Kurt Angle/YMMV

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  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: TNA fans were nearly in tears when they saw the teaser vignette of Angle's debut in TNA. It was a big deal at the time; Angle was an active, major wrestling veteran and star who crossed the line to TNA from WWE. Most crossovers up to that point had been (and still are) WWE/WCW/ECW mid-carders and/or late-career veterans whose best days were behind them. Angle's jump had been preceded by Christian, a perennial Woobie in WWE who won TNA's world title relatively quickly, and later, Booker T, who had a late-career revival before retiring from in-ring wrestling in 2011.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Angle Lampshading WWE's inability to get him over as a heel by declaring that he hates black people and wants to make Jesus tap out, then getting a huge pop for saying that he can say anything he wants and still get cheered because everyone knows that he is the greatest wrestler in the world.
    • More specifically, it was about his inability to be booed in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Simple Solution: Deck him in purple and black (or orange and brown) and have him stomp on a Terrible Towel.
      • I think WWE would want him to get booed, not killed.
      • Also, people were cheering him over Cena almost everywhere. Not just Pittsburgh.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Gold Medal is catchy as all hell.
  • Magnificent Bastard: The secret behind his insane popularity in the ring is that he's a rare heel in the business who doesn't need run-ins or heel tactics to win, but can defeat the babyfaces by simply being better than them and making them TAP OUT. The best example of this is Rumble 03, with a clean victory over Benoit in one of the greatest matches of all time. Check out this promo in which he says he can say anything he wants (including not being a fan of "the black people" and wanting to make Jesus tap out) and the "idiots" will still cheer him because he's the best wrestler in the company. The crowd, of course, cheers because it's true, it's damn true.
  • Memetic Mutation: Regardless of whether Kurt was a face or heel, the WWE fans would always chant "You suck!" in time with his music. When he was a heel, they meant it. As a face, it was a weird sign of affection by the fans.
  • Dork Age/Never Live It Down/Old Shame: An old commercial Kurt did for a local pizzeria shortly after winning the Olympic gold. It's highlighted by having a green pepper and a pepperoni slice wrestling on the pizza itself while Kurt watches in amusement. The Rock went so far as to show the commercial on RAW to embarrass Kurt. It worked.
  • Shaved The Head: Kurt Angle was always considered a great wrestler, but the WWE never gave him a great reign as champion, and he always seemed to be more of a goofball than a badass, until he lost a Hair Match against Edge and shaved his head in 2002. The same year, he got his first great world title run, and people started to see him as not just a great wrestler, but the greatest wrestler of all time.