2017 WWE Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Angle recently spoke with National Post about his battle with drug addiction, getting sober and more. Below is an article excerpt.
At the height of his pro wrestling career, Kurt Angle revealed he would swallow his prescribed daily dose of morphine and Xanax, and would then wash it down by drinking alcohol later that night. “What an addict does is always find a way to get their high,” Angle says over the phone from his family’s home in Pittsburgh.
After accumulating his fifth DUI, Angle admitted to paying off a judge to get the charges thrown out, which is why punishment for the DUI’s was never reported. “I paid the judge off – $800 and he threw the case out,” Angle says.
While further cementing his reputation for making opponents submit in the ring, Angle tapped out to his painkiller addiction – swallowing 65 Vicodin a day.”The first time I took a painkiller, wow, I felt invincible,” Angle says. “I knew right away that I liked it and I was going to continue regardless whether it might kill me.” It almost did.
In 2006, Angle asked for a part-time deal with WWE. He broke down in a meeting with CEO Vince McMahon, telling the billionaire: “I can’t do this anymore.” When McMahon refused, Angle asked for and was granted a release from his contract. Weeks later, he got that part-time deal when he signed with TNA Wrestling. The move wouldn’t pan out like he’d hoped.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
