Original subtitles

- I never had a love for something as much

As I do for this company.

- Shake hands and hug.

I'm gonna give you the low one. Good game.

- Vince. - How are you, man?

[soft dramatic music]

- I always thought that my destiny

Was the olympic gold medal.

♪ ♪

But being in wwe,

This is what brought me real joy.

♪ ♪

This is my first love.

♪ ♪

- You all ready?

♪ ♪

There aren't any words to describe exactly how great

This next individual is simply because

He is in a class by himself.

[cheers and applause]

The one, the only kurt angle!

♪ ♪

- He was determined to be olympic champion.

He lived it. He breathed it.

He slept it.

- He won a gold medal with a broken freaking neck.

- Kurt angle of the united states!

[cheers and applause]

- All of a sudden, this guy shows up, and I'm thinking,

You know, can he make the transition?

- An american hero!

I'm an american hero!

- Audiences loved to hate him.

[crowd booing]

But here's the thing.

He was also a bad mother [bleep].

- And a slam, slam! Oh, my god!

- And he connected!

- He is at the very, very top of that list.

Hands down, bar none.

- You gotta be kidding me! Oh, my god!

- Those matches are what made me

The best in the business during those years.

- Now comes the tough part of the questions.

- Okay.

I went to a chiropractor.

He said, "you know you have four broken vertebrae, right?"

♪ ♪

Those painkillers can hide a lot of pain.

My life completely spun out of control.

- This guy, who was olympic gold medalist,

You think he's bulletproof, but nobody is.

- Vince, he told me, "listen, you're gonna die."

- When you have that level of addiction,

It takes a hold of you to a point

Where you just don't care.

- My husband, how did he get from

Where he was to this point of his life?

- Don't let people see you like that.

Man, you kurt angle.

- I always felt that kurt was a man with great resolve.

- It's never too late to make changes.

It sure as hell isn't too late to save your own life.

- I think I want kurt angle to be remembered

Not for the mistakes he's made

But what he was able to accomplish

In his lifetime.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- We were from pittsburgh.

We were the city of champions back then--

The steelers, pirates, world series, super bowls.

♪ ♪

- So, kurt, he was set on being a champion,

You know, from the beginning.

- They played a lot of sports, the angle boys.

Kurt, he was--you know, he's good at everything.

One of those guys that was just a great athlete,

And I think, like, his brothers were too.

They were all tough guys.

You did not want to mess with the angle boys.

- My brothers had a reputation of being fighters, tough guys.

We had a hard time with the police department

In the area where we lived because my brothers

Were in so much trouble.

- No, hardly ever. - Yeah, yep.

We got in trouble here and there,

But kurt never got in trouble. Never.

Didn't cause my mom no grief. None.

That's why she loved him. She adored him.

That was her whole life, kurt. It was unreal.

The bond that them two had.

♪ ♪

- Le'anne was a really good sister.

She was the only girl in our family.

My sister was my dad's princess,

So she's the only one that my dad ever hugged.

♪ ♪

- My father was in the service for 25 years.

Master sergeant first class.

We got a lot of our discipline from my father.

- The guy was the most solid mother [bleep]

You'd ever want to meet, okay?

People say he'd give you the shirt of the back.

[bleep] them, okay? This guy would really do it.

- He knew that I was gonna be capable

Of doing something great.

He seemed to know that early on.

He was my coach up until a time in high school,

And he felt that it was time that somebody else taught me,

And he became my fan, my number one fan.

The great thing about my dad, though, he didn't pressure us.

He didn't tell us we had to be good.

He just wanted us to give our best.

♪ ♪

But my dad was a functional alcoholic.

♪ ♪

He drank all day.

- What did your dad do for a living?

- He was a construction worker.

- Now comes the tough part of the questions.

- Okay.

- Your dad, the record will show, had an accident.

- Yes.

- On August 27, 1985.

Do you remember where you were when that happened?

- Yes, I was at football practice,

And somebody came up to me, received a phone call--

One of my coaches-- and told me that my father

Was in an accident.

- What happened was he went to the cab to get his lunch,

And he stepped-- when he stepped back,

He stepped on some rebar, lost his balance,

And went against the guardrail

And fell through it.

13 feet on the back.

He hit his shoulder and his head at the same time.

He actually broke his shoulder and fractured his skull

All the way through.

- In the hospital, he went into a coma,

And I remember my sister-in-law saying,

"kurt, do you realize what's going on here?"

And I said, "yeah, my dad's hurt,

But he'll be fine."

"no, no, he's not gonna be fine.

"your father's braindead,

"and they're gonna-- they're gonna

Leave him on a-- on a machine."

So I remember them taking us into the room

Where my dad was, and my mother

Had to make a decision to either keep him on

Or pull him off-- off of the machine,

And she decided that she wasn't

Gonna let him just stay like that,

So she--I remember her getting on her knees,

And before she gave the doctor

Permission to do it, she begged my dad to come back.

She--she asked him,

Or she actually told him,

"if you come back, we will make this work.

I'll be the"--

♪ ♪

She said she'll be the wife that he wanted her to be.

♪ ♪

And then, right before they pulled--

Pulled the plug, my sister started crying.

And that was just-- she jumped on my dad.

♪ ♪

She begged him not to go.

♪ ♪

We pulled her off of him, and they pulled the plug,

And that was it. You know, my dad was gone.

♪ ♪

My father passed away on a Wednesday,

And it was the first week of school.

I decided to play football that week.

♪ ♪

I wanted to do something special for my dad,

Knowing that he would have wanted me to play.

I really didn't want to play,

But I just felt like somebody was tugging at me

And was telling me, you know, "get up.

Keep moving."

♪ ♪

I had a game that-- it wasn't just spectacular.

It was beyond unbelievable.

It was--it was perfect.

I had two touchdowns as a fullback.

I had 14 solo tackles, two fumble recoveries,

An interception.

♪ ♪

- That's the way to hit.

- And I did it for my dad.

I always wanted to make him proud.

♪ ♪

I'd like to be all-state in the big 33 game.

Like to go on to either penn state,

Pitt, west virginia, or rutgers as a linebacker.

Football was my first love, not wrestling.

[cheers and applause]

I never watched pro wrestling before.

- Look at this!

- He slammed him! - He slammed the giant!

- I don't believe it!

- I was taught by my brothers, "don't watch that stuff.

"it's crap.

Don't waste your time watching it."

So I never did.

[cheers and applause]

But in high school, I was very, very good,

And the high school coach, coach lamprinakos,

Pulled me aside and said, "listen,

"I haven't had a wrestler like you in 20 years.

You're gonna be state champion."

♪ ♪

And I dominated.

My senior year, I was the state champion

From pennsylvania,

And all I had left was the junior nationals

In the summer, and I won it.

So I was considered a national champion

In high school before I ended up going to college.

- We recruited him out of mt. Lebanon high school.

He was blessed with quickness and talent.

He was the one that gave the extra time,

The commitment to the weight room

And to the practice room.

- And I was beating guys that were olympians.

It was crazy.

I was a 19-year-old kid, and I'm beating

All these great athletes.

- Nice, beautiful duck to a double.

And he's got walker on his back!

- Kurt angle's probably 5'11 1/2"?

He's not your typical

6'5" heavyweight, 270 pounds.

He was 220 or under.

- He amazed me a lot of times.

♪ ♪

Staying in it to the very end,

And winning with someone that he shouldn't have beat.

♪ ♪

- I knew that I was really good.

I knew that I could compete at the ncaa level.

I didn't know I was that good.

♪ ♪

- He continued to grow.

He found out that he could go with the best of them.

His match with sylvester terkay in the ncaa finals

His senior year is an epic match.

