Kurt Angle Recalls Stepping Up As TNA’s “Name & Face”
Kurt Angle commented on his mindset when he worked for TNA Wrestling when he was one of the faces of the company.
When Kurt Angle made the jump from WWE to TNA in the fall of 2006 it was one of the biggest news stories in the history of TNA Wrestling because of who Angle was.
In WWE, Kurt Angle was a main event superstar for about six years while also winning six World Titles and every other title that was available to be won at the time. Angle had a well-publicized falling out with WWE’s Vince McMahon, which Angle has since attributed to his painkiller addiction. At the time, Angle felt like the WWE schedule was going to kill him, so he had to try something else.
While TNA Wrestling did have a lighter schedule than WWE in the late 2000s, they still were doing live events and television shows along with monthly PPVs. Since Angle was the company’s biggest star, he was right in the middle of it all.
On an episode of his Kurt Angle Show podcast covering TNA No Surrender 2008, the WWE & TNA Hall of Famer spoke about wrestling often in TNA.
“When I signed a deal, I signed a big ass deal. A lot of money. Okay, so there was no way that I wasn’t. I was going to be sitting at home. I was going to be at every event, every show, and I was going to be in the main event. Just about every one of them, too.”
“I mean, when you’re the company’s name and face, you have to step up. And they were paying me a lot of money to do that, and I had to do it well. I signed a contract and I was obligated to do that. And that’s what I did.”
Kurt Angle wasn’t dealing with major injuries early in his TNA career
During most of Angle’s career, fans know that he dealt with multiple broken necks as well as various other injuries. Now in his 50s, Angle is paying the price for a physical career by having surgeries on various body parts.
As he continued talking about his second full year in TNA, which was 2008, Angle admitted that he was feeling fine at the time.
“My body wasn’t bad at this point in time. I mean, I was never 100% healthy, but I was always, always able to work around injuries. And I didn’t have a lot of major injuries at this time. I think my neck was a little messed up. It was not too bad, but it was bothering me a little bit. But that’s about it.”
Earlier this month, WWE released a documentary on Peacock about Angle’s life and career that is simply called “Angle.” You can check it out on Peacock now.