I’ve been a casual fan of Mixed Martial Arts for a good while, and a fan of Professional Wrestling for as long as I can remember.  Although my interest in both has significantly dwindled over the past couple of years, I still like to check on various wrestling rumor sites every once in awhile.  For a few years, amateur-turned-pro wrestler Kurt Angle was arguably the best pro wrestler on the planet both in the ring and on the microphone.  From 1999 - 2006, Kurt Angle had wrestled for World Wrestling Entertainment nearly non-stop, and it seemed that there was no end to his great performances.  However, in August of 2006 Kurt Angle would jump ship from WWE to the much smaller Total Nonstop Action promotion, and it seems that at this point, Kurt Angle lost his fucking mind.  Let’s take a look at this amazing performer, and his recent incidents of him going off the deep end:

Kurt Angle Vs. Randy Couture

Kurt Angle Vs. Daniel Puder

This is by far my favorite "Kurt Angle is crazy" story.  Daniel Puder was a contestant on WWE Smackdown’s Tough Enough contest in 2004.  In one of the television segments, Puder actually locked Angle in a submission unexpectedly (this was legit, although it wasn’t planned that way).  Many viewed this as being unprofessional on Puder’s part, while others exclaimed the act was "taking the bull by the horns".  Either way, this displeased Angle very much. 

Angle and Puder continued to have a "war of words" of sorts from this point forward, with each wanting to challenge one another to fights.  However, it was Angle’s hilarious comments that took this feud to a whole new level.  Here are some summaries of the things he said in an interview:

"Kurt said that Puder should try and fight someone decent and not just go up against bums and crack heads."

Kurt Angle Vs. DUI

In late September of last year, Angle was arrested for driving under the influence in a Pittsburgh suburb.  According to the report, Angle hit another car in his Escalade and was later arrested at his home after failing a sobriety test. During this whole scenario, there was even rumors that police found Angle chewing pills at his home before his arrest, however that has never been confirmed.  Now I wouldn’t technically classify this as "crazy", as people make mistakes and Angle was one of those people.  However, his (summarized) comments are more than enough to label him as quite possibly insane:

"The lady who called the police on him had a DUI herself just three weeks earlier, and actually wrote down his license number to give to the police on the back of a receipt from a liquor store which had enough alcoholic purchases on it to kill three people."

Of course to no one’s surprise, this has never been confirmed.

Kurt Angle Vs. Huge Exaggerations

Since Angle has joined TNA wrestling, he has sung its praises and supported the company to no end.  This makes sense, considering the reportedly huge contract he signed with them.  However, there are more than a few times where he makes some slight exaggerations about the company and its successes.  Take for example TNA’s ratings which have been in the 1.0 - 1.2 area for several years.  Despite this fact, Angle’s claims that TNA’s popularity has exploded since he joined in 2006 despite the fact the ratings have been consistently in the same range.  Exploded?  Not quite yet pal.

Another exaggeration that he has made recently has been on TNA’s new wrestling video game, TNA Impact!  Angle claims that their video will outsell WWE’s video game in a month.  Keep in mind that WWE’s Smackdown! video game series has been a huge cash cow for WWE, and has been around for nearly ten years.  Somehow I doubt that a debut video game can dethrone such a long running franchise in one month, but hey that’s just me.

Kurt Angle Vs. WWE

Since Angle’s departure from WWE, he has done a fine job of burying his former employer.  He has slammed WWE owner Vince McMahon several times, and has taken shots at various wrestlers on their roster as well.  This is nothing new to wrestling or to anyone who dislikes a former employer, but Angle took it upon himself to make a tongue-in-cheek, anti-WWE, short action film.  This simply defies all logic, and you have to see it to believe it:

Kurt Angle Vs. Everyone Else

Considering that Kurt’s confidence (or over inflated ego) has been cranked up to eleven lately, its no surprise that he hasn’t made a lot of friends.  Angle has pissed off Chuck Liddell a few times, and Liddell has even commented that Kurt is "living in a dream world".  Not exactly a person you want to piss off when trying to break into the MMA world.  Angle has even upset fighter (and former WWE pro wrestler) Ken Shamrock after he supposedly pulled out of a fight with him. 

More recently, Kurt upset several WWE wrestlers after filming them during this year’s Wrestlemania weekend at a TGI Friday’s.  I can’t even make stuff up as good as this.

So what does the future hold for this Olympic Gold Medalist?  Most likely more outrageous things are going to be said, and maybe we’ll see him enter an MMA ring like he desperately wants to. 

Even though lately he’s been known for his outrageous antics, Kurt Angle will go down in history as one of the best professional wrestlers of all time, and he is easily deserving of that title.  He’s an Olympic legend and a well-respected hometown hero as well.  As of the current moment though, one thing is for sure:  Kurt Angle is batshit crazy.

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