Kurt Angle could have been a multi-millionaire immediately coming out of the 1996 Olympics.
After Angle became an Olympic gold medalist in 1996, Angle was given an offer by Vince McMahon to join the WWF. Speaking to Stone Cold Steve Austin on the “Broken Skull Sessions” show on the WWE Network, Angle said he was surprised at the 10-year deal he was offered and was set to make $500,000 per year.
“He reached out to me right away. He gave me a nice deal, a 10-year deal and a multi-million dollar contract. I was relatively surprised. Well, for me it was a lot. It was $500,000 a year for 10 years. It was overwhelming because I didn’t make any money up to this point. All I did was train for the Olympics,” Angle said.
Angle didn’t take that offer as his agent at the time advised him to not do pro wrestling. However, after he left his agent, Angle wanted to see if he could still join the WWF. Angle eventually did, but the first deal was not that $5 million/10-year deal contract that he was originally offered in 1996.
“That was my life so it was hard to pass up at the time. But my agent at the time said, ‘You’re not doing this fake crap.’ I was like, ‘I could be a wrestling coach and for the next four years, I could do the appearances and make as much money as I can.’ But once the Olympics are over, it kind of dies down. I left my agent a couple of years after that. I contacted WWE and they did not give me the same contract. They told me I had to work my way up and try out,” Angle said.
You can check out the full episode on the WWE Network.