♪ ♪

- I was the national champion.

Over half my wins were by pinfall.

That was my thing. I pinned a lot of people.

- This was a david and goliath story all the way.

Kurt's 5'10". This guy is 6'6".

Kurt's 200 pounds. This guy's 275.

♪ ♪

- Was I worried? Yeah.

Was I very confident that kurt was gonna win?

Uh, not so much.

♪ ♪

- I was a big, tall, lanky guy,

And here's a guy that's a lot more stockier,

Kind of compact.

He was kind of hard to get ahold of.

- Hey, cut and breathe!

- There was a minute left.

Came down to who was gonna get the first takedown.

♪ ♪

- It was like a falling timber.

[cheers and applause]

- Technician against just a big, burly dude,

And the technician won.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

The heavyweight champion kurt angle!

[cheers and applause]

- It was the smartest match I ever wrestled.

That's when you know you matured as an athlete.

You didn't just go out there and try

To put on a show for the fans.

You went out there and you got the job done.

It showed that I was ready for the next level.

I was on my way to the olympic level.

[cheers and applause]

- I just graduated college.

I knew I had four years to prepare for the olympics,

And I was doing everything I could.

[soft dramatic music]

Foxcatcher was a facility owned by john dupont.

- Mr. Dupont, you know, the heir to the dupont throne,

He wanted to promote amateur wrestling.

- And he started his own club,

And he recruited the best of the best.

- My name's dave schultz.

My involvement here at foxcatcher is as an athlete.

I train here. I work with dupont.

- Dave schultz was the recruiter.

Dave was really good at spotting talent,

And everybody wanted to be there to work with dave.

- Kurt angle went and trained at foxcatcher

Because dave schultz could help him.

And how many other people went to foxcatcher

Or went around dave because dave could help them?

- I remember the first time I wrestled dave.

He was 40, 50 pounds lighter than me.

He beat the [bleep] out of me.

- He thought kurt was as hard working

An individual in wrestling as he had ever seen.

I could just see kurt really respected dave,

And dave really respected kurt for the work

That he was putting in.

So I think dave was a mentor, you know,

And of course a good friend.

- He had such an impact on my career.

He was a friend, a father figure,

And when I looked at him,

He was everything I wanted to be.

So I decided, if I was gonna do this,

I'm gonna have to take my conditioning level

To a level where it's never been before.

♪ ♪

I did what you call exhaust training.

I trained till I was exhausted,

And that's when the training started.

♪ ♪

- Kurt angle set his goals real high.

He didn't believe he couldn't do anything.

You know, he wasn't-- he didn't have a limit

That he thought he couldn't achieve.

He believed him himself more probably than most people did.

- He was determined to be a world champion.

He was determined to be olympic champion.

And he lived it, he breathed it,

And he slept it.

- Everybody wants to win the olympics

On the day of the olympics, but you have to want

To win the olympics every single day

When you wake up leading up to the olympics.

- My schedule every day was-- this is how crazy it was.

I'd do a six-mile run,

And I would do it in about 38 minutes.

When I got done, I would do ten 200-year hill sprints

With somebody on my back.

- See the story about him running

Up the hill over on mt. Lebanon

With a guy on his shoulders?

It's like this.

On his shoulders like a log like this.

♪ ♪

- These guys that want to be olympic champions.

They're obsessed.

They won't stop.

With kurt, we had to watch him

Because he'd overwork. He would work too hard.

- Were worked a little bit more like mules

And kurt worked a little bit more like a racehorse.

There was a purpose for why he was doing the training

That he was doing.

- I would train every day three times a day

For 28 and a half days a month out of 30 days.

I did that consistently for two years.

I did not stop.

It was ten hours a day almost every single day.

- He was one of the best conditioned athletes

In the world. Had to be.

The way he worked out and trained, he had to be.

- I mean, he lived here with me, and I never seen him.

He would come in to eat and run back out,

Change his clothes, and--

He puts everything into everything

He does, you know?

And I guess, you know, not because I'm bragging,

But I'm trying to say that, when he does something,

He does it the best.

- And that man right there, kurt angle of the u.S.A.,

Is getting set to wrestle for the championship,

And he's not thinking about the olympic games.

In fact, there is only one thing on his mind

Tonight at the omni.

- The world championship's right now.

Like I said before, I'm not gonna think

About anything else.

This is as big as the olympics,

And I'm gonna give everything I've got

To win this title.

- Arawat sabejew was the world champion from 1994.

He also pinned me in 38 seconds

Three years prior.

He was good.

I took him into overtime.

As the overtime started getting longer

And longer, further into it, he was getting really tired.

- And sabejew now claims he's got an injury.

- He was so tired he kept asking for injury timeouts.

He's faking injuries,

And I knew I had him.

- Some suspense, but I think sabejew knows, in his heart.

And he does.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- 27-year-old kurt angle

From pittsburgh, pennsylvania.

Get used to that name because he is just now

Emerging on the world scene,

And has just now captured his first ever

World freestyle wrestling title.

- This sport's the toughest sport

In the world.

I don't regret one minute of it.

It's the hard--you work harder than any other sport,

And when you win, you might not get the money

Like those football players or basketball players

Or baseball, but you get a lot more in here,

And that's what I love about the sport.

The victory against arawat sabejew

Put me on the map.

It let everybody in the world know

That there was a serious contender

For the olympic gold in 1996.

- Kurt, you're on a new mountain.

What is your new horizon? - Oh, olympics next year.

Win the olympics. Retire.

But I didn't have a guaranteed spot

On the olympic team.

I still had my work cut out for me with the usa wrestlers

At the 1996 olympic trials.

It wasn't gonna be easy.

[cheers and applause]

- In 1995, when I won the worlds,

That was a credit to john dupont.

He made it possible for wrestlers

To not quit early on and get real jobs.

He would give you a house at foxcatcher.

He would give you money for food.

He would give you all the equipment you needed,

And he would take care of all expenses--

Traveling expenses,

But I could tell you that...

[soft dramatic music]

He wasn't right.

♪ ♪

- Anyone that jumps in the sport of wrestling

Just to jump in the sport of wrestling

And throw millions of dollars at it

And put people on their property

To train full-time

And hardly know them, that's not sane.

♪ ♪

- I always knew he was eccentric.

'91, '92, '93, he was fairly reasonable.

'94, he was starting to change.

In 1995, he was, at that point,

Really, what I felt like, losing it.

We'd get together for breakfast,

And he would talk about the little demon

On his shoulder that was talking in that ear.

- There was a time where john dupont

Thought I was in his walls.

♪ ♪

So there were a lot of things

That were going on that showed

There was-- he needed some help.

♪ ♪

- And '95 is when he started packing a gun.

[gunshots]

He never made me nervous about it,

But it made a lot of people really nervous.

♪ ♪

- It was just really a regular day.

♪ ♪

In the afternoon sometime, dave and I were having lunch.

♪ ♪

As we were finishing up lunch, we heard a car pull up,

And dave went out,

And I heard a shot,

And I heard dave scream.

And by the time I got to the door,

Dave was down in the snow,

And john shot him in the back.

♪ ♪

And then I grabbed a phone that was right by the door,

And I went out, and I said "I'm calling the police."

And I was just trying to get him to stop.

And he pulled a gun and pointed it at me,

And I just had to step back inside,

And then he pulled it, and he shot dave

In the back, a second time, third shot.

♪ ♪

When I touched him, it was just soft,

So I just put his head in my lap

And told him I loved him.

And he died very quickly.

♪ ♪

- I was in pittsburgh at the time.

I left dave a message around 1:00 p.M.

That I was coming to the farm the next day

And that I would stop by to see him.

And literally three hours later,

I saw on cnn that dave was shot and killed.

