WWE News: Former WWE And TNA Star Kurt Angle Claims He Took 65 Vicodin Pills A Day At Height Of Drug Issues

Former TNA and WWE Superstar Kurt Angle is by no means a saint, which he has been very open about. We have lived through the times when Angle was given a DUI four out of five years, and it was absolutely nuts. Most of us thought it was just alcohol that Angle had an issue with; however, that was not the case at all. In fact, alcohol was just a side issue for the Olympic Gold Medalist, weirdly enough.

Kurt Angle was on ESPN Radio where he spoke with Dan Le Batard to promote that he is working with those suffering from addiction. Due to the fact that telling your story can help others, Angle is promoting the hashtag #AngleStrong when you tell your story, so it can help others. That said, Kurt Angle made sure to be completely open about his addiction problems and told the world something we never knew about what he suffered years with.

When Angle ended up getting a DUI a number of times, he would eventually enter rehab. TNA Wrestling wanted him to get help, he wanted to get it too, so it made sense to go. Due to the fact that WWE pays 100 percent for former or current talent to go to rehab, Angle went on WWE’s dime to get help in 2013. Thankfully, it worked out well and Angle has been clean and sober for three years now. However, what he told the world regarding his addiction was incredible.

He told Dan Le Batard that he originally tried to beat things on his own, which worked a bit originally.

“I was on a lot — there was no way I couldn’t get out of it. The only thing I could do was eventually go to rehab and try to fix my life again. But I actually beat it on my own. I stayed in my house for about 10 days and didn’t leave, and I was able to get through the withdrawal.”

He told Dan that at the height of his addiction, he was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin pain pills a day. Just realize how much that is. The average amount a person normally takes of this drug is about three a day at a usual maximum. Some only need it once or twice a day and it is more often given to people after surgeries, not normal use. However, Angle would go to several doctors and pharmacies to get the meds. Now you cannot get away with this due to new FDA laws, but back then it was easy to do.

Kurt Angle claimed he even got a calendar to know which place had what on certain days. He said things got so bad that he resulted in buying some off the street for $10 to $12 a pill and the addiction only continued to get worse due to that. When you have access to street meds and you’re going from doctor to doctor and pharmacy to pharmacy, you’re going to rack up a bunch of medication. The thing is, when you’re taking a month’s supply in a day…you simply had no choice seemingly.

It is well documented that Kurt Angle has had a number of neck issues throughout his career. He broke his neck four times, originally starting with the 1996 Olympic Games where he did end up getting the gold in freestyle wrestling. Today, Angle may have never been allowed to get out there with the neck issues he had at the time. Back then, that was not the case. Angle said the doctors told him they would shoot him up in his neck with a bunch of Novocain so that he couldn’t feel the pain if he made it that far.

Angle claimed he was the reason why he broke his neck so many times, not so much what was going on in the ring. He said that he rushed to get back a number of times and didn’t let himself fully heal up, which was the reason why he kept on getting hurt. Most notably, he was hurt in both 2003 and 2004 with WWE. He would start his road to addiction around that time. He would beat the addiction and then end up being put on another medication and even was given Xanax due to “always getting nervous and having a lot of stress.”

Kurt Angle realized that the WWE schedule was too much by 2006 and would ask for a part-time schedule, which WWE Chairman Vince McMahon couldn’t give him. He would end up asking for his release, which McMahon granted him. Angle would then jump to TNA Wrestling where he could still wrestle, but only a fraction of the time he would have done with WWE. With WWE, you’re on the road for 300 days a year. In TNA at the time, they weren’t on the road much at all and did most of their shows from Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was the perfect spot for Angle and it helped TNA a lot as well, as a major top name from the WWE was now part of their promotion.

However, TNA was really not good for Kurt Angle in all actuality. In fact, it may have led to other issues. He told ESPN the following.

“The thing is, everybody drank down there [in TNA]. So I started drinking with my meds. And then I started manipulating my meds. I would save all of them until the evening, and drink it with alcohol. And it got me in a lot of trouble — four DUIs in five years.”

Obviously, this was a terrible decision simply due to the fact that it says on most pain pill bottles not to use the meds with alcohol. Angle said that he did it all the time, so imagine how many times he was on the road and didn’t get caught. He was putting himself and others in jeopardy, which he feels was the worst mistake he made while on the medications and alcohol. Kurt said he finally got the right help, but it was by no means easy going through such a rehab time. He told this to Dan.

“I finally got the right help. I tried to do it myself, but when you’re that deep into that stuff, you can’t do it on your own. You need somebody else’s help, and I finally reached out and I did what I had to do to get it done. It was the worst seven days of my life as well. I went through detox again. That time it stuck. You can’t do anything; you can’t think; you’re in constant pain; your body’s shaking. You don’t wanna eat; you don’t wanna do anything; you feel like you’re gonna die. It’s the worst pain you’ve ever had in your life. And I went through it twice.”

The best thing Kurt Angle told Dan was that he is clean now and that he is doing alright, and what all went down really led to him never wanting to deal with any of that again.

“I haven’t had any triggers. I think it has to do with that I don’t ever want to have that feeling again. I was merciless to that drug. I was doing stupid stuff. I was desperate. I was spending a lot of money for the medication. It took control of my life. I didn’t have anything else to think about than how I was gonna get that drug the next time I could get it. It was ruining my life. The worst time of my whole entire life was those three years where I was really, really deep into it.”

While Kurt Angle is trying to make a return to the WWE to have one last run, he is still wrestling a very light schedule this year since leaving TNA. It is likely we see Angle return sometime next year as the rumor mill claims that he is on deck to be the big WWE 2K18 pre-order bonus like Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Sting, and Ultimate Warrior before him. It will be interesting to see how WWE feels about Angle now after hearing his story.

[Featured Image by TNA Wrestling]