TNA Wrestling Champion Kurt Angle made an impact this weekend when he was arrested for DWI in Virginia. This makes the second time in two weeks a major TNA superstar has been arrested for DWI but the big question here is whether Angle will suffer the same fate as former co-worker Matt Hardy.
The report came in on Sunday night via TMZ. According to TMZ, “Angle’s car was spotted by another driver … swerving between lanes on I-66. Angle was busted by Virginia State Troopers, who responded to the call, and taken to Warren County Jail.” Angle posted a $2000 bond and was released at 3:31 AM.
This is just another in a long line of similar arrests for the former Olympic gold medalist. This makes Angle’s third arrest since 2007. Angle was arrested and charged with DUI in 2007 but later beat all of the charges. Angle was most recently arrested back in May when he was found asleep at the wheel in North Dakota intoxicated.
[adinserter block=”2″]The timing of this arrest makes this quite possibly the most interesting of the four. The timing comes two weeks to the day that Matt Hardy was arrested for DWI. TNA Wrestling immediately fired Hardy once the news hit the Internet. Angle has avoided discipline in the past but the precedence set in the Hardy case really puts a lot of pressure on TNA to take action.
The arrest also paints a very disturbing public picture of TNA Wrestling. While TNA isn’t very high profile on the radar of non-wrestling fans, they have been featured quite prominently on TMZ.com for two separate cases of DWI. Now you have the TNA champion all over the news for a DWI. I can’t imagine that the folks at Spike TV or Panda Energy are very pleased about the reputation that the company is getting. Dixie Carter may have no choice but to take action in this matter.
The news also caps off a fairly embarrassing week for the TNA champion. In the last week Angle has made some strange claims about a UFC deal and has been whining about his place on the WWE Top 50 list. Angle came in at 34 and has been ranting about it on Twitter all week.
“I have never been More Insulted By Wwe top 50.#34 to Me Is a kick to the balls!Take Me out of ratings.please.U think fans will buy that crap” – @AngleFoods1
He later tweeted about Shawn Michaels spot at #1 – “Shawn Michaels Deserves #1. He has Been Putting On Awesome Matches for Well Over 20something Years. I Will Not Complain. It is What It Is!!!” – @AngleFoods1
Ironically just a few hours before his arrest he appeared to have changed his mind.
“Hulk Hogan should Be #1 on Wwe top 50. Hello?”- @AngleFoods1
Hey listen, all of this confusion about the WWE top 50 is enough to send anyone into a drinking frenzy right?
[adinserter block=”1″]Quite frankly I shouldn’t be joking because this is inexcusable. DWI is a very serious thing and if Angle was drunk behind the wheel, he is a real scumbag for putting the lives of innocent people on the road at risk. It is one thing to put yourself at risk, but there is plenty of education in 2011 about drinking and driving to prevent this. Angle is innocent until proven guilty but let’s be honest. There is a track record here.
Is firing Kurt Angle a little too harsh? If this was his first offense maybe, but this is a guy with a pattern here and something has to give. It is irresponsible for TNA to continue to keep this guy on the payroll who continues to put other people at risk due to drinking and driving. Continuing to employ Angle and give him free passes is practically encouraging the behavior. Say what you will about the WWE but he would be fired tomorrow if he was under a WWE contract.
Like the Matt Hardy situation, I am not going to sit here and tell you about how I hope that Angle just gets himself better. I could care less. I’ll save that kind of sympathy and empathy for the friends, family, and loved ones in my life. However, I do hope he does get better. Not for him, but for the dozens of people he has put at risk over the years every time he gets behind the wheel impaired. Those are the biggest victims in this tragedy, not Kurt Angle.
Update: TMZ.com has obtained a copy of Certificate of Blood Alcohol Analysis done at the time of the arrest. Angle’s blood alcohol level was .06, under the .08 legal limit.
Update #2: So much for Kurt’s blood alcohol claim. According to a new report in a Virginia newspaper, Angle was well over the legal limit when he was pulled over.
“Impact Wrestling champion Kurt Angle’s initial test showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.091 percent when he was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence early Sunday morning, according to state police.” “I made contact with the driver and detected the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage,” Scally wrote in the police report. “I asked Mr. Angle, whom I identified by his Pa. drivers license, how much he had to drink and he replied he had three beers.”
The report also said that Angle’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He also failed six sobriety tests at the scene of the arrest. The report says that the test Angle released to TMZ.com was a second test, not the test that got Angle arrested.
Angle needs to be fired. Not only is this a repeated offense, not only has he shown no remorse, but he is in complete denial to the point of accusing the police department of framing him. This whole thing stinks and the guy deserves to be cut immediately. I am a big fan of Angle in the ring, but out of the ring he has turned into a pretty pathetic individual.
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the funniest part about "stalking" rhaka khan was that when kurt angle was pulled over he was in a starbucks/shopping center parking lot claiming he was looking for his hotel. his hotel was over 2 miles away.
Not only that, but he had a ton of HGH in his car at the same time.
"Angle needs to be fired."
I don't understand…you mean we don't live in a society where you can recklessly endanger peoples lives by getting intoxicated and operating a deadly vehicle? That's just insane…I'm moving to a civilized country where I can do what I want!
Clearly, TNA needs some kind of "wellness" promotion to get their stars some help. I think Dustin is probably right, he needs to be fired…the sad thing is that it might fall right into what the Jarretts want done with him. Kurt may be his own worst enemy.
Absolutely, Churrito. Angle can make all the excuses he wants, but the fact is he has no one to blame but himself. No one made him drive drunk or abuse pain pills or drive around with a truckload of HGH or any of the other stupid, illegal things he's done. I remember someone once posting an article on how bad it was of TNA to hire Angle the way they did as he had just been fired by the WWE for refusing to go to rehab for a pain pill addiction. When he signed with TNA, he still didn't go to rehab, nor did anyone make him. Over the years with TNA, Angle has gotten into far more trouble with the law (and himself) than he ever did in WWE. This, despite the fact that TNA is supposed to be a more lax environment with an easier schedule. The problem is Dixie Carter doesn't know how to discipline the wrestlers when they break the rules. If this happened in WWE, Vince would have fired Angle immediately. Meanwhile, in TNA, not only will Angle not get fired, but he will get a continued push in the company for as long as he wants one. The same thing happened with Jeff Hardy, and will happen with any other wrestler in TNA who was a big star in the WWE first.
This is actually the 4th time he's been arrested in about 4 years, with 3 of them being alcohol-related (the other arrest was for stalking Rhaka Khan). Other than, I completely agree with you. I could care less what happens to Angle, unless someone innocent is getting hurt. In my opinion, Angle needs to be fired immediately. He's obviously not ready to learn his lesson yet.