- No one is sure or saying why john dupont

Would have killed dave schultz.

♪ ♪

- It just crushed me.

♪ ♪

- Dave and I would have a lot of conversations.

I mean, in November, before he was killed.

You know, he said, "I'm gonna get out soon,

"but, you know, I got things.

"things are okay down here and safe.

"all the rumors that you hear about john being crazy,

"you know, it's not as bad as people say.

It's"--you know, and then three months later,

You know, he shot--shot dave.

- Schultz who won a gold medal in the 1984 summer olympics

Lived with his family in a home on the estate.

It is at that home that police say

Dupont drove up and shot schultz

In the driveway.

- Dave was one of my best friends,

And I just wanted him to know that I love him,

And I care a lot about his family,

Nancy and the kids, and I just pray to god

That they're gonna be okay.

- Dave will be missed so much by his family,

Friends, and the wrestling community around the world.

♪ ♪

- I don't know that anybody will ever know why.

That's the sad part.

Nobody will ever know why he shot dave.

There's all kinds of speculations,

But what was the real reason?

I don't feel we'll ever know.

- After dave was killed, there was this gap,

Because we were-- it was January,

And the olympic trials were in June, right?

And all the funding had come from this guy,

So we have probably, I don't know,

17 to 20 elite-level athletes

Who are counting at least a stipend every month.

- I called foxcatcher

And told their attorneys to take me off the payroll.

I couldn't take blood money.

♪ ♪

And nancy schultz heard about that,

And nancy called me right away,

And she said, "well, I'm starting a wrestling club.

"the dave schultz wrestling club.

Would you like to be the first member?"

♪ ♪

I was like, "wow, me?"

♪ ♪

I said yes.

- And kurt was the first one to say,

"I'm gonna wrestle for the dave schultz wrestling club."

And it was a huge turning point for me, you know?

It showed me that he respected dave's memory,

And that he had some faith in me

And who was helping me to put together the program.

Kurt stood up immediately and said,

"let's wrestle for the dave schultz wrestling club

In dave's honor."

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Well, in 1996 at the u.S. Open,

That was the beginning stages of the olympic trials.

And I had a wrestler that was pretty tough

Named jason loukides.

We were wrestling, and I dug for an underhook

To get my arm under his armpit,

And he hit me with this arm throw.

So, as he threw me with an arm throw,

I went to put my hand up to block the ground

So I wouldn't roll over my back.

I couldn't get my hand over in time,

So I put my head up to stop me from landing on my back,

♪ ♪

And I landed right down on my face.

All I heard was a bunch of cracking

And crunching in my neck.

♪ ♪

I knew I did something.

Little by little, I was scoring a couple points here

And there, and I believe, with about 20 seconds left,

I scored my fifth point.

♪ ♪

It got me into the finals.

The problem was I didn't know how bad my neck was injured.

♪ ♪

I went to a chiropractor.

He said, "you know you have four broken vertebrae, right?

"you're in a position where you could do

"some real damage to your body,

Like paralysis."

It makes you think,

I could up being paralyzed or even dead

If I land wrong.

[soft dramatic music]

- Before I wrestled the olympic trials,

They were gonna have a doctor there present,

And he was gonna stick me in the neck

With 12 different shots of a type of novocain

To numb my neck.

Feeling the novocain and feeling how it made me

Completely pain-free, it gave me confidence

That this might work out.

I just never considered quitting.

Never considered giving up.

It was, "what do I need to do to get back in the game?"

And I did that.

Nobody was gonna stop me.

♪ ♪

My opposite in the olympic trial finals was dan chaid.

♪ ♪

- I wasn't sure who would win.

You would think that they wouldn't be fond of each other.

Somebody's dreams are gonna be crushed.

- So the first thing he did is he went right for my neck.

♪ ♪

Put both of his hands around my back of my neck,

Was pulling me down, trying to inflict pain.

♪ ♪

But because of the novocain, I couldn't feel it.

It wasn't working.

[grunts]

His mindset was go for the neck, go for the neck,

And every time he did, he left himself open.

♪ ♪

[whistle toots]

- Tactically and strategically,

Kurt, he was smart.

♪ ♪

- The whole game plan backfired on him,

And it benefitted me.

[buzzer blares]

[cheers and applause]

I just made the olympic team by beating dan chaid.

It was good.

It was something that built my confidence,

That made me realize maybe, you know,

You're more ready than you think you are.

♪ ♪

We got to the olympics.

I'm still having some pain.

But I was-- I was ready for the olympics.

I knew--I knew I had a great shot

At winning the gold.

♪ ♪

I remember my first match being against a mongolian.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

The cuban, I won 1-0, double overtime.

♪ ♪

The next round, I had a russian.

♪ ♪

I took him down. Won 4-3.

♪ ♪

I didn't have to have a pretty performance.

I just wanted the gold any way I could get it.

The gold medal represents that there's nobody better than you

On this planet.

I wanted that gold medal.

- Kurt had to wrestle, probably,

At that point, the most famous iranian

Of all time, abbas jadidi.

♪ ♪

- Abbas jadidi, who I believe, even including me,

Was by far the best wrestler in the weight class.

♪ ♪

- Kurt, he was the underdog.

For sure, he was the underdog.

[cheers and applause]

- Kurt angle having lots of reasons

To be motivated for this competition.

He wants to do it for his mom.

She's raised him. He still lives with her.

His father died in a construction accident,

And he's wrestling also for david schultz who was slain.

- Kurt wrestled well.

The later the match went, the better he got.

♪ ♪

- So now we're in overtime. It's 1-1.

And he's getting really tired,

And a little voice in my head said,

"you need to do something.

You have to take him down."

- And a shot by angle. He's got the angle on jadidi.

He could score a takedown.

- I got both of his legs, and I had the takedown.

One ref gave me a point.

The other two didn't give me it yet.

They were waiting for me to move up

Onto his hips a little higher.

If they don't give me it,

They'll at least award me it

Because the match was dead even.

- It's still 1-1. No points given yet.

♪ ♪

Time runs out.

[cheers and applause]

- The way that it was the refs' decision,

It looked like it could have went either way.

- This is as tight as it can possibly get.

It is now in the hands of the referee

To make a decision.

Kurt's mom very nervous.

Sometimes she leaves,

She gets so nervous and anxious,

But she's gonna stay here for this one.

- My heart went down to my stomach.

First thing I thought was, "four more years.

I have to do this four more years."

'cause I can't just stop at a silver.

- What will be the outcome?

They can't decide. There it is!

Kurt angle of the united states!

- And it's gonna be kurt angle!

[cheers and applause]

- Kurt angle of the united states!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- Oh, my god!

♪ ♪

- First thing I thought about, got on my knees,

And I thanked god, and I thought about my dad,

And I thought about dave schultz,

How proud they would have been of me,

And, oh man, dave would have--

He would have ran out on that mat

And lifted me up on his shoulders.

What a tough year.

I mean, dave gets killed, and foxcatcher breaks down,

And you don't have a club,

And then nancy schultz gives you

The dave schultz wrestling club.

Everything that we went through that year,

My broken neck, and all this work you put in, it's done.

You don't have to worry anymore.

You don't have to stress anymore.

No more waking up at 4:00 a.M.

No more staying till 1:00 in the morning

At the weight room.

It was done.

♪ ♪

It was incredible.

♪ ♪

I worked for this moment all my life.

I can't believe it.

♪ ♪

It's the best feeling I've ever had.

- I saw you kneel. - I thank god.

- I saw you kneel.

I saw you kneel on the mat and pray.

Were you talking to your dad?

- Oh, yeah. My dad's always with me.

♪ ♪

Dave schultz.

