Kurt Angle Diagnosed With Neck Tumor As TNA Omits 'The Olympic Gold Medalist' From Its Storylines!

Looks like a bad news for Kurt Angle as "The Olympic Hero" has been diagnosed with a tumor in his neck and will require surgery.

A benign tumor in Kurt Angle's neck requires urgent surgery. Angle has lately been having problems with muscular atrophy due to the tumor. As a consequence, Angle has not only been written out of TNA storylines but also might miss the next set of Impact television tapings in late July.

At the TNA Impact tapings recently "The Olympic Gold Medalist" announced that he had been diagnosed with a tumor in his neck that required surgery.

According to reports on PWInsider, this was not an angle and the injury is indeed real. The site also noted that Angle had known that he had a benign tumor in his neck for almost a year, in fact he first tweeted about this health issue three years ago.

Of late, the tumor had started causing him problems with muscular atrophy, thus removal of the growth is now not only necessary but also urgent. TNA came under fire recently for booking Angle in three matches over the current set of television tapings despite being completely aware about his neck problems. This could be because the company is desperate for ratings as their long-term future on Destination America remains uncertain.

That being said, the neck injury announcement however does explain why he was not booked for the live Slammiversary pay-per-view.  Though Angle assured he will be back real soon, the fact that TNA has written him out of the storylines clearly indicates that he will miss the next set of Impact television taping in July, where they'll tape TV through till the end of September, according to reports on SB Nation.

Angle's announcements will probably air on Impact in either late July or early August. Angle lost the TNA World Title to Ethan Carter 3 during the tapings on Thursday and that will air next week on Impact.

Angle's history of neck problems is not a secret and it dates back to the 1996 Olympic trials when he suffered what was actually a broken neck. After months of rehab, Angle was finally able to fight through the pain and won an Olympic God medal in freestyle wrestling.

Even during his WWE career, Angle often talked about winning a gold medal with a "broken freakin' neck" as a way to put over his toughness.

No doubt, Angle's absence will hurt TNA's product that is currently undergoing a lot of behind the scene problems due to wrestlers leaving the company and questions about how long Impact will be on the air.