As one of the most celebrated performers of all time, Kurt Angle developed a diverse arsenal for use in his matches. Encompassing the various styles of wrestling, the Olympic gold medalist relied on an Olympic slam and an Ankle Lock for his signature moves. As for the rest of his moveset, this ranged from German suplexes to Moonsaults to technical holds.
The Moonsault reportedly got Kurt Angle in trouble during his WWE career. During a recent episode of the Kurt Angle Show, Angle recalled how Vince McMahon yelled at him for using the aerial manoeuvre. When Angle reaffirmed how jaw-dropping it was, however, the then-WWE boss allowed him to use the move on a sporadic basis:
“I got yelled at a couple of times when I first started doing the Moonsault off the top rope. Vince was like, ‘Listen, you’re not a small guy, you’re a big guy,’ and I said, ‘Vince, but I can do it, that’s actually impressive.’ He said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, but don’t use it a lot, just every once in a while,’ and he was right.”
Kurt Angle Inspired A New Generation
Although Kurt Angle wasn’t the biggest guy in the locker room, it remained outstanding that he could execute a typically flawless top-rope Moonsault. In the modern age, it’s not uncommon for true behemoths of the squared circle to execute such risky moves, as Kurt himself noted when discussing a bout between Josh Alexander and Jacob Fatu:
“It’s supposed to be the Lucha guys that do this and you’ve got a fricking 300-pound monster [Jacob Fatu] doing it. It ruins the whole psychology of wrestling. But not in a bad way, in a good way, because it’s so impressive that he’s so big that he can do that.”
The likes of Keith Lee and T-BAR/Dominik Dijakovic are among the big and bulky who often take to the sky, including against each other; Dijakovic’s somersault dive on Lee from NXT TakeOver: Portland remains one of the last great ‘TakeOver moments’.