I knew they were with me.

This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I can't believe this.

All I wanted to do is win a world championship

And an olympic gold medal, and I did them both.

If I died tonight, I'd be the happiest man in the world.

I love you, mom. I did that one for you.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome kurt angle.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

Now, I understand you're giving that to your mom, though, huh?

- Yeah, I figured she deserved this more than I did.

She's done so much for me.

She raised me from when I was just a kid, you know?

And--

- You know--you know what's funny about that?

My mom too! What are the odds?

- To be honest, nobody's going off

To win the olympics to, like, be a millionaire, you know?

No one ever thinks that.

But you at least think that, you know,

You should have, like, a path for a career

For the rest of your life,

And usually, people just end up

With olympic medal in one hand

And their [bleep] in the other.

[soft dramatic music]

- When you win something, or you're awarded something

That you dream about since you were a kid,

And you felt like there was nothing

Else more important than that,

And you finally accomplish it,

You wake up the next day,

And you say, "what am I gonna do now?"

♪ ♪

- It has been said that anything

Can happen here in the world wrestling entertainment,

But now more than ever,

Truer words have never been spoken.

This is a conscious effort on our part

To open the creative envelope, so to speak,

In order to entertain you in a more contemporary manner.

Even though we call ourselves sports entertainment

Because of the athleticism involved,

The key word in that phrase is entertainment.

- If vince mcmahon were to give you a phone call tomorrow

And say, "kurt, tell you what, I'll give you

"a three-year deal worth 2 1/2 million,

3 million bucks," would you consider it?

- I think I'd say no, one, due to the fact

That I am a wrestler, a true wrestler,

And olympic champion wrestler.

- Kurt angle, 1996 olympic gold medalist

In atlanta, he won, you know,

With a broken freaking neck, man.

So he had a little legendary status

As being a badass.

So he was on the radar early and often.

- I had the opportunity to sign up

With the wwe back in 1996,

And I met with vince mcmahon,

And he offered me a ten-year deal,

Really, really good deal.

- What did I thought about professional wrestling?

I didn't care for it.

He said he was--how much money he was probably gonna make.

Well, I said, "yeah, you can do that."

- First thing I said is, "okay.

I'll sign this as long as I never lose a match."

And vince was like, "okay. Nice meeting you.

See you later."

He knew I didn't get it.

But then, I started watching "raw" at the beginning of '98.

♪ ♪

I started watching these guys,

And they were doing some of the most athletic things

I've ever seen.

- What athleticism, what high-impact maneuvers

That you can only find here

In the world wrestling entertainment.

- And there was, like, a wrestler on there

That really caught my interest.

His name was "stone cold" steve austin.

- If you want to see austin-mcmahon,

Give me a "hell yeah." all: Hell yeah!

- There's nothing like when you're

In the entertainment business, grabbing a crowd,

And having them hook, line, and sinker,

And you are dictating to them

And getting a response,

And they're buying into your story.

[cheers and applause]

It's intoxicating. It's so uplifting.

It's so powerful.

If you could bottle that stuff and sell it,

You'd be a billionaire.

- I loved his character.

He was a lot of fun to watch.

So why am I so bitter about these guys

Making all this money?

Why don't I try it? Why can't I do it?

They already offered me a deal.

So call them back.

So I called vince mcmahon back in late 1998.

He told me to talk to jim ross,

Who was head of talent relations.

And I asked him if the contract still stood.

And he said, "nope, but you can come up and try out."

And I said, "ugh, wow.

So I have to try out now?" "yes."

♪ ♪

- Go.

- Timing is everything.

♪ ♪

The shine, if you will, no pun intended,

Off that gold medal, had faded a little bit.

♪ ♪

I believe he should have signed his deal in '96.

- He said, "if you make it,

"you will get the lowest guarantee

That any wrestler gets." all right.

I guess I'll have to prove to you guys

That I can--I can do this.

And eventually, I'll make the big money.

- I remember seeing this guy, and I'm thinking,

Okay, it's a good-looking guy. Great physique.

Stud athlete with a big-ass neck.

But can he make the transition?

- Kevin quinn, there's no doubt in my mind

You're a tremendous wrestler.

- No one is a guaranteed blue-chipper in the business.

You know, you have to have something,

Whether it's talent, a look, an ability to speak.

- Some of the moves I've seen you--

Oh.

- I've seen so many amateur wrestlers

Come along, legitimately tough guys,

That could never get it.

- Okay. [laughs]

First of all, bruce--

- Now you're laughing at me, aren't you?

- And so many guys come from the amateur ranks

And, because of the ego involved,

Can't stand being on the bottom.

♪ ♪

- It was very difficult to go against my instincts

And let people throw me around.

- Out, oh-ho!

- Nobody ever did that to me before.

♪ ♪

Now, I had to allow them to.

♪ ♪

One day, I got out of the ring,

And I told my manager, "I can't do this.

This is garbage."

I said, "this is self-mutilation.

"why would I want to do this?

"all I'm doing is hurting myself.

This hurts."

I walked out, and my manager followed me and said, "listen.

"just stay till the end of the day.

Just do everything they do, and see-see if you can do it."

And I did.

I stayed till the end of the day,

And I was able to hang in there.

I was sore as hell,

But I showed up the next day and decided

I was gonna commit myself to this.

♪ ♪

- He approached our process...

Without ego.

He had won a gold medal in the olympics,

And came in with all this cachet

And all this incredible accomplishment behind him,

And he came in with great humility

And said, "I just want to learn.

I'm going back to day one."

And you checked your ego at the door.

- Seldom when you find that in a great amateur wrestler,

They're gonna want to go in there

And show you what they can do

And how they can beat somebody up,

But kurt angle got the idea.

He was a great student.

- I started picking things up relatively quickly.

Ah! Yeah!

And I think they saw something in me they never saw before.

So I got a contract.

♪ ♪

It wasn't handed to me. I earned it.

♪ ♪

- Vince wanted to present kurt as really what he was,

This incredible athlete with incredible accolades,

Gold medalist, been through it all,

Done all this.

But he wanted to present him in a way

Where he sort of saw himself as a real wrestler.

You know, the wwe superstars were sort of beneath him.

You're gonna walk in here, and you're gonna be a heel,

And kurt was absolutely certain

That this would not take place,

So they started to create these vignettes around kurt.

- I do respect the athletic ability

Of the superstars in the wwe,

And I'm sure some of them could have competed

On the olympic level, but I believe you have to have

A little extra something to win the olympic gold.

With my intensity, integrity, and intelligence,

I can share with the people my great achievements

And inspire a new generation of athletes in the wwe.

- Vince told him again, "when you come out,

You're gonna get booed out of the building."

And kurt was certain that wouldn't happen.

And when that music hit,

They booed him out of the building.

[upbeat music]

- The only olympic gold medalist to ever grace

A wwe ring, kurt angle!

♪ ♪

- It was my first match, my debut in wwe.

Vince mcmahon said, "listen, I'm gonna

"throw you into the ocean.

You either sink or swim."

He told me to grab the microphone

And tell these fans you do not boo

An olympic champion.

I was like, "holy [bleep]."

You do not boo olympic gold medalists.

I'm the best in the world.

- Here's this guy who's so squeaky clean

That you could see, with the right spin on it,

He could be very arrogant and "I'm better than you."

- I remember his red, white, and blue suit and his medal,

And it just had this authenticity and this power.

- I came here for you.

You do not boo me.

- People hated kurt.

You know, it was loud, very loud,

But I think, for him, he was in a place to--

He could sort of learn to love that.

[crowd booing]

- The fans responded,

And they started booing me even more.

It was the birth of the heel kurt angle.

