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WWE Legend Kurt Angle Shares More Details About Being Almost an ECW Original

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports
By Fahid Qureshi | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 9:48 PM ET

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle appeared on the “Six Feet Under with the Undertaker” podcast, where he revealed how he almost joined Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1996. The Olympian was fresh off his gold medal win in Atlanta when he was tricked by Paul Heyman.

Angle said, “He (Heyman) says listen, Kurt, we have this new wrestling, that’s kind of identical to your wrestling. It’s real.” Angle was invited to commentate on a match at an event called High Incident in October 1996.

Despite having no knowledge of professional wrestling, Angle accepted the offer. He oversaw a “shoot fight” rules match between Taz and Little Guido, which the former would win by submission. Guido is more popularly known as Nunzio to WWE fans during the ruthless aggression era.

Despite receiving a warm introduction from Joey Styles that night, Angle was clearly confused about what transpired in the squared circle. His confusion would quickly transform into disinterest when Raven controversially crucified Sandman using barbed wire. The incident caused ECW to apologize due to its blasphemous use of religious iconography and was never aired on television.

The future 13-time World Champion was a novice to the world of pro wrestling and decided against joining ECW due to the incident. Angle told The Undertaker, “I was an Olympic gold medalist. Never been in the business. And the first thing I see is a crucifixion. Of course I’m gonna freak out a little bit.”

Angle also turned down a $5 million over 10 years offer from Vince McMahon to join the WWF. He would join the promotion in 1999 and would eventually wrestle for ECW when the brand was relaunched under the WWE umbrella in June 2006. However, it was short-lived as he would leave the WWE a month later.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kurt Angle would’ve fit into the original “Tribe of Extreme,” considering his skillset and the capability of ECW to balance the violence and in-ring quality.

Foes like Taz, Shane Douglas, and a lot more come to mind, regarding the opponents Angle would’ve faced if he went to ECW in 1996. We caught a glimpse of it during his brief run in the rebooted ECW, and he was in full-fledged “Wrestling Machine” mode in TNA Wrestling. It really is interesting to think about how Kurt Angle’s career could’ve panned out if he had gone to ECW instead of WWE during the early part of his career.

Unfortunately, all we can do now is speculate and dream about the Olympic Gold medalist in the heyday of the “Land of Extreme.”