Kurt Angle Details Losing Weight In 2009 While In TNA

In 2009 Kurt Angle was the biggest heel in TNA but during his reign as World Heavyweight Champion, fans witnessed a dramatic weight loss.

At Slammiversary 2009, Kurt Angle won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for a fourth time after Samoa Joe handed Angle the belt. Angle would declare that he had taken over The Main Event Mafia from Sting, and he had hired Samoa Joe to join him.

But as Angle was gearing up to defend the Championship against fan favourite Mick Foley, it was clear to see that Angle had lost a considerable amount of weight.

The Olympic Gold Medalist discussed what went down in TNA during 2009 on the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show.

Angle spoke about how working on the film End Game had meant he lost weight with fans noticing the dramatic change in his physique as he battled Mick Foley at Victory Road.

“That’s from the movie, I had to get down to 195 pounds. I had to lose 35 pounds,”

“It wasn’t easy, man. I had to diet my ass off.”

Kurt Angle would go on to discuss that during this time he was consuming a high amount of alcohol which impacted how much he could then eat due to the calorie restrictions in place.

“And don’t forget, at this point in time, I’m still drinking a 12-pack of beer every night. So, that’s 1,200 calories,”

“I had to have a 2,000-calorie-a-day meal or plan, so I was only eating 800 calories because I had to have my liquor.”

“I lost a lot of muscle size because of that,”

“I’m a wreck. I was a wreck, I really was. You can’t even recognize me here.”

End Game was released in 2009 and alongside Kurt Angle starred Jenna Morasca, who would join TNA for a short spell that same year and fought against WWE Hall of Famer Sharmell at Victory Road.

Morasca, like Angle, is from Pittsburgh and won the 2002 edition of the reality tv show Survivor. Victory Road was the only time she competed in the ring, with most of her appearances backstage with The Main Event Mafia.

AJ Styles would go on to take the World Heavyweight Championship from Angle at No Surrender in September 2009, winning a five-way battle.

This was Styles’ first run as the company’s main champion and he held on to the gold for 211 days, the longest reign until Josh Alexander surpassed this in 2023.

H/t to WrestlingInc