[cheers and applause]

The next night, we were back in pittsburgh again.

♪ ♪

- And kurt pulls me aside and says,

"look, this is pittsburgh.

Like, I'm--I'm, like, mr. Pittsburgh, basically."

Said, "I'm beloved in this town."

Says, "they're just gonna cheer me.

It's just not gonna work here tonight."

And I looked at kurt and I said,

"kurt, they're gonna boo the hell out of you,

"because you have now, you know,

Made yourself better than them."

[crowd booing]

- I can't believe this.

You cheer a pimp over an olympic gold medalist!

[crowd booing]

- They boo him. I mean, cascade of boos.

Kurt comes back and was like, "that was unbelievable!"

- And it just clicked.

- Take those medals,

Turn those some-bitches sideways,

And stick them straight up your olympic ass!

[cheers and applause]

- And the buildup to all of our matches

Were always fun because I would talk [bleep] to him.

You see, kurt angle, this isn't the olympics.

You're not facing the romanians.

You're not facing the bulgarians.

You're facing the rock.

He would talk [bleep] to me. - Just bring it.

- Oh, boy! - Audiences loved to hate him.

- And I'll tell you what, rock.

Your chances at winning the title

In front of these sleezy hometown losers

Just went from slim to none.

So what do you think about that?

[crowd booing]

- From the psychology of wrestling

To being a character to being entertaining,

It just all came to me very quickly.

- Most amateur guys are taught don't show any emotion.

When they come from the amateurs to the pros,

We don't want that. We want emotion.

And kurt got that.

- And that's why I'm glad I'm here in this town.

Because if there was ever a town

That could relate to losing, it's detroit, michigan.

- Oh, boy.

- It's really hard to find somebody

That can be a kickass guy, that can be a villain

And make you laugh.

He could do all those things.

And it just came naturally to him.

- I am very proud to be here tonight

At madison square garden.

[crowd booing]

In a building this famous, it deserves

To have a true champion performing in it.

And we all know that if we wait for patrick ewing

And the new york knicks to bring home a title,

We'd probably be waiting forever.

- He was a wrestler.

He spent his entire life training,

But at the same time,

Kurt just had a natural charisma

And a natural delivery.

- What in the blue hell is that?

- It's got calcium.

It helps you build strong bones.

And above all, it's delicious.

- Kurt got comfortable in his own skin

And started doing these just hilarious things

That you wouldn't expect from an olympic gold medalist.

- Attacking kurt--wait, no!

For god's sakes! For the love of god!

- Oh, my god!

- What kind of human being has kurt angle become?

- I remember walking through the airport one morning,

And, hell, I think I had a hangover.

I looked over, and I saw this little bitty cowboy hat.

I got you something, you little rascal.

- You did? - Yeah.

So I said, "man, kurt would look amazing in that hat."

Because he's got this, you know,

22-inch neck, you know, this--you know,

His neck is like a cobra.

- Hey guys, how's this look?

♪ ♪

I feel like a real cowboy.

Yippee ki-yay.

I got on people's nerves.

I notice that the city of chicago

Is a little short on winners, and a little long

On fat, sweaty pigs.

[crowd booing]

It was a lot of fun.

It's true. It's damn true.

- He won inside and outside.

- Kurt angle on the road to "wrestlemania."

- It's true.

- And he won in the mainstream world.

- 1-800-call-att for collect calls

Is giving some undeserving fan a chance

To go to "wrestlemania"?

- And then he won in the wwe world.

[rockets exploding]

- His ascension was like a rocket.

- I remember coming in this building

The first time I came here.

First time I met vince mcmahon.

This was, gosh, '96, right after the olympics.

I was overwhelmed.

[chuckles]

Hey, vince. How are you, man?

- How you doing, man? - Good to see you.

- It's good to see you. - Hey, guys.

Out. Out.

- Vince mcmahon had it planned from the beginning.

♪ ♪

He knew I was gonna be the top heel in the business.

I thought he was crazy, olympic gold medalist

Being a top heel in the business.

But vince had plans for me.

- Kurt and I are feeling pretty damn good about this.

- Vince mcmahon's been in this business for decades,

And he knows when things are gonna be huge

And when they're not gonna be huge,

And he pegged my character right away,

And I became, I believe, one of his favorite characters

To work with, and that was a huge honor for me,

And the relationship started to grow rapidly.

I actually loved him.

Loved him like a father.

- On behalf of every person

In this arena,

Thank you, kurt angle.

[crowd booing]

- As long as I could produce for him,

He would continue to have better things planned for me.

And every week, my character as a heel would step forward.

I was gaining momentum.

And I was--within months,

I was the top heel in the business.

[cheers and applause]

- Wait a minute! A slam on the bottom!

- He's pinning him!

- No! No!

- Angle's done it!

Kurt angle is the wwe champion!

- The winner of this bout, and new world wrestling

Entertainment champion... - I can't believe it!

- Kurt angle!

- He's done it, jr! - Whoo!

- Kurt angle is the wwe champion!

♪ ♪

- To be champion, that's a huge honor.

♪ ♪

I think vince just felt I was ready,

And since he thought I was ready,

I believed I was ready.

And I guess I was ready.

♪ ♪

- At that time, the company,

It was like the wild, wild west.

It was the attitude era.

[cheers and applause]

It was [bleep] crazy, and it was awesome.

- Oh, my god!

That's milk! It's milk!

Milk-o-mania is running wild!

- So kurt came along at a time where he just

Wanted to entertain the crowd.

- It's milkman madness! My god!

- But then, the b side,

And also the most important side,

Was the promise of an amazing match.

- And the slam! Oh, my god!

- Rock and angle getting it on tonight!

- He had a natural propensity to be a pro wrestler.

It just came to him.

He was like a savant. A genius at this stuff.

- There's no one in the wwe that can

Out-mat wrestle kurt angle.

- I became a better technician.

I got into my zone. I got into my craft.

[cheers and applause]

- He had chemistry with everyone.

He could just adapt to everybody,

So it was so easy to do stuff with him.

It's hard not to fall in love with that character.

- Here we go! Oh my!

- One of the matches that I remember

The most, it was a cage match.

Kurt gets on the top of that cage

And does a moonsault.

♪ ♪

- You gotta be kidding me!

Oh, my god!

- Call 9-1-1! - Went for everything!

- That guy will go to the end of the world

To put on a damn good match.

As I'm sitting there, I'm thinking, "holy [bleep]."

I mean, you know, pardon my language.

These [bleep] are crushing it.

- A lot of people have said that "stone cold" steve austin

And myself were one of the greatest matches

Of all time, at "summerslam."

- Kurt angle going to meet austin,

And austin retaliating in kind.

- That crowd that night absolutely loved it.

Angle, with moonsault. He got the moonsault.

- Kurt had great chemistry not just with me.

I mean, he had great chemistry with basically anybody.

That's how good he was.

- Eddie guerrero matches.

- Back body drop.

- Edge.

- The belly-to-belly throw.

- Brock lesnar.

- The all-american from the university

Of minnesota against the olympic gold medalist.

- Oh, man! - Oh!

- Angle slam delivered to lesnar!

- Shawn michaels, 2005 "wrestlemania."

- Oh, my gosh!

- An excruciating maneuver.

Tenacious. Pugnacious.

Oh, my god!

- And then 2006, "no way out" against undertaker.

- Reverse! - Oh, my god!

- The match I had with the big man,

And the story we were able to tell.

- And look at kurt angle.

Off the top! Oh my!

- It was incredible.

Those making sure are what made me

The best in the business during those years.

♪ ♪

- He was just meant to wrestle.

Whether it's competitively or professionally,

Kurt did it as good as anybody ever did it.

- Kurt angle with another championship!

