Kurt Angle Discusses Wrestling With A Broken Neck & Working Around Injuries In WWE

Kurt Angle is undoubtedly an amateur and pro wrestling legend. One of the most iconic moments in Angle's storied career came at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he captured gold in freestyle heavyweight wrestling. He famously won the gold with "a broken freakin' neck." "I broke my neck and I didn't know it, so I kept wrestling," Angle said on the "The Joe Rogan Experience."

Angle told Rogan he broke his neck another four times during his WWE years between 1999 and 2006, adding that he needs neck fusion despite already undergoing five neck surgeries and a stem cell procedure that haven't done much to improve his situation. "I can't feel my pinkie fingers. I have a lot of atrophy in my arms," said Angle, noting he's lost three inches in his arms due to atrophy. He told Rogan that he now lacks upper body strength, leaving him capable of only curling 20 pound dumbbells and 60 pounds during tricep workouts.

"I don't have a lot of strength in my upper body," said Angle, adding that a dead nerve in his neck leaves him without a muscle in his chest, causing the area to dip. Angle said his condition means that fusion surgery should come "sooner than later" or he risks advanced degradation in his arms and body. Rogan suggested alternative surgeries, including disc replacement, to which Angle said he's looking into the options. "I have been so beaten up there I barely was ever 100% healthy," Angle said of his wrestling career. He added that injuries would debilitate him, but wrestling taught him how to work around those injuries, including wrestling Brock Lesnar at WWE WrestleMania 19 with a broken neck.