On this day in wrestling history, TNA (Impact Wrestling) got a huge jolt in the arm when Kurt Angle stepped out of the shadows and into the light in the Impact Zone on October 9, 2006 to confront Samoa Joe.
While the company had signed other stars like Christian Cage, whose arrival helped legitimize the company, Kurt Angle was the first real superstar they signed and he immediately put them on a level close to the WWE.
For many fans, we only remember Kurt Angle’s WWE career with a brief mention of his TNA run, and we’re missing out on some of his best action of his career.
New beginning
Angle’s time in TNA was unparalleled in the quality of his in ring and out of the ring work.
It was a new beginning for him as he wanted a lighter schedule for his health and to wrestler the younger stars TNA had like AJ Styles and Drew Galloway (Drew McIntyre).
From essentiallysports.com, Angle talked about why he left the WWE.
“Well to be honest with you I don’t think I would’ve worked with them if I did not go to TNA so when I left WWE in 2006, I was burned out. I was having a painkiller problem, I was having a lot of injuries. I was working 300 days a year and I just wasn’t enjoying it anymore and I had to get out.
“I knew it was for my own good health so I decided to go to a smaller company and do lesser shows and TNA gave me that ability and it paid me very well for it so, you know, I had to do what I had to do for health reasons.”
Regrets
While he went on in the above article to say he loved TNA and the matches he had, he has some regrets about his time there but it’s not because of his career there, but that some many fans may never see what he did.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“I had some regrets because I was just starting to get good when I quit WWE. I was just starting to come into my own, where I was…not that I didn’t have incredible matches there, I did, but I started really becoming a seasoned veteran six years into my career and that was right around 2006. So I had a better career in TNA unfortunately and most of the WWE Universe will never see those matches.” – Kurt Angle, NBC interview, April 21, 2017.
Angle is one of the greatest talents ever and his career was amazing to watch unfold.
Everyone needs a new chapter in our lives, and this one came on this day in wrestling history and offered Angle and fans a fresh start.
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