Exclusive: Kurt Angle Gets Tough
Olympic hero pulls no punches on his future plans...
Olympic hero Kurt Angle is considering his options when his TNA contract expires next year.
The putative Pensylvannian made no bones about his contract torment when we caught up with him in London this week.
Angle landed on these shores for less than 24 hours to promote the TNA Impact Tour in January next year. No-one can say he's ducking the workload while he gets his ducks in a row professionally. Angle has done a great job for TNA, but as always has an eye on the business at large,
"When my contract comes up I'm going to be doing some MMA, so there it is straight up. At present I am leaning toward TNA, but I will choose whatever company is in my best interests.
"My decision will rely on how I feel about the company, and I feel pretty good right now about TNA. It comes down to
where I feel I am able to fill the greater purpose. Right now TNA is the better way to go, I like being the top guy here and helping them grow."
"In WWE you are part of a monster. Everybody is replaceable in his company. Vince is always going to create another star, even if they are not Kurt Angle. He won't ever have another KA, but he doesn't care."
"If I did go back, which is a very slim chance, my schedule would be a lot less. I just can't do it, I've wrestled twenty two years in amateur wrestling and eight as a pro. It just won't happen."
Die hard Kurt Angle marks will be pleased to hear the great man making the right noises about his health, whoever he works for. Angle was a physical and mental wreck when he was given his release from WWE in 2006 with what he has variously described as a frightening monkey on his back - an eighty-a-day pain pill addiction.
Angle has changed his tune on McMahon senior it seems.
"My anger has passed. I don't blame Shawn or Triple H for what I went through. When it was time for me to get help, instead of shouting out I kept my mouth shut., Trip and HBK are two of the best wrestlers who ever lived. I harbour no animosity towards them. McMahon is a billionaire who wishes he had a gold medal in the Olympics. I may not have the money, but I am a valuable commodity. He knows, and I know."
"If there wasn't a WWE, there wouldn't be a TNA. TNA would not be relevant without it. Fans want to see the alternative."
"He is the smartest, most intelligent, and most successful promoter of all time. Him and I have had our ins and outs, and it's almost come to blows, but Vince and I have a mutual respect for each other. I know how good he he is at what he does, and he knows how good I am. No-one can break that bond, not Jeff Jarrett, not Dixie Carter. It's like a father-son bond."
There aren't many people Angle hasn't wrestled and set the highest standard with in the ring. Lately, it's been AJ Styles, TNAs most popular homegrown star who has been scaling the heights with a series of fantastic matches.
Only Michaels and Jericho can boast anything close in recent weeks, and perhaps Edge and Undertaker earlier this year.
Angle thinks it's something of a missed opportunity, due to TNAs tendency for over complicating matters with gimmick matches. He tells me,
"We had a match at Hard Justice - I wanted to have a straight up match, one on one, but at the very last second they came to us and told us that it would be last man standing. Then they changed the rules - we had to pin each other, then after that he has ten seconds to get up, and it was all starting to get too complex."
"We have to make the fans understand what we are doing. All of a sudden we have to have a pinfall??! We are trying to be innovative, but sometimes we can be a little too innovative, and it can backfire on us. It's better to be simple so the fans understand."
dailystar.co.uk
