In an interview with The Daily Mirror in the United Kingdom, TNA Wrestling superstar Kurt Angle commented on signing a new deal wih the company, facing Ethan Carter III at TNA Slammiversary 2015 and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the United Kingdom: “Yeah, that was a great night. I think that me returning from my knee injury and facing Lashley who is a great performer, who I think at that point was underrated, up until then, it was a phenomenal match. It was the first time Bobby and I had ever been in the ring together one-on-one, we had never even practiced in the ring, that was the first time we touched. It was a great night, those matches only come along once in a while and I’m hoping next time I’m in England, I’ve got the same caliber of match. Lashley obviously trained for the Olympics long after I did. What’s ironic is, I got Bobby into pro wrestling, I saw his talent at the Olympic training center, I went there in the early 2000’s to do a story for WWE about going back to my roots and he was there and he stood out as a phenomenal athlete, but I didn’t know he was going to turn into such a great pro wrestler. I introduced him to pro wrestling, which is why it’s kind of funny we never touched until in London.”
On why he signed a new deal with TNA Wrestling: “You know what, when it came down to it, I talked to both companies and it was an easy decision. From every perspective, from amount of dates, to the amount of money, to the amount of interest, it wasn’t a hard decision, TNA trumped the WWE and for whatever reason, maybe the WWE didn’t think I could still go, maybe they just wanted to start grooming younger talent, although they’ve obviously hired Sting, brought in Batista and brought guys back like Jericho. I don’t know the full story, it could be anything, but when it came down to it, I had my options open. I never said I was going to leave TNA and I never said I was going to leave TNA and I never said I wouldn’t go back to WWE, but when I looked at the best scenario for me, hands down it was TNA. It wasn’t something I had to sit down and think about for hours, the writing was on the wall, it was TNA for one more year.”
On Eric Young: “Well, we all knew Eric Young was that talented, we all knew he had the ability to be a main eventer, a World Champion, we just didn’t know how to get there. From not taking him seriously, because he was kind of a goofball, we didn’t know what role would escalate him to that level and we found it, he found it, he found it himself. I think that right now, Eric Young might be, might have had the best matches in the past 6 months, more consistently than anyone else, he is a rare talent, he can go in the ring as good as anybody, he does it all and I like the character he’s portraying, I really enjoy it.”
On facing Ethan Carter III at TNA Slammiversary 2015: “Yeah, that’s one of the matches I was really looking forward to coming back and doing, I didn’t know what creative had in store for EC3, but I knew that he was going to win the World Heavyweight Championship this year, the writing was on the wall, he was the guy that you wanted to put that title on, so it was a matter of time, I just didn’t know how they were going to get there, so I feel very blessed to at least be a part of that, because whether or not I beat or lose to EC3 in this match, I believe in this programme somewhere along the line he’s going to win the title, so what better way to win the title than beat Kurt Angle? I think that’s a great move on the company’s part and it’s also great for me because I get the chance to wrestle EC3 and it’s also great for me because I will probably be the one most likely to end his undefeated streak, so there are many things in that storyline that can be a lot of fun for both of us.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
