Kurt Angle Recalls Brock Lesnar Asking Him About Joining TNA In 2007
Kurt Angle has revealed an interesting involving Brock Lesnar calling Kurt to see if Brock could join TNA Wrestling in 2007.
The 2003 rivalry between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar was one of the best feuds in the careers of both WWE legends. It was an easy feud to do because Angle was a 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist in freestyle wrestling while Lesnar was very successful as a standout collegiate wrestler that was an NCAA Heavyweight Champion at the University of Minnesota.
After Lesnar won the 2003 Royal Rumble, the dream match was set with Angle set to defend the WWE Title against Lesnar in the WrestleMania 19 main event. Angle and Lesnar would go on to have more matches that year including an incredible 60-minute Ironman Match on Smackdown that saw Lesnar regain the WWE Title from Angle.
Fast forward to 2007 and Angle was in TNA Wrestling for about a year while Lesnar left WWE in 2004 due to being unhappy about a lot of things including a dislike for traveling a lot. When Lesnar left WWE, there was a big legal battle due to the long-term contract he had with the company. It would lead to Lesnar wrestling in Japan in the years that followed.
On a recent episode of the “Kurt Angle Show” podcast on AdFreeShows, the WWE & TNA Hall of Famer Angle talked about recalled a time when Lesnar reached out to him about joining TNA Wrestling in 2007.
“Brock calls me. He is not in the WWE. He says, ‘Listen, man. Can you get me in TNA?’ I probably shouldn’t even be saying this now. But you know what? Brock doesn’t care. He said, ‘Hey, what are you making?’ And I said what I was making. He said, ‘If you can get me that, I’ll come.’ I approached TNA, and they said, ‘No, we’re not going to give him that kind of money.'”
When asked why TNA didn’t bring in Lesnar, Angle believed that it was a money issue.
“I think they were at the top of their budget, where they couldn’t really give any more money out. I was making a lot of money. Sting was making a good bit of money, and then you had a bunch of guys on the roster. You know, TNA, the Carter family funded it for a long time, and then TNA started making their own money, but it just wasn’t enough to bring in another guy for seven figures a year. I don’t think they were capable enough to do that.”