As an amateur wrestler, is Kurt Angle overated?

[DimmuSakuraba]

By the casual fan that is. Like me, that don't follow amateur wrestling but when asked whos your favorite amateur wrestler, the only ones I can think of are the ones in MMA and Kurt Angle.

Non fans know of Kurt Angle as an Olympic Gold Medalist, but we don't even know of any other olympic gold medalist so we assume hes the greatest of all-time and the only olympic gold medalist that exists in all weight divisions. We don't even know what weight division it was in. Most people in the HWs forum would believe if Kurt Angle came into MMA, he'd automatically outwrestle everyone cuz hes THE olympic gold medalist not A olympic gold medalist.

So, the question I'm asking is how does he compare P4P to every amateur wrestler in history, is he really the greatest of all-time like non-amateur wrestling fans know him as? Or is he overated in that aspect? The sport of amateur wrestling is not mainstream whatsoever, so all we really know of is that Kurt Angle is the olympic gold medalist.

[PedroCassidinho]

From what i understand him and Coleman traded victorys back in college. Im not sure who won more tho.

Also, back in his WWE day's him and Lesnar where supposed to have had a batchstage match in front of all the boys, and despite Lesnar being roided up to the gills, younger and massively bigger, Angle was supposed to have beat him in a close one. So yeah, i'm not an expert on wrestling or anything but i'd imagine he would be amongst the absolute best in MMA if he didn't have so many years and injuries on him right now.

[Lapu-Lapu]

He was an excellent wrestler. His gold medal match was a little strange, because of piss poor FILA rules the ref gave him the win after overtime.

He isn't Dan Gable, or even Cael Sanderson.... but he was world class.

[mmarules45]

doesn't he have a book?
I'm sure you could read about all of his credentials there.

[cookeboy189]

Originally Posted by Lapu-Lapu

He isn't Dan Gable, or even Cael Sanderson.... but he was world class.

this. no one who wins a gold medal is overrated...but hes no legend

[BasRuttenFan]

I wouldn't say he's over rated as you don't accidentally make an Olympic team, let alone win a gold. I'm not up on wrestling enough to define where his place in history is but I doubt he is in the conversation of greatest among those who do know their stuff. Here is some credentials from wiki.

Amateur wrestling career
Medal record
Men's Freestyle Wrestling
Olympic Games
Gold 1996 Atlanta 100 kg
World Championships
Gold 1995 Atlanta, U.S. 100 kg
World Cup
Bronze 1992 Moscow, Russia 100 kg
Silver 1995 Chattanooga, U.S. 100 kg

Angle started amateur wrestling at the age of six.[5] He attended Mt. Lebanon High School,[6] where he won varsity letters in football and wrestling and was an All-State linebacker.[6][7][8] He went undefeated on the freshman wrestling team at Mt. Lebanon High and qualified for the state wrestling tournament his sophomore year.[6] Angle also placed third in the state wrestling tournament as a junior and was the 1987 Pennsylvania State Wrestling Champion as a senior.

Upon graduating from high school, Angle attended the Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where he continued to wrestle at an amateur level.[9] He was a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champion,[10] national runner-up in 1991, and a three-time NCAA Division I All-American. In addition, Angle was the 1987 USA Junior Freestyle champion, a two-time USA Senior Freestyle champion, and the 1988 USA International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles Junior World Freestyle champion.[11]

After graduating from college, Angle continued to wrestle. In 1995, he won a gold medal at the World Championships in Atlanta, Georgia.[10] Following this victory, Angle began preparing for the 1996 Summer Olympics under Dave Schultz at the Pennsylvanian Foxcatcher Club,[12] training between eight and ten hours a day.[13] In January 1996, not long after Angle began training at the club, Schultz was murdered by John Eleuthère du Pont, the sponsor of Schultz's team of Olympic prospectives.[14][15][16] As a result, Angle quit Eleuthère du Pont's team, searched for new sponsors, and joined the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club in Schultz's memory.[17]

Angle faced further hardships while taking part in the 1996 Olympic Trials, when he suffered a severe neck injury, fracturing two of his cervical vertebrae,[18] herniating two discs, and pulling four muscles. Nonetheless, Angle won the trials and then spent the subsequent five months resting and rehabilitating. By the Olympics, Angle was able to compete, albeit with several pain-reducing injections in his neck.[10] In the fall of 2006, Angle stated that he temporarily became addicted to the analgesic Vicodin after injuring his neck.[19] He won his gold medal in the heavyweight (90-100 kg; 198-220 lb) weight class,[11] defeating the Iranian Abbas Jadidi by officials' decision after the competitors wrestled to an eight minute, one-one draw. The bout saw Jadidi earn a point after two minutes and 46 seconds by turning Angle, and Angle earning a point of his own with a takedown after three minutes and eleven seconds. The officials' decision was protested by Jadidi.[20]

[satchmo]

Nowhere close to being a top 10 amateur wrestler of all-time, MAYBE top 10 American amateur wrestler

[jttko281]

as a few other people said i cant imagine a gold medalist being really overrated

[PedroCassidinho]

He's annoying as fuck with all teh sh!t he pop's. Him saying he could beat Randy and Chuck at MMA a couple of years ago is like a badminton champ saying he could destroy Roger Federor. I think he also said Pro wrestlers were tougher than MMA fighters.

[jttko281]

Originally Posted by PedroCassidinho

He's annoying as fuck with all teh sh!t he pop's. Him saying he could beat Randy and Chuck at MMA a couple of years ago is like a badminton champ saying he could destroy Roger Federor. I think he also said Pro wrestlers were tougher than MMA fighters.

theres actually been mma fighters that also do pro wrestling that said pro wrestling is harder and tougher on the body than mma. but i agree with you about angle being annoying as fuck lol