We live in an absurdly fast-paced world. The rapid rate at which we consume media makes almost everything we take in — news, music, sports — feel a bit less special as a result. Bearing that in mind, a quick word of advice: Don’t take Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle teaming up at WrestleMania 34 for granted.
In a landscape where hyperbole runs rampant, especially on social media, the partnership of Rousey and Angle can actually not be overstated. Nothing like it has ever been seen in sports-entertainment or sports at large. It is two transcendent athletes joining together on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Both rose to prominence in Olympic competition, only to cross over into different sports and somehow become even more successful and bigger stars for it.
Angle revitalized Olympic wrestling in the United States during the 1990s. When he won the gold medal in Heavyweight Freestyle Wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (the first American to do so since 1984), he put the final cap on an amateur career that saw him amass virtually every accolade possible in the sport. Angle’s Olympic victory would’ve become legendary under any circumstances, but when you factor in that he overcame Iran’s Abbas Jadidi in the Gold Medal Match with a broken (freaking) neck, it’s now rightly remembered as one of the most magical and improbable victories in Olympic history.
However, for as incredible as Angle’s path to claim gold in 1996 was, Rousey’s showing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was truly unprecedented. Rousey became the first female American judoka to ever medal in the Games, winning the bronze in the Women’s Middleweight division. Rousey’s bronze was particularly meaningful because she fulfilled the destiny that her mother, legendary judoka AnnMaria De Mars, could not. De Mars was never given the chance to compete for a medal due to Women’s Judo not being introduced to the Olympics until well after she had retired from the sport.
Angle and Rousey both could have easily rested on their laurels following their ascension to becoming real-life American heroes. Sportscaster jobs and speaking engagements were undoubtedly at their disposal, but neither The Wrestling Machine nor The Baddest Woman on The Planet were willing to stay stagnant. Instead, Angle went on to become one of the most natural — and flat-out greatest — performers in WWE history, and Rousey forged ahead to become a sports icon of unfathomable proportions as she entered into Mixed Martial Arts.
Angle, a four-time WWE Champion who also captured the World, WCW and IWGP Heavyweight Titles, held every championship available during his WWE career, becoming a Grand Slam club member and then some. Rousey shot out of the gates in MMA, amassing an undefeated record en route to becoming the first-ever UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, winning six consecutive title fights in which her opponent only once made it out of the first round, routinely picking up victories in under a minute.
Angle became synonymous with the Ankle Lock — a move that would become known as the Angle Lock — while Rousey became known for her devastating Armbar, with both maneuvers making their opposition tap quicker than Fred Astaire in his prime.
Kurt’s legacy paved the way for other amateur wrestlers to foray into the world of sports-entertainment, most notably the likes of Brock Lesnar and Shelton Benjamin. The Olympic Hero was the first athlete of the modern era to make the transition from the amateur to professional ranks and prove that it was possible to be ultra-successful, washing away any stigmas that the leap carried with it.
