Mark Madden: Kurt Angle's WrestleMania curtain call a significant event

WWE’s WrestleMania 35 takes place Sunday at MetLife Stadium just outside New York City. Sixteen matches are scheduled. It will last over seven hours.

That’s too much, especially when most of the matches are haphazardly built and mean little. Seven hours is even longer than the Pirates’ home opener.

The only bout that truly has anticipation is the main event, which features women for the first time: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch. The story has been well constructed. All three participants have popularity and credibility. But by the time those three head to the ring, the 80,000-plus in attendance could be desensitized.

But WrestleMania 35 is the setting for a significant event that’s been somewhat lost in the shuffle.

WrestleMania 35 features Kurt Angle’s last match. Probably. (Ric Flair had his “retirement” match at WrestleMania 24 in 2008, but continued to wrestle until ‘11.)

The match is too far down the card. It’s against a nondescript foe, Baron Corbin.

But Angle’s final performance is significant. The Mt. Lebanon native and Pittsburgh resident will be remembered as one of his profession’s finest all-around performers. Angle is among the best workers, best talkers, best characters and most productive of all time.

Angle is in Flair’s class. That’s not said lightly. Flair is the best ever.

Angle didn’t have it easy.

Angle dealt with chronic vertebrae issues that date back to winning the gold medal at 100 kg in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics despite competing with a “broken freakin’ neck.” Angle’s physical style exacerbated those problems. Painkiller issues resulted. Family tragedies have also haunted Angle.

But Angle persevered. He’s long since free of dependency problems. He returned to WWE in 2017 after spending 2006-16 at Impact Wrestling. He teamed with Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at last year’s WrestleMania.

It’s been a good final run. It concludes Sunday. Afterward, Angle reportedly will take a backstage role with WWE.

After an incredible amateur wrestling career which saw him win junior national, NCAA, world and Olympic championships, Angle had a mercifully short stint as a local TV sportscaster before turning to pro wrestling in 1998.

His background provided the basics, but Angle is regarded as one of pro wrestling’s quickest learners. Pro wrestling might be a illegitimate combination of theater and ballet, but it is an art. Angle mastered that art faster than perhaps anybody. He’s adept at calling matches in the ring and providing glue when what’s prearranged falters.

It’s hard to pinpoint Angle’s best matches. His brilliance flowed so consistently. Some of his best work went relatively unseen, such as feuds with Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles in Impact. He might have been Brock Lesnar’s best foe, providing plausibility against the former UFC heavyweight champ in WrestleMania 19’s main event — and once during an informal “shoot” sparring session that saw Angle best the much bigger Lesnar.

The word “legend” is applied too freely.

But Angle is a true legend in both amateur and pro wrestling. #ItsTrue

Angle’s career in the latter spanned from 1998-2019. He cut effectively outrageous promos during WWE’s “Attitude” era, which paralleled the beginning of Angle’s tenure. His Olympic gold medal kept him red, white and blue. His presence — and little else — allowed Impact to occasionally escape obscurity. Every time Angle entered a ring or picked up a microphone, he never disappointed.

Take a good look when Angle wrestles Sunday. They only made one. Intensity, integrity and intelligence are on display one last time.