Kurt Angle Interview

THE 2012 TNA Impact Wrestling tour comes to Manchester on January 27, so Steve Waring caught up with Kurt Angle, 13-time world champion and wrestling’s only Olympic gold-medallist...

SW: You seem to be enjoying yourself as much as ever in TNA. How much of that is down to (TNA owner) Dixie Carter?

KA: Dixie has everything to do with it; she’s the reason I’m still here. Having a boss like her makes me want to perform even more than I normally would. She pays me well, she takes care of me, she knows when to push me and she knows when to rest me. She really listens to me, which is what you need, especially when you are the lead guy in the company. She lets me have a say in what I do, and that benefits the TNA. Saying that, sometimes she’s too nice, and people have taken advantage of that in the past, but I couldn’t work for anyone better.

SW: You see yourself as the top guy, and to me the roster in TNA seems as strong as ever –Beer Money, AJ Styles, Anderson and Pope. Is TNA in the best position it’s ever been in?
KA: Yes, because we have the best talent. We have had so many great additions. Even though we brought in guys like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, guys that don’t normally wrestle, we also brought in a lot of young talent, a lot of which the WWE wasn’t utilising properly.

One of those guys they never even gave a chance to was Desmond Wolfe. He has more talent in his little finger than any of the guys in the WWE. I took a quick liking to him the first time we wrestled – he was aggressive, intense, technical, and has a great mind for wrestling. You don’t just put a bunch of moves together, there is a reason you structure a match the way you do, and Desmond Wolfe is one of the few that can really understand that.

If the WWE want to go towards entertainment, that’s fine. We’re all about the wrestling. You’re going to see less talking and more wrestling.

SW: Who else do you enjoy performing with?
KA: I have great chemistry with AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Samoa Joe and Kazarian. Jeff Jarrett is just so easy to work with too. Sting, even though he’s 53 years old, performs like he is 35. Sting has improved over the last 10 years. If you would have asked me a couple of years ago I would have said Sting was finished, but now he is a man revived – it’s the Sting from back in 1992. But I cant pick one guy I prefer. I can list wrestlers, but to single one out is too hard.

SW: The X-Division is a fan favourite with TNA. It’s an opportunity for the smaller guys and the high-flyers to steal the show, but it seems to have taken a back seat recently. Why?
KA: We’re overhauling the X-Divison. We have too many great wrestlers not being utilised - guys like The Machine Guns, Brian Kendrick, Amazing Red, even throwing AJ and Kazarian back in there. Guys like that define the X-Divison, and wrestling in general, and that’s what we are all about.

SW: You’ve just changed the name of your weekly programme from Impact! to Impact Wrestling. Is that a reaction to the WWE seemingly moving away from its roots and more towards sports entertainment? (The WWE now refers to its performers as superstars, and not wrestlers)
KA: If the WWE want to go towards entertainment, that’s fine. We’re all about the wrestling. The X-Division is going to be a huge part of that, and so is the Knockout division. You’re going to see less talking and more wrestling.

I remember on WWE Smackdown, we always started with Rey Mysterio, or Eddie Guerrero, a perfect way to start the night and get the fans hyped. You have to tell your storylines, so you to need to have promos and interviews, but ultimately, especially with MMA out there now, people want fights, and we can do that.

SW: What’s planned for your latest trip to the UK? It seems January is becoming an annual event – you have been over for the last three years.
KA: We have, and I personally have been over every time. I think our next step is to make it twice-yearly, and there are discussions about doing a live televised event, or even a pay-per-view over here.

SW: You seem to have the fanbase. Do you see the crowds growing every time you come over?
KA: Yeah, we listen to what our ratings are over here – the UK is our second home. I think Impact Wrestling is ready for us to do live TV shows over here. Even though we are only eight years old, our fans are amazing, they always show up. Apart from New York, Wembley Arena was our biggest live crowd to date. The UK holds spots two to six in our attendance records, which is pretty impressive.

SW: What’s left for you to achieve in the ring, and how do you keep yourself motivated?
KA: My goal right now is to make other wrestlers bigger stars. My goal is not to be the champion, but to make other wrestlers more popular; guys that will be able to carry the show when I’m gone. 

I’ve just signed a three-year deal with TNA - I’ll retire with TNA - but before that I aim to make ten wrestlers that aren’t main event stars just that. It’s my way of repaying the company for all they’ve done for me.