8 injuries that changed the face of WWE

#3 Kurt Angle

Angle underwent so many neck surgeries it's a miracle he could perform for as long as he did

Kurt Angle has long been known as a ‘wrestling machine’ due to his incredible wrestling ability in spite of his myriad of injuries. These problems, especially his neck injuries, caused him to undergo multiple surgeries that would gradually cause him to wrestle less and less.

These problems reached a peak in 2004 when Angle was no longer able to wrestle on a full-time schedule, which is why Angle assumed the role of SmackDown General Manager for a time during that year.

However, the reason this injury changed the face of WWE is because Angle was sidelined and couldn’t wrestle at a time when SmackDown didn’t have any top heels. Brock Lesnar had left WWE, and Angle himself was capable of playing a heel as well as he could a babyface.

Because of the lack of top-level heels, WWE was forced to rethink all of their plans and push Bradshaw, previously known mainly as a mid-carder, to become the JBL character and become a main-event-level heel.

Had Angle never been injured, he could’ve been SmackDown’s top heel and would’ve been much more successful than he was as SmackDown’s on-screen authority figure.