12 WWE Wrestlers Who Worked Through Chronic Injury

4. Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle was so physically messed up in 2006 that there were rumours WWE had him on a “death watch”, believing he was at risk of being the next wrestler found dead in a hotel room.

There were also reports in that period of him being wheeled on luggage trolleys through airports, physically unable to walk due to injury issues or pain medication. Yet he was still going out there on WWE television and having some of the best matches in the company.

That’s the toughness of the man, but also his stubborn desire to be remembered as a great in the industry. He was working insanely hard when you consider he had a damaged neck and hurt knees. Eventually WWE had to get rid of him for his own good, releasing him in the summer of ’06.

Speaking on TNA’s ‘Champion’ documentary, Angle said that WWE hadn’t allowed him to take time off when he was working hurt. The truth is that it had been going on for years, even when WWE first signed him in 1998 he was coming in with a broken neck. That injury never really healed and haunted him throughout his career. He wrestled the main event of WrestleMania 19, despite being told by doctors that he needed to have immediate neck surgery.

The scary thing to think about is that WWE fans never once saw a healthy Kurt Angle, yet he was easily the best pro wrestler on the planet in the early 2000’s. Just imagine how great he would have been if healthy.