#2036 - Kurt Angle

Joe Rogan (0:09)

We're up with the greatest pro wrestling fan in the history of the world, Tony Hinchcliffe, and the great and powerful Kurt Angle.

It's an honor, sir. Thank you for being here, man.

Kurt Angle (0:21)

Thanks for having me on, Joe.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

Dude, I've been a fan of yours for a long time.

What you did in the Olympics with a broken neck is just nothing short of insane. How did you do that?

Kurt Angle (0:31)

I didn't have a choice. I mean, what happened was I got thrown on my head in the first round of the Olympic trials.

Joe Rogan (0:36)

Pull that microphone up close to you.

Kurt Angle (0:38)

What happened was I got thrown on my head the first round of the Olympic trials, and I broke my neck and I didn't know it, so I kept wrestling. My arms were numb and my neck was in excruciating pain, and I wrestled through the semis and won, and then I had to go on to the finals and wrestle, and I won there. So I won the first round of the Olympic trials with my neck broken. I went home the next day and I went to my doctor and he took an MRI of my neck. He said, You have four discs or four broken vertebrae and two discs sticking directly under your spinal cord. He said, You can't wrestle anymore. You're done. I was devastated, man. I didn't know what to do. I figured I better get a second opinion. So I went to another doctor, and he said basically the same thing, but he said, When is the next round of trials? I said, Six weeks. He said, You know what? I might be able to get you ready by then. I said, What's your plan?

He said, Well, you're not going to be able to train much. You're going to have to let your neck rest and heal for the next six weeks, and it won't be completely healed, but it'll be healed enough that you can still go. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to have a doctor travel with you, and this doctor is going to stick you with 12 shots of Novocaine in your neck five minutes before each one of your matches.

He said, Therefore, you won't feel the pain, you'll forget your neck is broken, and you'll wrestle more freely.

But he said, I'm warning you, an hour after your matches are over, you're going to be in excruciating pain from the abuse your neck takes during those matches.

And he said, Are you okay with this? And I said, Yes, and it worked. Wow.

Joe Rogan (2:00)

What a decision to make.

Kurt Angle (2:02)

Yeah. I didn't have a choice. I mean, there was no guarantee I was going to make the Olympic team in 2000 or 2004

This is my one time. This is my one shot.

Joe Rogan (2:11)

Imagine those guys you beat, realizing a guy with a fucking broken neck just kicked my ass.

Kurt Angle (2:17)

I never thought about that.

SPEAKER_4 (2:20)

Not only did he beat me, not only did he win, he won with a broken neck. Amazing.

Kurt Angle (2:26)

Yeah. So I went to the Olympics, and we did the same thing there.

And I was able to get through it, and that's when I retired, and I retired for a few years, and that was that.

Joe Rogan (2:36)

Did it heal up 100% or has it always been fucking with you since then?

Kurt Angle (2:40)

I always had problems with it, you know, especially my motor skills and my hands. I broke my neck four more times in the WWE, and it got worse and worse. I mean, I have nerve damage in my neck. I lost three inches in both arms, and they atrophied because my neck was just so messed up, and I've had five surgeries, and none of them have really worked.

I'm going to end up having to have fusion, which will be down the line.

Joe Rogan (3:10)

Have you done stem cells?

Kurt Angle (3:11)

I tried. It didn't work.

Joe Rogan (3:13)

It didn't do it? Where'd you go?

Kurt Angle (3:14)

I went to South America.

I forget which country I came from. Columbia.

Joe Rogan (3:22)

Did you go to Bio Accelerator?

Kurt Angle (3:24)

Yes, I did.

Joe Rogan (3:26)

A lot of athletes, a lot of fighters go down there.

Kurt Angle (3:28)

Yeah, it didn't work for me.

Joe Rogan (3:30)

Just so much damage, huh?

Kurt Angle (3:31)

Yeah, just too much.

Joe Rogan (3:33)

I wonder if you just kept going. So what's the extent of it now?