Kurt Angle recounts how he negotiated his TNA contract

Kurt Angle is a 14-time professional wrestling world champion, with titles collected in WWE, TNA, and Japan. He is in both the WWE and TNA/Impact Hall of Fames, a two-time NCAA Division 1 National Champion, and has also won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Summer Games with, as he likes to say, ‘a broken freaking neck.’ At every stop in his career, Angle has reached the top of the mountain, and now he’s taking his Three I’s; Intensity, Intelligence, and Integrity, to the podcast world as he joins host Conrad Thompson to take a look back at some of the matches, feuds and moments that turned an Olympic gold medalist into one of the greatest sports entertainers of all time. It’s True. It’s damn true
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[@AD-ur1fk]

He got paid just as much as wwe with a shorter schedule . No wonder he left

[@ajstyles8550]

Shut up

[@HMSL86]

@@ajstyles8550 I take it you are still angry at them over the fact they asked you to take a pay cut while literally giving the Hulkster the keys to the kingdom, huh? LOL

[@ajstyles8550]

@@HMSL86 nah

[@mattysquizzato7094]

He probably made as much on a downside garauntee. *BUT* I remember he said he made $4million in his last year in WWE.

[@jonathancoleman7669]

@@mattysquizzato7094 no he didn't he only was making a million a year he said it himself multiple times

[@frank-bmtz]

Kurt deserved then and still now whatever damn figure he asked for. They knew better than to try and negotiate with the best pure wrestling talent the business had ever seen

[@SLURM187]

Kurts a good dude, and such a great heel.

[@arslaanpasha3334]

Easily top 5 heel along with Triple H

[@BroskiRIP]

Kurt now thinking "I should have written a higher number down!"

[@zachih3800]

Kurt Angle is the best wrestler that ever lived..His matches always had a certain intensity that made it felt believable.

[@richv3742]

I don’t think Stinger was only making 300k. Kurt and Stinger were the two highest payed guys on the roster during that period.

[@Mr60ina30]

I'm sure he was. He was with TNA early on. Kurt was coming in hot as fish grease. He was Top 5 biggest superstar from the Attitude Era. Sting wasn't on Kurt's level.

[@richv3742]

@@Mr60ina30 Sting was only a year before Kurt in TNA. Of course Kurt was making more but I heard stinger was pulling anywhere from half a mill to 600k during that time with TNA. He def was the second highest paid guy on their roster.

[@Mr60ina30]

@@richv3742 no that's wrong. Sting made it to TNA in 2003. Kurt didn't appear in TNA til 2006. That's a 3 year spectrum. Sting was no where near the level or talent Kurt was. Sting was out of his prime. Kurt was STILL in his prime and they signed him when he was at his best via The Wrestling Machine. So I Def think a Not in his Prime Sting was making $300k a year while a fresh in his prime Kurt was making 7 Figures 100%.

[@thewholefuckingshow]

I read somewhere that sting said he got 40 k a appearance with tna and that included a match or promo and he got large percentage on royalties , bonus percentage for pay per view and merch so I’m sure he was well off

[@IAmLeutrimTopalli]

Him jumping off the top of that cage could have ended his career lol, Kurt angle was crazy

[@zn2qo]

I miss TNA

[@HMSL86]

It's still around in one way or another, but man, they had such an interesting product back then and were positioned for bigger things, such a shame.

[@AnusRipper-2000]

Go watch it then

[@incorruptiblemikeadams6947]

Kurt: I don't think you can fight and pro wrestle at the same time. -Dan Severn has entered the call.

[@DAM02K12]

I think the only 2 wrestlers that could fight at the top the game in MMA and still do Pro wrestling at the same time back then was Lashley and Lesner haven’t heard of any others doing both

[@IMzKDC23]

Ken Shamrock? Dan Severn?

[@Matt-cr4vv]

@@IMzKDC23 back then in this context is 2006. Severn was near 50 and shamrock was in his low 40s. Maybe they could’ve done both but doubtful at a high level. Lashley is the best example of doing both well at the same time.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

Kurt couldn’t have as he didn’t have the health to do it. A healthy Kurt from the 90s for sure could’ve though.

[@tjkong4381]

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, there were a lot of pro wrestlers in NJPW that were also fighting in PRIDE

[@davsavchav]

I wonder what Jim Cornette will say if he hears what Angle said about Russo here 😅

[@balltalk6966]

He’ll go crazy

[@taltorelli]

He'll say the fuck word alot. That's for sure

[@frank-bmtz]

Cornette is just a bitter old man. He needs to being so petty.

[@curtailedbike4123]

@@frank-bmtz to be fair a lot of fans are like cornette now. Claiming how “oh modern wrestling is bad, it was great 20 years”

[@rancidcrawfish]

@@curtailedbike4123 but it really is awful

[@AutismoCentral]

"My body couldn't take any more beatings so I decided to give MMA a try"

[@cmrodican]

Angle is the GOAT! Did anyone notice how pinned his pupils are here, though? I'm not accusing him of not being clean but maybe he's on necessary medication for something.. anyway I really appreciate Kurt Angle and just want the best for him

[@killuminati3034]

How did Conrad end up on every podcast

[@Whasteen]

His relation to ric flair probably helps him lol

[@Matt-cr4vv]

Relationships started it but I think when he started adding shows he had the numbers to show people to make them realize doing the podcast with him would actually result in some money.

