At the end of 2023 a clip of WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle went viral on social media and was turned into a reaction meme. It’s a short clip of him with the 1000-yard stare but it was enough for wrestling fans and non wrestling fans to get in on the jokes. At the time, Angle didn’t understand why exactly it was going viral and he initially perceived it as fans making fun of him. Eventually, he accepted that he was the butt of the joke.
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Now Angle is reflecting on the whole ordeal including his initial thoughts on becoming a meme. “I was pissed at first. I was like, ‘Why are they making fun of me?’ Paul Bromwell, my co-host on The Kurt Angle Show, was like, ‘Kurt they’re not making fun of it. This is actually a good thing.’”
Angle was able to capitalize on the venture and make some money off of it by selling signed photos on his website. “I was like, ‘it seems like everyone is making fun of me.’ ‘No, the look on your face was funny and they’re using it for memes.’ ‘Well, I might as well sell photos.’ I started doing it and thank you everyone who bought a meme photo because I made a substantial amount of money doing it,” Angle revealed on Wrestling Life With Ben Veal. “It was worth being the meme of the year. I guess I won an award for meme of the year already. It gave me good exposure. There people who don’t even know who I am that know who I am now because of it. I trended worldwide. I’m getting people ordering the photo from all different parts of the world. It’s crazy. This meme photo took on a life of its own and I tried to capitalize on it. I did, thank God. I think anybody would have done the same. I had fun with it.”
Angle retired from active in-ring competition back in 2019 following a match with Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35. He’s been candid about his many surgeries just to improve his quality of life so that he can be a present father for his children. While he likely won’t ever get back into a wrestling ring, Angle has many other business ventures including his podcast The Kurt Angle Show.
What are your thoughts on the viral Kurt Angle meme? Let us know in the comments.
H/T: Fightful
