During the Attitude Era and the Ruthless Aggression time period, Kurt Angle was seen as someone who would finish his career in the WWE, no questions asked. Initially, Angle regarded professional wrestling as something beneath him and during the early meetings with McMahon, Angle demanded that he be booked as unbeatable.

For this reason, talks between the Olympian and the company stalled but to be fair, Angle had never followed pro wrestling to that point and had no idea how the business operated. Angle later credited Steve Austin as his main inspiration and upon watching the Texas Rattlesnake bust heads and raise hell, Angle understood.

RELATED: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Kurt Angle's TNA Run

Despite the allure of testing his legitimate skills in the UFC, Angle went on to do smart business and signed with the WWE. He debuted in 1998 and within the first week, Angle started wrestling at live events.

Angle Had The Fastest Rise of Any Superstar

Angle had one hell of a rookie year and captured the WWE Title by the end of his first major push. He would hold onto the title for several months and despite losing the title to the Rock at No Way Out 2001, the Olympian had captured the imagination of the fans and was a permanent fixture in the main event from that point onward.

After the untimely departure of Brock Lesnar, new superstars such as Cena, Orton, and Batista were pushed, and around that time, Angle was an established star. For the vast majority of his tenure, Angle retained a comedic facet to his character but in 2006, he revamped his character and adopted the moniker of 'The Wrestling Machine.'

Angle began wearing a mouthguard during his matches and reverted to his amateur wrestling days as this version of him was entirely humorless and dead-set on dominating his opponents. WWE finally put much-needed emphasis on skill and technique, and Angle flat-out mauled most of his opponents with unrelenting pressure and tenacity.

All was going well for Angle when suddenly, WWE announced that it had parted ways with the Olympian without any sort of extended explanation. He was quietly released by the promotion and Angle maintained a low profile for the next few months.

His release came as a surprise, but his subsequent appearance in the Impact Zone was an even bigger shock. Kurt Angle joined TNA in October 2006 and fans could not fathom why the Olympian went down to the “B-Leagues” as TNA was seen as far inferior to WWE in just about everything.

Unknown to most people, Angle around that time was going through a rough patch in his life. Despite putting on wrestling clinics in the ring, Angle was not in a good place, mentally or physically.

The Olympian was wrestling with various injuries and his growing dependence on painkillers led to his life spiraling out of control. Moreover, his relationship with Vince McMahon grew distant but after seeing the condition of Angle, McMahon released him from the contract.

Angle still had a passion for professional wrestling, but the WWE wanted him to wrestle every show and rejected his request for a part-time schedule. Meanwhile, TNA was happy to have Angle around, even on a part-time basis. That was one factor that led to Angle singing with TNA, but Angle elaborated further that the decision was more than just money and fame.

RELATED: 10 Differences Between Kurt Angle In TNA And WWE

After healing up from his personal demons, Angle went over to TNA with the intention of carrying the company on his back and making it bigger than it already was. The Olympian stated that the WWE was always going to be bigger than one individual performer and as one of the more popular stars to emerge out of WWE, Angle hoped that his presence in the budding company would facilitate the growth of TNA.

Angle Largely Accomplished What He Set Out To Do

Kurt Angle went on to have quite the run in TNA. While the company was always a distant second to WWE, the presence of the gold medalist did give the promotion much-needed star-power. He went on to capture the TNA World Title six times and produced some of the more memorable feuds and segments in TNA history.

He eventually returned to WWE in 2017, but his body was broken down from years and years of grueling matches, amateur and professional. Instead, the former WWE champion served as the general manager of RAW and while he did seldom wrestle, the accumulation of damage on his body was apparent.

Angle had his retirement match at WrestleMania 35 in which he would lose to Baron Corbin in the last match of his storied career. Looking back on it, Angle did help TNA grow and he did his part as he set out to do. Unfortunately, the arrival of remnants of WCW undid most of his hard work.