[@sabot4ge]

he owns a network which hosts a bunch of podcasts..all the podcasts that you see him on are sponsored by the same network, ric flair, jim ross, kurt angle, eric bischoffs 83 weeks, etc are all different shows but are on the same "network", like if they were tv shows, they'd be on the same tv station. Conrad owns that tv station. It's annoying because he's a millionaire investor. Usually millionaire investors stay in the background, but he does too much and is too visible--he invests in wrestling events, and then he hosts them...he invests in these podcasts, then he hosts them...it'd be nice if he'd just be the millionaire investor in the background instead of wearing all the hats

[@sandorclegane3658]

@@sabot4ge it's almost like it's his passion....

[@collinsmith4492]

@@sabot4ge Well here's a thought.... maybe, just maybe.. HE ACTUALLY LIKES WRESTLING *GASP*. I know, how dare he enjoy the things he likes!!

[@cesarpac3723]

1 mil a year for a lighter schedule isn’t bad, if he wanted to make more he could’ve done side gigs due to schedule.

[@jonathancoleman6482]

He did movies too

[@cesarpac3723]

@@jonathancoleman6482 nice I didn’t know

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I can’t say for sure but I don’t even think this number was too far away from what he would’ve been making in the WWE. JR has mentioned a ton of times that around this time the biggest downside would be $1M and then people could make more than that. I don’t think salaries were way over that number in 2006 but who knows. An example of why I think it could have been close is in the disclosure of what HHH made in 2011 in their investor filings he made around $2M wrestling in 2011. And the money and revenues have largely been increasing year over year so maybe he’d have made substantially more but I think he was doing ECW towards the end so he probably wasn’t way over the downside. But even then if you could work the substantially lighter schedule of TNA where you weren’t on the road all the time for $1M or be a road warrior in the WWE for $2M that $1M might be mighty attractive. After all what value is money without any time to enjoy it?

[@cesarpac3723]

@@Matt-cr4vv agreed, unfortunately a lot of these wrestlers seem to dive deeper into addictions when they do have time off. It’s really interesting how that works but glad he’s doing better now, I was always a huge fan of his.

[@kieronjohn6334]

Conrad: so how much was the contract worth?

[@CiceroSolo]

Kurt has very short and succinct answers. It’s not a bad thing but he should be more expansive with his responses. I wonder if he’s gotten more comfortable with recent episodes

[@Mikeyoshea87]

Bobby lashley is the only successful athlete to do pro wrestling and mma at the same time

[@JOHNN01.82]

I was relieved that Kurt gave up the idea of entering UFC back then he was eager to fight Brock with all his injuries at the time could have destroyed him mentally

[@wingedhussar1453]

He woul have won

[@misterkrogan8837]

God I would ask Conrad Thompson to get in a wood chipper but his giant belly won't fit. 😒😒😒

[@Shielsproductions100]

Why did TNA go broke?.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

Because Panda cut off the piggy bank. People always think TNA had no money the entire time but they always had money when Panda owned it. But eventually they divested jr all to Dixie to survive in its own and it went broke right away because it couldn’t cash flow itself.

[@danielcharnock8975]

Angle thinks Russo is talented?? Omg the world is about to end

[@RichardMason-gj9ue]

Russo is a tit can’t stand when he says bro every other word

[@mattysquizzato7094]

Kurt says he's clean, and I hope he is, because he's not looking too clean here. Could he be perma-stoned?

[@youngdial6599]

Weed is fine but I doubt he’s on weed lololol

[@mattysquizzato7094]

@@youngdial6599 Nope. He's either on opiates, suboxone, or methadone. If not, benzos. As as recovering addict myself, I can say that with almost 100% certainty. I hope it aint so, Kurt. :(

[@alexescutia4805]

@@mattysquizzato7094 what makes you say that?

[@alexescutia4805]

The eyes?

[@mattysquizzato7094]

@@alexescutia4805 His pindrop pupils for starters. I've been around plenty of people on opiates. I hope he's clean and doing well, but he certainly looks suspect here.

[@ReinEngel]

Kurt thought Russo was talented? That's the best argument against doing drugs that I've ever seen... "don't do drugs, kids, or you'll end up thinking Vince Russo is talented!"

[@stephonwilliams5232]

It's just cause Your not able to see the vision bro

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I would add if you’ve listened to much of Kurt he doesn’t speak badly or pretty much anybody. The closest I’ve ever heard was him make a side comment about Austin Aries being arrogant but even that he sandwiched with 1,000 positives. So part of things is that Kurt just doesn’t say much bad about anybody.