Vince McMahon gave an ultimatum to a legendary wrestler prior to their debut.
Following a successful 1996 Olympics, gold medal winner Kurt Angle would embark on the next stage of his wrestling career. The man who triumphed in the Atlanta games with a broken freaking neck would sign with WWE in 1998.
Following a series of vignettes to introduce the future WWE Champion to the audience, Angle would make his in-ring debut at Survivor Series 1999. However, with Angle considering quitting professional wrestling on day one of training, the debut may have never happened in the first place.
Vince McMahon Gave Unique Advice To WWE Superstar At The Start Of Their Career
While the in-ring ability of the Hall of Famer has been frequently praised by wrestling fans around the world, many also remember Angle for his comedic moments while being a part of the company.
With a rap battle against John Cena, Milk-O-Mania and wearing a tiny cowboy hat alongside Steve Austin being some of the highlights, this was not the original career path that the Olympic Gold Medalist had intended.
Speaking on the Stories With Brisco And Bradshaw, Angle admitted that he wanted to focus more on in-ring work than being a character. McMahon would have other ideas, stating that they were going to try multiple ideas with Angle, which the former Raw General Manager was not a fan of:
“When WWE signed me, I was really nervous about getting in front of the camera. I thought, you know what, I’ll just wrestle, these guys will just have me wrestle, because I didn’t wanna do the other stuff. Vince put me out there. He said, ‘You’re gonna f***ing sink or swim, but I’m gonna throw you out there. We’re gonna do a lot of s**t with you.’ I was like, ‘Vince, I don’t wanna do a lot of s**t. I just wanna wrestle!”
H/t to SportsKeeda for the use of transcription.