Kurt Angle comments TNA / Destination America, MMA, Pink in UFA & more

Kurt Angle was on 'The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani' earlier this week to promote his wrestling match with Bobby Lashley tommorrow night on Impact Wrestling. Helwani mentioned that Angle was his first interview when he first started out (2007 after his DUI). Other things that were mentioned:

His current TNA contract: He mentioned he is on a part time schedule which enables him to still put on 5 star matches. He said his contract is 40 dates for the year, and he's debating whether to continue another year (either with TNA or WWE) or hang it up.

What went wrong with Spike TV and moving to Destination America: In his opinion, they moved away from Spike due to lack of promotion and money issues. He says TNA were doing more promotion for other shows on the network than they were getting from Spike. He is happy with the Destination America deal because they are on all the time, and they get promoted and advertised on other Discovery Channel-owned stations as well.

Trying to get into MMA: He mentions that he has had meetings with every major MMA company over the years, bringing up IFL, WSOF, Pro Elite XC, twice with UFC and for whatever reason (timing or money-wise), it never worked out. He says he could not think about doing MMA now and doesn't regret it.

Meeting with Dana White: When he first met with White, he wanted him to quit wrestling entirely, and he felt he was right to say that, but he had just signed with TNA that same week, and he couldn't go to Dixie Carter and say that he was backing out of their deal. The second time he met with White, he said it went great and he did the physical. He wanted him to be on The Ultimate Fighter (the season with Kimbo Slice). He was willing to pay him "a good amount of money" to be on the show but he wanted him to be ready in four and a half weeks and he wasn't able to do that. He says White was willing to sign him to a 6-fight deal after the show was done, but he wanted him to be on the show.

Was a fight proposed to him?: He brings up the Daniel Puder incident from Smackdown, and White wanted to play off that. He says it was a good fight offer, and the money offer was good but he had just started with TNA three days prior.

Whether he would have done MMA or wrestling after the 1996 Olympics: If the money was there in MMA at the time, he would have gone to MMA instead. But he is happy how his pro-wrestling career turned out.

How CM Punk will do in MMA: He spoke to personal friends of Punk and thinks he will be do okay in his first fight. If he was the promoter, he would give him a competitive match instead of a ringer. He doesn't think he will be one of the best, but he will be competitive. He thinks he is talented, and will be a good MMA commentator if he decides to go that route. He hopes he does well in his first fight and then the best thing for him after that is do some commentating. He can understand why he signed directly with UFC due to their name value, but feels that he would have a longer career if he had signed with Bellator or WSOF or another minor company.

Doing MMA commentary with World Series of Fighting: He is still in talks with them. But he is busy with movies, and being involved in another project that he is not allowed to talk about. So it's finding the right time.

Thoughts on Lesnar fighting again: He thinks Brock will fight again but doesn't know when, or if he will do it when his WWE contract ends or if he will sign for one more year.

Thoughts on Lashley doing MMA and wrestling: If Lashley focused on one over the other, he would be ten times better. He is a really good wrestler and has done some damage in MMA, but if he focused on one, he would be the best at it.

Anybody he would like to work with before he hangs it up: He would like to do more with MVP, and also would like to work programs with Shaun Ricker and EC3.