What Kurt Angle achieved in both his amateur and professional wrestling careers is the stuff of legend.
The Pittsburgh native won an Olympic Gold Medal with a ‘broken freakin’ neck’ as a amateur before going on to become one of the most decorated and accomplished performers in history as a professional.
However, the determination to never quit and go the extra mile for fans inside the ropes has seemingly come at a hefty price.
Speaking during a Q&A on Ad Free Shows, Angle revealed that he is in “extreme pain” all day long as a result of his punishing career. The former WWE Champion explained that he has to work on his body for “two to three” hours a day, adding that he’s pretty banged up.
“I’m in extreme pain all day long,” Angle revealed. “I do maintenance on my body all day. I do my neck traction. I have a thing called the Iron Neck, where it trains your neck. I have anti-gravity machine rollers. I stretch. I do a lot of weight training.
“I work on my body a good 2-3 hours a day. I have to. I’m so banged up now. I sacrificed a lot of my body in professional wrestling, and amateur wrestling. I have to blame both sports, not just one. I’m paying for it now, but I’m managing it.”
Angle, who suffered with an addiction to pain medication in the past, went on to admit that not being able to use painkillers makes things more difficult. However, he also expressed his desire to never return to taking the pills.
“I had a painkiller problem, and I kicked that eight years ago. Not having painkillers anymore is really difficult, but I’m never going back to those, nor do I want to.
“I’m going to keep doing my body maintenance training, and doing what I’m doing right now.”
Kurt Angle retired from active competition at WrestleMania 35, before going on to work backstage with WWE as a producer. Angle was released by WWE in April 2020 as part of cost-cutting measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elsewhere during the Q&A, Angle spoke to Inside The Ropes’ own Innes McVey about the two dream matches that eluded him during his legendary run.
Angle picked out Daniel Bryan and Bret Hart, before heaping praise on current WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler.
H/t to talkSPORT for the transcription.