Less than 13 hours after one of the most physically demanding nights of his life, newly-crowned World Wrestling Federation champion Kurt Angle made his way to the Ohio Union yesterday for a Smackdown Your Vote rally.
In an interview with The Lantern, Angle compared his WWF Title win to his gold medal victory in Atlanta in the 1996 Olympic Games.
“The feelings are different because obviously, in sports entertainment, you’re aware of what’s going to happen in the end,” Angle said. “The feeling is very much the same because when you do something like this, you’re considered the very best in what you do.
“It feels every bit as good,” he later added about winning the WWF title. “People these days understand how hard it is to be a sports entertainer. It’s the most difficult thing in the world. I’m more injured now than I’d ever been in 20 years of amateur wrestling.”
Angle was joined at the rally by fellow WWF superstars Ivory and Bradshaw. All three spoke to a crowd of about 150, many adorned in pro wrestling paraphernalia. One fan even had his own personal replica version of the gold World Championship Wrestling title.
In his speech, Angle talked about the two ways he feels he’s been able to best represent the United States.
“One was obviously winning the gold medal in the 1996 Olympic Games; a proud time for myself, my family and, obviously, my country. The other way is that I’ve been an active voter since I was 18 years of age,” he said.
Angle talked about the challenge America has to remain united after the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington, D.C. and New York City and stressed his feelings on how important it is for young people to exercise their right to vote. He described the cycle of apathy that can exist when politicians and youth ignore each other.
“Politicians don’t pay attention to the young people because they don’t vote,” Angle said. “Young people don’t pay attention to politicians because they know that their voices won’t be heard.”
The rally was Angle’s first public appearance since his match with Stone Cold Steve Austin in Angle’s hometown of Pittsburgh on Sunday, which ended with the former Olympian in tears while celebrating his victory with many of his family members and fellow superstars. His long-running feud with Austin has been the culmination of his character’s transformation from a thoughtless, arrogant rulebreaker into a virtuous, heroic patriot.
Angle talked to The Lantern about his feelings on being a role model, both in the ring and in real life.
“I think to be a role model, you have to have a good heart. You have to try and do the right thing. You don’t necessarily always do the right things, but your intentions are always to do the right things. If you can do your best continuously day after day, that’s a role model,” Angle said.
The Smackdown Your Vote campaign seeks to register young voters and promote the virtues of voting to young people. According to Angle, the campaign has registered 150,000 new voters in the past year.
The WWF was at the Nationwide Arena last night for “Raw is War,” a broadcast of its weekly television on The National Network.
