Understanding each Angle

[Black Widow]

BY JIM VARSALLONE
- MiamiHerald.com

ORLANDO --
Sometimes it's difficult understanding a person, until you walk around in his or her shoes. Since becoming members of TNA's family, Karen and Kurt Angle have a better understanding of each other, in and outside the ring.

''Before we had our daughter [Kyra], I traveled with him. So I saw a lot of that,'' said Karen, backstage preparing for TNA's !iMPACT! tapings at Universal Studios Orlando. ``But we kind of had a taste recently of each other's worlds.

``Last week I went to LA to do some stuff, and it was the first time Kurt was ever home with the kids without me. I had my family helping him, but he saw what I go through, and he's like, `I love my kids, but your job sucks.'

``I was in LA, and now I'm in Orlando, and I'm seeing what his life was like.

'He would come home, and he'd be tired, and I'm like, `Pay attention to your kids. C'mon. Why are you not excited to be home,' when he was exhausted.

``That's the one end of it I don't think I ever really got. When he would come home, I could handle it, but when the kids weren't getting what they needed, that was very difficult for me. Now I'm getting a taste of it and understand.''

Karen always had a taste for wrestling.

''Since I was 10-years-old, I grew up watching wrestling with my grandfather,'' she said. ``I've always been knowledgeable about the business and also a big fan.''

Now she's one of the stars other fans are ooing and booing.

''More and more every week, the fans get more and more vocal,'' Karen said. 'At fist I was like, `Oh my gosh. They hate me.' Then I realized, 'You know what. I'm doing my job. I'm pulling off what I'm supposed to be pulling off.' It's amazing. The whole situation, everything that's happened is amazing.''

One thing led to another.

''[TNA] was talking about different storylines, things to do with Kurt,'' she said. ``I came up with a couple of ideas using my daughter which then turned into something with our family. It was supposed to be a temporary thing. Obviously, it took off, and it went well.''

A natural in front of the camera, who knew?

''I surprised myself, and I think I surprised everybody here,'' Karen said. ``Now, it's turned into I'm under contract with [TNA], and it's an amazing, amazing opportunity.''

Karen debuted in July in an angle where she duped Samoa Joe.

''Kurt's so proud of me. He's very proud of me,'' she said, ``and he's pushing me, and he wants me to do more and more. He's so supportive, but I definitely shocked the #%@& out of him. I don't think he thought I would be able to do what I'm doing.''

Growing up in Greensburg, Pa., Karen was athletically inclined, competing in softball and volleyball at Hempfield Area High School in the Hempfield Township area, outside of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County. Kurt starred at Mt. Lebanon High School in a suburb of Pittsburgh. So they decided to make permanent residence near there.

''The reason we stayed there is because both our families are there,'' she said. ``Kurt obviously always traveled, and it's real important for me that our kids grow up around his family and my family which are both very close. Plus, we're lucky to have them. They help us a lot.''

Karen and Kurt have two children, Kody, 1, and Kyra, who turned 5 on Sunday, Dec. 2, the day of TNA's pay-per-view Turning Point. Kyra sat front row watching TNA's super pay-per-view at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Orlando.

Kyra waved to mom, who broke character for a New York moment, standing ringside with Kurt Angle, A.J. Styles and Tomko before the main event.

''I'm a mom,'' Karen said. ``Kurt's great at it. He doesn't make eye contact, but I'm a mom, and I can't make eye contact and not acknowledge her. I'm working on it.

``I broke character, but an amazing thing was Bubba Ray [of Team 3D]. He's down at the ring for his match, and he's doing his thing [angering the crowd]. Afterward, he said he's never in all the years he's been in the business broke character, but he looked at my daughter, and she was waving to him, and he was like #%@*, and he broke character.''

Karen smiled: ``So I figure if Bubba's breaking it, it's not so bad I'm breaking. It's not even his daughter.''

Through TNA President Dixie Carter, the children are treated well.

''TNA is great,'' Karen said. ``They're so welcoming of the family here. Dixie and Jeff [Jarrett] have been awesome about us bringing our kids, but we also have our families at home. When we can't bring them, and it's too hectic, they can stay home, and we have our families to rely on.''

Whether relying on their families at home or the TNA family on the road, the Angles are enjoying their stay with TNA.

''Oh my gosh. It's amazing,'' she said. ``It's a better way of life. You can have a life. You can have your family, and you're able to rest. Your talking about maybe 90 days on the road a year at the most compared to 300. That's a drastic, drastic difference.

``It's a different atmosphere to be here. You look forward to coming to work where as a lot of other places you don't have that feeling, and you dread it.''

Reminiscent of her husband's beginnings in pro wrestling/sports entertainment, Karen has made tremendous progress in a short period of time.

''I still get nervous,'' she said. ``I get nervous everyday that I have to go out there. I think that's just normal. You want to be able to pull it off.

``Everybody has been wonderful. Kurt gives me great advice. All the other guys and girls in the back give me wonderful advice. The first couple of times I went out there I was a wreck. I was like in the bathroom all day. You get nervous. There's times I've been out there I thought my knees were going to give out.

``I'm great in the back. I love doing segments in the back, but it's being out there in front of the crowd in front of the camera where you get nervous.''

With a gift for gab, great facial expressions and a beautiful appearance (even in curlers), this new-born actress looks anything but nervous in front of the camera, and her TV persona is anything but nervous or nice.

''It's fun to be what you're not,'' she said. ``I'm a mom. I'm a wife. I'd like to think I'm a nice person [off TV], but it's easier to be mean than to walk out there being good and being happy. You can have more fun with your character. You can do more.''

The Angles have done a lot and plan to do more, a lot more in TNA and abroad.

• TNA !iMPACT! is 9-11 p.m. Thursdays on Spike TV.

• The History of TNA: Year 1 DVD is available. The DVD contains more than 3 ½ hours of action including some of the most memorable and pivotal matches from TNA's inaugural year. There is also an extensive documentary detailing the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the first year.

• TNA's next pay-per-view Final Resolution is 8 p.m. EST Sunday, Jan. 6 from Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios Orlando.

[JohnCenaFan28]

I love Karen