like Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was with beer, and he was completely clueless to innuendoes. This made him a bad guy in the DarkerAndEdgier Attitude Era.

* DorkKnight: Angle's character was a supremely skilled athlete who acted (more or less) like the obnoxious teacher's pet on a sitcom. For example, he was obsessed with milk like Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was with beer, and he was completely clueless to innuendoes. This made him a bad guy in the DarkerAndEdgier Attitude Era.

* DistressedDude: Ok, he got away but Wrestling/AcesAndEights still threw him in the bed of a pickup truck and sped off.

* OneManArmy: In TNA against Wrestling/AcesAndEights and The [[Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels Extraordinary]] [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Gentleman]]'s [[Wrestling/BobbyRoode Organization]] by himself and mostly successful in his efforts.

** Also in 2005, he threatened Wrestling/BookerT's wife, Sharmell Sullivan, by saying he wanted to have "bestiality sex" with her. Sharmell, like her husband, is black. [[UnfortunateImplications Bestiality is having sex with animals.]] It's possible that he meant to say "bestial sex"; i.e. [[UnusualEuphemism hugging]] like wild animals but honestly, "gutter slut" is politically incorrect enough considering ''[=SmackDown=]'' has always been rated PG, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids for some reason]].

* ActionDad: He has five children, two with Karen Angle and three with Giovanna Yannotti.

* AppropriatedAppellation: Claimed on the March 11, 2002, ''Raw'' to have taught [[Wrestling/{{Kane}} "The Big Red Machine" Kane]] a lesson and called himself "The Big Red White and Blue Machine". Wrestling/{{Edge}} responded by saying that Kurt was "just really white."

** At the 2003 ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|WWE}}'' pay-per-view (which was taking place in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}), he insulted Canadians in general and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit and Wrestling/{{Edge}} in particular, mocking their French heritage (although Edge is Anglo-Canadian, and has insulted French Canadians himself) in the CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys idiom. [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece Extremely common at the time]].

** At the 2003 ''Wrestling/{{No Way Out|Wrestling}}'' pay-per-view (which was taking place in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}), he insulted Canadians in general and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit and Wrestling/{{Edge}} in particular, mocking their French heritage (although Edge is Anglo-Canadian, and has insulted French Canadians himself) in the CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys idiom. [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece Extremely common at the time]].

* BadassBoast: From ''New Year's Revolution'' 2006, after parodying {{politically incorrect villain}}s in the last of many vain attempts to get heel heat against Wrestling/JohnCena, he says this to {{lampshade|Hanging}} exactly why it failed.

* StunGuns: He's on the short list of people who have used a gun on a professional wrestling show, although he "just" shot the Big Show with a tranquilizer dart. It makes a chair look a lot less effective but doesn't quite measure up to being chokeslammed off a ledge.

* BaldOfAwesome: Kurt was initially horrified at being shaved bald, and wore a wig held on by amateur wrestling headgear. Then he decided he liked being bald. After a couple weeks of frantically trying to keep his bald head covered, he cut a promo in which he threw the wig and headgear to the side, and waited out the crowd's laughter while looking smug. He's kept his head shaved ever since.

You can read an extensive article on his career on his [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Angle page]] over at [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]], of course.

* InsultOfEndearment: The "You Suck!" chants when Angle's a babyface. This was highlighted during his HeelFaceTurn as part of his break with [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Team Angle]] in 2003, where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSVLVl6FxAM he told Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas]] that he ''earned'' that chant.

* DentedIron: Those complains about broken freakin' necks? Very much legitimate, and they did not go away after he left the WWE. [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRua6MlueXZVGh2x3ItGdFTNoKJEM5AQZAsdrDmDPgvsnavR236 This is a seemingly legitimate photo of him in a wheelchair at a TNA UK show]] (and not the wheelchair skit he did), which might begin to indicate how much excruciating pain he must have been the entire time.

** Also in 2005, he threatened Wrestling/BookerT's wife, Sharmell Sullivan, by saying he wanted to have "bestiality sex" with her. Sharmell, like her husband, is black. [[UnfortunateImplications Bestiality is having sex with animals.]] YouKeepUsingThatWord, Kurt. It's possible that he meant to say "bestial sex"; i.e. [[UnusualEuphemism hugging]] like wild animals but honestly, "gutter slut" is politically incorrect enough considering ''[=SmackDown=]'' has always been rated PG, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids for some reason]].

** During Taker's search to figure out who was stalking his then-wife Sara, he confronted Angle on the June 11, 2001 ''Raw.'' Angle said that he was sorry that "some maniac" was stalking Taker's wife, and added, "First of all, I met your wife once - I didn't even like her! I didn't even find her attractive!" Taker punched Angle and gave him [[FinishingMove the Last Ride]].

* BittersweetEnding: He ended his 20+ year career at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 35,'' being defeated cleanly by heel Wrestling/BaronCorbin. The match wasn't the legendary send-off a wrestler of Angle's caliber deserved (Angle was being forced into retirement because [[DentedIron he honestly couldn't go any more]] and Corbin isn't a talented enough worker to pick up the slack), Corbin was considered by ''everyone'' to be an unworthy final opponent, and it was generally agreed that Angle deserved much better.[[note]]He also admitted in a later interview that he ''had'' wanted Wrestling/JohnCena, but Wrestling/VinceMcMahon had forced him to face Corbin instead.[[/note]]

** He once apparently defeated fellow legitimate wrestler and genetic freak of nature Wrestling/BrockLesnar in a proper wrestling match backstage. Onstage, he was one of the few people who could genuinely be considered a rival to Brock, and Kurt is two inches shorter and 40 to 60 pounds lighter.

* HiddenDepths: Angle is known, rightfully so, as one of the greatest grappling technicians in the history of pro wrestling, but he's also a very capable brawler, as he proved when he faced Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon at 2001's King of the Ring, and his top-rope moonsault is a thing of beauty.

* UncoolUndies: KurtAngle has been pantsed in the ring several times, revealing his skimpy thong, much to the crowd's delight. One pantsing incident added insult to injury as after he was pantsed, the ridiculous hair piece he was wearing was snatched off his head, revealing his baldness ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]). It's one of his character's RunningGags as he would be flustered and struggle to pull his pants up while wrestling.