Adam Cole says Kurt Angle was an essential part of why he became a professional wrestler.
Olympic gold medallist Kurt Angle is one of the most influential wrestlers in the history of the sport. After starting his amateur career at the age of seven, Angle established himself as “The Wrestling Machine” and clashed with some of the biggest names in the industry.
While his in-ring career is now over, many still praise his accomplishments and cite him as the reason why they became professional wrestlers in the first place. One such name who recently praised Angel was Adam Cole.
While speaking on The Kurt Angle Show podcast, the leader of The Undisputed Elite revealed that he didn’t know about Angle until after arriving in WWE. Cole said he began training to become a wrestler thanks to Angle’s work ethic.
“So I wanted to, I wrestled in sixth grade, and then all through middle school, and then almost until my senior year of high school, and I did that because of Kurt Angle. Even though I found out about Kurt after he had got to WWE, reading his book and hearing about all the training he would do, and getting five hours of sleep and being involved in so many different clubs and training twice a day.
I’m like this is what I want to do, like I want to be this guy who works his tail off to get to his goals. And at the end of the day, I knew that I wanted to be a pro wrestler.”
Continuing on, Cole recalled meeting his hero for the first time.
“So I actually started wrestling in middle school and high school because of you Kurt. And on top of that, you were the first pro wrestler first celebrity that I had ever met. And my experience was so positive that to this day, anytime I see someone like a fan anywhere, I always in the back of my mind go I want this to be as positive an experience as it was me meeting Kurt for the first time because I was so scared to say hello.
My mother was there with me. And you just had a huge smile on your face and my mom pushed my hand forward to shake your hand. I was so nervous, and that you were just again, as a kid, you were my favourite from that point.
I’m like, Kurt Angle is the best he is so nice and so cool. And then on top of that, again, you know, watching the run that Kurt has had, I think it’s very, very safe to say one of the greatest of all time.”
Kurt Angle was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. He went on to have one last last run with the company shortly after, wrestling the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles before ending his career with defeat to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35.
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