Kurt Angle reveals he took 65 painkillers a day at height of WWE fame and overdosed the day before B

Publish date: 2024-05-02

Kurt Angle has one big regret about his WWE career.

The professional wrestling legend looks back on his time at the top with pride but wishes he was never introduced to painkillers because he quickly became hooked on them.

At the height of his fame, Angle was taking dozens of tablets each day and his addiction caused issues for him personally and professionally.

“After I broke my neck the second time – the first time in the WWE – I was introduced to painkillers and I liked them, Angle said on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

“I was taking one every four-to-six hours like I was told. But after a while, one doesn’t work, and you have to take more… I was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin a day, that’s how out of control I got.  

The WWE Hall of Famer went on to reveal he overdosed the day before his now-famous match with Brock Lesnar in 2003 after finding out his sister had passed away.

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“There was one point in my career where my brother called me. It was the night before I was going to have the biggest match of my career with Brock Lesnar,” Angle said.

"An Ironman match on SmackDown. My brother calls me and says, ‘Hey, your sister just died of a heroin overdose.’ And it crushed me.

"So, here I am in a hotel room. I looked at my pills, I said, ‘F*** it!’ I took 20 of them and put them in my mouth. I didn’t wake up till 5 o’clock in the afternoon the next day, and I had the biggest match of my career.

“We had to be there at 1pm but I didn’t get there till 5:30pm. I ended up doing it. The WWE was trying to call me the whole time. ‘You can go home, plan the funeral for your sister, you don’t have to do this match.'

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"I knew I wouldn’t have to feel the pain of losing my sister, at least for that hour. I went ahead and did it and it was actually one of my best performances.

“The painkillers are the one thing I do regret. I wish I was never introduced to them.”

The 54-year-old's addiction to pain pills eventually morphed into an obsession with anti-anxiety medication and problems with alcohol.

Angle entered rehab in 2013 and finally kicked his various addictions after being arrested for driving under the influence four times in five years.

A decade later, he’s still clean and eager to warn people about the dangers of prescription drugs.

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