- Any top guy that's ever watched kurt

Knows what a badass he is.

- What a night in the life of kurt angle!

- He is at the very, very top of that list.

Hands down, bar none.

- Again, he had this naivete to him,

This innocence to him,

But then, he disrupted that with,

"I'm also a bad mother [bleep]."

[laughs]

"and I will angle slam you through the [bleep] mat."

- Look out! - The angle slam!

The angle slam!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- You know, the irony of the success and the bright lights,

It's very exciting and it can be alluring,

But then there's a dark side.

There's also an underbelly that so many

Of my friends, my family members

Have gone through and experienced.

Some gone through an experience

And wound up on the other side

Better and stronger for it.

Some not better.

- It's a scary situation,

And I was in that for a while.

♪ ♪

- ♪ my name is kurt angle, and what the heck? ♪

♪ ♪

♪ I won a gold medal with a broken freaking neck ♪

[cheers and applause]

Well, at that time, I was on a roll.

- Look at this!

- Angle slam! - Angle slam!

- Keep moving. Just keep moving.

Keep moving forward.

That's what kept going in my head.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Guys on his level,

World class-level athletes,

They just had this fear of failing.

That could manifest itself into a great blessing

And more drive and more accomplishments,

Or it can become the kiss of death.

[soft dramatic music]

Guys like kurt, who wrestled all their life,

You can't expect them to be totally healthy.

It's impossible.

People have to understand, these guys,

They're taking their own falls.

- He is bringing it to kurt!

Kurt--what?

- Body drop by cena to kurt angle,

And a clothesline.

And another one.

♪ ♪

- They're bouncing around all over that mat,

And it's--mat's not a posturepedic here.

- Kurt angle.

Nice hop toss by the undertaker.

Dropping the big leg.

- So you do that 200 days a year

Or more, several times a day, it's obvious

What it's gonna do to your body.

- Ah! - Whoo!

♪ ♪

Between the years of 2003 and 2006,

I had a very bad string of luck.

In early 2003,

I was on brock lesnar's back.

I had him in a chokehold.

And he was running from one side

Of the ring to the other.

He turned sideways, and I hit the turnbuckle,

And my head snapped sideways.

♪ ♪

I literally lost feeling in my left arm.

I couldn't raise my arm.

It was just dead. I knew something was wrong.

And I went to see a doctor, and I was told what it was,

That I broke my neck.

♪ ♪

That was "stone cold" steve austin's doctor.

He did stone cold's neck fusion.

So when I went to see him, he wanted

To do fusion right away.

- When I had to leave to go get my surgery,

I was gone for 12, 15 months.

That's career suicide for nine out of ten people.

So kurt had that same fear. He's not a dummy.

- I was very tentative about that

Because you would have to take a year off,

And I don't want to take that long off.

I remember one night,

I went over to my neighbor's house,

And there's a really nice kid. His name's johnny.

And he said, "I hear you're not wrestling

Brock at 'wrestlemania.'" and I said "yeah."

He said, "I really wish you'd be able to wrestle brock."

He handed me a directv magazine.

And on the cover was brock lesnar

Versus kurt angle at "wrestlemania."

And I was like, this might never happen again.

So I called vince.

I said, "listen, I'm doing 'wrestlemania.'"

- Kurt's a different breed of athlete.

He's going to have the drive to work through anything.

He won a gold medal with a broken neck.

Injuries were nothing to him.

♪ ♪

- It's the way he is.

What are you gonna do? Make a pit bull a poodle?

♪ ♪

- Vince mcmahon actually is against me wrestling.

He said, "hey, I'm against you doing this,

"but if this is what you want to do,

Then I'm gonna support it."

And I said, "thank you, vince."

And he said, "I just want to tell you one other thing.

You're not gonna like it, but I'm gonna tell you."

And I said, "what?" and he said, "I love you."

And I actually started crying.

♪ ♪

- This match, we have been waiting for for months.

Two of the most decorated athletes in wwe history.

- So I wrestled brock with a broken neck

At "wrestlemania xix."

- This is "wrestlemania." it's like the super bowl.

These guys are world-class athletes,

And they're gonna go out and give you everything they got.

- Oh! - Wow.

What a slam by lesnar.

- That's how he can win. - Look at that!

- Spinebuster!

- So then that's where lesnar tried the shooting star.

- What the hell is this?

- What the hell is lesnar doing, cole?

- And he missed it.

- Oh, my god!

- Brock lesnar went for the shooting star press.

♪ ♪

- Ended up being a hell of a match.

And they were both really sore afterwards.

I can remember. It was pretty bad.

They were both busted up.

- Guys, can we clear, please?

- Clear this hall.

- I went back home and decided,

Am I gonna do this? Am I gonna get fusion?

Or do I find somebody else?

A man named dr. Joe got ahold of my manager,

And he said, "listen, I can fix kurt angle.

He will only be out for six weeks."

And I thought this was bogus.

I was like, "this is too good to be true."

He was gonna give me minimally invasive surgery,

And he would cut out the problem

And let the neck heal.

So I decided to do that surgery.

Can't wait for...

♪ ♪

To get back in the ring.

♪ ♪

After six weeks of healing,

I went right back to wrestling.

I don't believe my neck fully healed,

So I broke my neck again.

I went back to the doctor.

He decided to do surgery again.

Did the same thing again.

Clipped out part of the disc and let the neck heal.

So, I got back into it again.

I'm gonna be tired for tonight, man.

♪ ♪

It was the beginning of 2004.

♪ ♪

I made it all the way to "wrestlemania"

Against eddie guerrero, "wrestlemania xx."

[cheers and applause]

Landed on the back of my head.

♪ ♪

And I broke my neck again.

This is the third time in a year.

Broke the vertebraes.

I was taken off the shelf.

Vince mcmahon said, "that's enough.

"we're gonna let you rest up.

Take five, six months off."

So I did that.

Came back, and I started wrestling.

I believe in early 2006, I broke my neck again.

I broke four vertebrae, and I don't remember

What match I did it in.

It was just a lot of confusion going on in my head.

Lot of things going on at that time.

It was a really bad, bad time for me.

♪ ♪

But it got worse and worse.

♪ ♪

- When I broke my neck at "no way out" in 2003,

I met with a doctor that prescribed me pain medication.

Opioids.

I remember taking the first one.

It definitely masked the pain.

I felt a little more energetic, more euphoric.

And I liked the feeling.

So, you know, I started taking more.

♪ ♪

I was taking about four a day.

Didn't take me long before I doubled up to eight.

After that, it went higher, higher, higher.

- I gave him a call,

And as we were talking there for about

A hour to an hour and a half, and, you know,

His voice changed from being very coherent

To kind of starting to slur.

And I've been around enough guys, and I've given

A few other calls like that. And I asked him.

Said, "dude, are you all right?"

And he just kind of goes, "steve,

I'm telling you I'm fine."

I can't imitate his slurring voice,

But he didn't sound good.

And I was-I was honestly scared for him.

- Vince mcmahon saw a change in my behavior.

- Can you turn those off for a second?

- And he had jim ross call me.

He said, "listen, you need to--

You need to get off the stuff."

And I said, "what are you talking about?"

And he said, "we know you're doing something."

- Some of those guys were really proud, man.

They don't want to admit they got problems.

They don't want to show any weakness.

It's a sickness. They're overmedicating.

Then, they start feeling very guilty,

And they feel very vulnerable,

And then, stuff starts unraveling.

And it's just-- it's happened to a lot--

And it's not just wrestling.

Drug issues are not

A pro wrestling issue.

It's all of our issue.

♪ ♪

- [sighs]

This is tough.

♪ ♪

There was a point where my sister

Was getting in a lot of trouble.

