Kurt Angle‘s daughter looks set to follow in her father’s footsteps in amateur wrestling.
The WWE Hall of Famer was an accomplished amateur wrestler before becoming a pro wrestling superstar. He won the Olympic Gold medal, with a broken freaking neck, at the 1996 Olympics which earned him interest from both WWE and ECW in the Attitude Era.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone, Angle was answering a question about the collegiate NIL program. In his response, he said that his youngest daughter, Nikoletta, was wrestling. He said it was exciting to know that she could possibly make money as a college athlete under the new guidelines one day.
Speaking with Ella Jay for The Pop Break, Angle revealed that Nikoletta was training with his brother. Eric Angle is a former amateur wrestler who appeared occasionally in the WWE to help his brother win matches against opponents like The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.
“I went through the wringer,” Kurt Angle said. “I tried my 13-year-old daughter, didn’t work out, I tried my 11-year-old daughter, she didn’t work out. But this one’s working out. My second daughter, Sophia, went to one practice, and she cried the whole time. I knew it wasn’t for her, so I didn’t want to put her through that misery. But Nikoletta is special. She likes doing it. She loves training, and trains with her cousin Luke. My brother Eric is actually training my daughter. I don’t want to be the trainer,” Kurt Angle said.
“Because if I train her, I’m going to be a little mean to her sometimes. I want her to come to Daddy and hug her. I tell her everything’s going to be okay. My brother Eric, he tells my daughter Nikoletta, ‘Listen, there’s a difference between Uncle Eric and Coach Eric. Uncle Eric loves you very much, but Coach Eric’s going to be a little hard on you.’ So she knows how to separate the two, but at least I don’t have to be the bad guy. I can be the one that comforts her at the end of the workout. I like being the lovable dad and let my brother Eric train her. It’s working out extremely well.”
Kurt Angle continued gushing about his daughter, noting that she’s a very good wrestler at just eight years old. He’s excited to see Nikoletta follow in his footsteps, adding that she reminds him a lot of himself.
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If you use this transcription, credit The Pop Break, H/T WrestleZone and link to this post.
