Kurt Angle, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist who performed for WWE from 1998 to 2006 as a six-time WWE world champion, will headline the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

Angle received the news Monday afternoon. The American will be inducted as part of a ceremony on Friday, March 31, as part of the WrestleMania 33 weekend festivities, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

While the news is likely to catch many pro wrestling fans off guard, considering Angle's standing with WWE since his departure, no one was more surprised than the decorated former amateur who also won two NCAA Division I national championships during his time at Clarion University.

"I was shocked. I've been out of WWE for a long time and out of touch with them, so I didn't really expect this," Angle told ESPN.com. "It's a huge honor. This is the only Hall of Fame that I'm not in and probably [the one] I want to be in the most. This is the one that means the most for me. I had a lot of fun entertaining the fans for seven years with WWE, and I'm glad that my hard work paid off."

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