She didn't have money.

She was living in virginia beach.

She was taking a lot of drugs, and I knew she was.

I adored her. She was a great woman.

She just ended up in three bad marriages.

Her value of herself became nothing.

She just thought she was useless,

And it drove her to a point where

She starting using drugs.

She kept calling me for money.

♪ ♪

I kept... [sighs]

♪ ♪

I kept sending her money.

She kept telling me the bills were racking up.

♪ ♪

I found out later she was using it for drugs.

So when I found out that she was $35,000 in debt...

♪ ♪

I gave her an ultimatum.

I told her she has to move up to pittsburgh,

Live with my mother, or I wouldn't pay her debt.

So she moved. She came back.

She didn't want to, but she didn't have a choice.

So she moved back to pittsburgh.

I paid off that $35,000 debt,

And she seemed to be doing okay for a while.

♪ ♪

Then, she relapsed.

And so...

♪ ♪

I gave her another ultimatum.

I told her

That if she didn't get clean,

I wasn't gonna talk to her ever.

She didn't get clean.

So for the next eight months, I didn't talk to her.

And then she overdosed.

♪ ♪

I wish I would have talked to her.

♪ ♪

I find out that night that my sister

Died of heroin overdose.

♪ ♪

When you're taking a drug,

You're in denial of anything else.

It's the only thing that's on your mind.

You're thinking about how you're

Gonna get it the next day and, you know,

It takes control of your life.

By this time... [exhales sharply]

I was already 40 deep into painkillers,

So I started taking more.

♪ ♪

My mom would call me all the time

To see how I was doing,

And I'd lie to her all the time.

♪ ♪

Tell her I was okay.

The higher I got, the better I felt.

Or, I should say,

The less I felt.

♪ ♪

Those painkillers can hide a lot of pain,

Not just physical, but emotional.

♪ ♪

Between my dad and dave schultz

And my sister le'anne,

It's just, like, nothing ever gets easier.

♪ ♪

- As he was overmedicating himself,

Trying to manage his pain,

His personality starting changing.

And you knew he was carrying a burden,

And you could see that burden was starting to wear on him.

♪ ♪

- There were a lot of things

That were going through my mind

That I had to get away from.

I was always running away from problems.

You know, the pills were my sanctuary.

I would say that every evening I went to bed,

I would put about 18 pills

Next to my counter.

I'd be going through withdrawal when I woke up.

I would throw those down

And chew them up and swallow them.

♪ ♪

I'd do it in the morning and after my match at night.

I made sure I didn't look messed up or high

When I worked out, or messed up or high

When I was doing the show.

♪ ♪

But when the show was over, it was fair game.

- This guy who was an olympic gold medalist,

One of the toughest guys I know,

You don't think anything can happen to him,

And you think he's bulletproof, but nobody is.

♪ ♪

- I've seen way too many good people--

It takes over your life. It takes over your mind.

It takes over...

♪ ♪

All of your relationships.

It just--it sucks,

And it sucks to watch from the outside,

And I can't even imagine what it's like to experience.

♪ ♪

- I was taking pills to feel normal.

Over time, you build a tolerance,

And you have to have more and more and more and more.

One led to two, two led to four, four led to eight.

Before I knew it, I was--within six months,

I was taking 65 of them a day.

- The hardest part about being an addict

Is knowing where you're gonna get your drugs next.

It would make you do crazy stuff.

I mean, I started stealing pain meds,

And just doing crazy stuff

That I never thought I would ever do.

I had to have my fix every day,

And I had to set up a schedule.

I had a calendar where every other day,

I would call a doctor to get a script,

And then every couple weeks,

I would call my mexico contact

To get my painkillers illegally sent to me,

And I had to keep up on this schedule.

It was my--it was my number one priority.

It was above my work.

It was everything.

- I have a lot of respect for kurt, like a big brother.

And to see him, like, shaking and--

It just made me angry, and I just got angry with him.

And I was like, "man, don't let people see you like that,"

You know?

Like, "man, you kurt angle."

♪ ♪

- When you get ahold of these drugs

And they get ahold of you, there's no way to quit.

♪ ♪

I mean, I was taking enough to kill a horse.

I remember going in to meet with vince,

And he told me, "listen,

"you gotta get your ass straight.

"you're gonna die. You can't keep doing this."

So the ultimatum was,

"we would like you to go to rehab

Or leave. Leave wwe."

♪ ♪

And that is the reason I quit.

[chuckles]

I decided to quit wwe.

I didn't go to rehab 'cause I didn't

Want to let go of the drugs.

- Kurt's downward spiral

Was hard for everybody to see.

When it comes to addiction, it's really difficult,

Because unless that person wants help,

There's not a lot you can do,

So you're sort of just kind of watching it happen,

And you're helpless,

And vince doesn't handle that well,

So it was difficult for him.

♪ ♪

- There's been a lot of rumors as to why exactly

Kurt angle was released.

Can you set the record straight right now?

- Some of it is confidential, you know,

And I'd love to, you know,

Tell you exactly what the story is,

But it really resolves-- revolves,

Rather--around kurt's health more than anything else.

♪ ♪

- I didn't want to quit, so I had to go somewhere else.

- Here's this once-in-a-lifetime talent.

You know, he's one of the best ever.

And now he's down at tna.

And I'm thinking, "man, tna, you know,

They're not at our level."

- He's got angle. Look out!

- He just grabbed him, slung him right into the--

- When I left wwe,

I started drinking alcohol in tna.

So now I was mixing the pills with the alcohol.

- The debacle of a run he had in tna,

He's lucky he's not dead. Seriously.

- I was so out of control.

My life completely spun out of control.

My first wife, she moved out with my first two kids.

And then, I met giovanna.

- I basically knew nothing about him.

The first time I met him, he walked in,

And I was like, "oh, my god, he is so handsome."

And after our first date, we just were unseparable.

♪ ♪

- The friendship built into something more,

But it was in a dark point in my life,

So for her, it was hard.

- In the beginning, he hid it very well,

And I was five months pregnant when we got married.

I had a lot to balance,

So I didn't put two and two together

Until things got worse.

I didn't want to stay don't take medication.

Because I didn't really realize how severe

His injuries were.

I know that he broke his neck and all that stuff,

So who am I to say you can't take a pill?

Happy new year. - Happy new year.

I love you. - [chuckles]

- It just got worse and worse and worse.

Drinking and mixing pills together.

That's not good at all.

Daddy's stealing, of course, giuliana's food.

Now, I'm taking these cocktails.

I was taking probably six xanax a day,

Probably eight somas a day, two morphine pills.

I was driving at night...

♪ ♪

On medication, and 12 beers in me.

- Channel 11 news reporter gordon loesch

Was there as kurt angle faced a judge on dui charges.

- I got four duis in five years.

I was lucky I didn't get more.

The drugs took over my life.

It was the worst feeling in the world.

♪ ♪

- He was drunk, and he was sitting there,

And he had a beer in his hand, and he was

Just passed out watching tv.

And he's just talking in his sleep,

And he's just drooling, and he's just--

He just doesn't even know what he's doing.

♪ ♪

- I actually got on my knees,

And I was like--I prayed, and I said,

"god, what am I doing wrong?"

'cause I literally still didn't believe

I was a drug addict.

I just thought that I had some bad luck.

- When he was going to jail, drinking and driving,

Like, that's serious. He could kill himself.

That was the worst time of my life.

I was scared.

It was all over the internet. It was all over the news.

People were calling me. I just had another baby.

♪ ♪

- Giovanna got a call

From me from jail,

And she was pissed.

- I was thinking about maybe when he comes home,

I should be in a hotel

So he knows what he could lose.

