Armed with the nWo, Bill Goldberg, and Sting, WCW almost won the Monday Night Wars with WWE. If not for a serendipitous repackaging of Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson becoming the Rock, we could be living in a WCW world – especially if they nabbed a certain Olympic Gold Medalist.
So what kept Kurt Angle from signing with Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff? The Nature Boy himself, Ric Flair.
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In an interview with TMZ Sports over the SummerSlam weekend, Angle was asked about the topical Ric Flair. His answer provided one of the greatest “what ifs” in wrestling history:
“I learned a lot from Ric Flair,” Angle said … “He’s the guy that pushed me to go to WWE instead of the WCW. I was ready to do a deal with WCW and he said, ‘No, go to WWE cause Vince McMahon will know what to do with you.’”
Wow. What’s crazy is that this quote can be dated between 1996-97, a time when Flair was absolutely still working for WCW. After Angle won his Gold Medal in 1996, he took a tour of multiple wrestling promotions including appearances for ECW and NWA. However, the giants of the industry, WCW, and WWE, did not take long to begin their courtship of Angle.
Flair’s time in WCW during this era was tumultuous, to say the least. He and Bischoff were mortal enemies so his advice to Angle to work for Vince McMahon comes from scarred personal history. However, WCW itself was said to be a mess from top to bottom, especially after the nWo began to lose some its luster.
Angle signing with WWE was never a lock as the two sides could not reach an agreement in 1996, creating a window for WCW’s involvement. Here’s a quote from WWE 24 – Kurt Angle: Homecoming where Angle tells their story of his and WWE’s first botched negotiation:
“In 1996, after I won the gold medal, Vince McMahon said he’d like to meet with me. He threw a contract at me right away. It was a 10-year deal. It was more money than I ever saw in my lifetime at that time. I looked at the contract and stared back at Vince and said, ‘Mr. McMahon, thank you for the offer. I hope you know I’m an Olympic gold medalist, so I could never lose.’ I didn’t hear from Vince McMahon after that. I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand what this was. As a kid, I was taught by my brothers and coaches, ‘don’t watch that stuff. It’s fake. You’re real.’ So I never did.”
If only we could have seen the look on Vince McMahon’s face when a young Kurt Angle reasoned he’d have to keep an impeccable wrestling record. Fortunately for all of us, someone pulled Kurt aside (maybe credit goes to Flair on that one, too) and explained that’s not how WWE worked.
Angle would ultimately sign with WWE in 1998 and debut in 1999. The rest is quite literally history.