He called me again, and I'm like,

"you know, I have to pick up. I have to pick up."

And I--the first thing I did, I said, "why?

"why'd you do this?

Why'd you get in trouble again?"

Like--he's like, "I'm so--I don't know

"what's wrong with me.

"I'm sitting here in jail, and I'm, like, the lowest

"point of my life, giovanna. I need help."

And I said, "yeah, you do need help."

I needed to show him

This is what happens when you make

The wrong choices in life.

You choose drugs over us.

♪ ♪

- I literally wouldn't see giovanna and my kids.

I would start drinking early.

I would pop my pills,

And I would be passed out by 5:00.

♪ ♪

- My husband, how did he get from where

He was to this point of his life?

And I know how much of ashamed he was.

I know that.

He didn't want his kids to see him that way.

- She was telling me she's on her last leg.

This is it.

You know, "you either step up and be a man and get clean,

Or I'm gone."

[soft dramatic music]

- Giovanna, she said, "listen, if you don't go to rehab

"and get your ass straight, I can't stay with you anymore.

"I don't want your money.

"I don't want to live here.

I just--I'm gonna have to leave."

♪ ♪

I didn't want to lose my marriage.

That was the most important thing.

Because I didn't want to lose my kids.

And I knew if I continued down that road,

I was gonna end up alone.

That was when I decided to go to rehab.

♪ ♪

There's nothing that compares to the pain you feel

When you're going through withdrawal.

How do I explain how it is?

It's like getting tortured,

The insides of your body pounding,

And your skin's crawling.

You're sweating because you're hot,

But you're also sweating because you're cold.

You can't think straight.

Your body's shaking the whole time.

You feel like you don't have any insides.

You're out of breath all the time.

Your head's pounding.

Your body's pounding.

You're going to the bathroom.

You're throwing up.

It doesn't stop.

It is the absolute worst feeling I've ever had,

And it seems like it lasts forever.

And it was like death.

I actually wished a few times I would die.

That's how bad it is.

I don't ever want to have that experience again.

I don't want to go through withdrawal.

I am scared to death of it.

It feels like it's gonna last an eternity.

I can't explain it any other way.

♪ ♪

The hard part was, you start thinking,

What if I [bleep] up when I get out?

What if I can't stay clean?

What if I am a complete [bleep]-up?

What if I just go back to the pills,

I start on it again?

And you start doubting yourself.

- Soon as he came home, he was like this.

Like, he didn't know how to deal

With a baby crying without taking pills and drinking.

He didn't know how to deal with a nagging wife

Without taking pills and drinking.

He messed up his knee a year after he got out of rehab.

I told them many times, "he's an addict.

He's not allowed to take medication."

He said, "what if you just give me one?

What if you just monitor me?"

I said, "no, you're not allowed to take this."

He said, "how am I supposed to heal?

How am I supposed to go back to work?"

And I said, "you're not allowed to do this.

"you're gonna find a way to do this

"without taking the medication, 'cause you're not

Gonna do that to us again."

- The only triggers I have is the pain that I have.

You know, sometimes I say, "man,

I could really use a couple painkillers right now,"

You know?

That's a trigger.

♪ ♪

I have chronic neck pain, back pain, knee pain.

I do all I can to maintain my body.

It's not a choice.

I have to do it, or I'm not gonna feel right.

I can't take drugs anymore,

So I do a lot of maintenance training--

Neck traction, antigravity device,

Stretching, yoga.

These things really help me every single day,

And they keep me healthy, as opposed to,

Six years ago, I'd have just taken a couple pills

And have been all right.

- It took a lot of work for him to know the new him.

And I said, "you're not going to feel the best,

"the way you used to feel, but you're

"gonna tolerate your pain.

"you're gonna figure this out.

We are gonna figure this out together."

I had to slowly get him into being a husband again

And slowly get him being a father.

[indistinct chatter]

♪ ♪

- I wasn't there quite a bit for my--

For my first daughter kyra.

- Hi, kyra. - Hi.

- When I was home, I was always pretty high.

And I was only home for four or five days a month.

So I really didn't get to spend much time

With my first daughter.

What giovanna was able to do for me that I couldn't do

For my first two kids is be a good father

For my last three kids.

Yeah. Look, she's happy.

She's happy.

I got clean, and I started spending time

With my children.

♪ ♪

You want to watch videos of daddy wrestling?

I realized what was really important

In my life--my family.

You want to see daddy drive a milk truck?

You want to see daddy with a cowboy hat on?

So I've learned that--

No? [laughs]

To appreciate the finer things in life,

And that's not the drug,

It's these little ones.

What's this?

- Cupcake and bread.

- Cupcake and bread? - Mm-hmm.

- It looks good.

I've gotten so much enjoyment out of it the last few years.

And I became the father I never thought I would.

And I'm actually a pretty good father.

[laughs] I'm surprised.

♪ ♪

I have too much on the line right now.

It's not about me anymore.

It's about my kids. It's about my wife.

This is the first time in my life

That I no longer put me first.

I don't want to be a screwup.

You gotta stay clean.

If you're an addict

And you have a problem with drugs,

You gotta stay clean.

- I think kurt knows the new him now.

And I think he's happy with the new version of him.

I don't know many people that will get here from there.

He missed out a lot on life.

But he's trying to make it up with these kids.

- Say "dada."

Dada.

- [gurgles] dada.

Both: Yay!

- You know, with the friends that I've had

Who have dealt with addiction,

And, again, some successfully and some not successfully,

I always felt, though, in my heart and deep in my bones

That kurt was a man with great resolve.

So I felt like with the right people around him

And the right support around him,

He was gonna overcome it.

And I'm very proud of my friend

For continuing to push himself

To be the best husband and father and friend

And all the things that he is to many, many people--

The best he can be.

♪ ♪

- I was surprised that I was getting inducted

Into the wwe hall of fame.

I thought wwe never wants to speak to me again.

If I'd have done the right thing

And listened to vince back then,

I would have stayed in wwe all this time.

- Oh, it's true. It's damn true.

- For vince, in some way, it was like a son coming home.

And then getting together for the first times

And almost picking up right where they left off.

Like, just the level of fun that they were having,

It was really cool to see.

- And think about it.

I did have the hall of fame career.

With the little time I spent there, the six years,

Was a very impressionable six years.

And I know how good it was because I knew how good I was.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

I want to thank my five beautiful children.

Kyra, kody, giuliana, sophia, and nikoletta,

You guys are my life.

[cheers and applause]

Last but not least, I want to thank

The one person that saved my life.

♪ ♪

She was there at my worst,

And she's here now, at my very best.

That's my beautiful wife, giovanna.

I love you to the moon and back, babe.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- I saw him work so hard to get where he is today.

I saw the strength.

♪ ♪

And I think he is excited of, what can this kurt angle be?

What can this kurt angle do?

♪ ♪

- Here's a guy who is a world-class athlete.

But he's also the kind of guy who,

Whatever he wants to do in the future,

He can accomplish it.

- Giuliana.

- It's never too late to make changes in your life.

It sure as hell isn't too late to save your own life.

And that's what kurt angle did.

It's a great ending for this story that could have very

Easily been one of the great american sports tragedies

That we have read about in our lifetime.

♪ ♪

- I think I want kurt angle to be remembered

Not for the mistakes he's made,

But what he was able to accomplish

In his lifetime.

- The new wwe champion!

It's a celebration for the angle family!

♪ ♪

- I just want people to know that none of us are perfect.

And I want them to know that I wasn't perfect either.

But I was able to overcome many obstacles.

♪ ♪

'cause I'm a fighter.

♪ ♪

A fighter that never gave up on anything.

[distant cheers and applause]

♪ ♪