8D: What’s TNA like compared to the WWE?
Angle: There’s no comparison,
talent-wise, to WWE. We’ve got much more talented wrestlers. Since I’ve been
here, it’s probably progressed 200 percent. It’s not me, though. The folks who
started TNA have really built it up. WWE still makes over $100 million a year,
but eventually we’ll get there. Now they have a real competitor.
8D: So I take it you believe, wrestling-wise, TNA trumps WWE?
Angle: Yes.
and I think a lot of it is the athleticism. We recruit the best wrestlers from
around the world. TNA doesn’t discriminate. We look for the best athletes. A lot
of our guys are under 6-feet (tall).
8D: You don’t think hiring smaller guys may hurt your fan base?
Angle:
Not at all. Wrestling’s an illusion itself, and fans realize it. We’re coming
into a more real world. We have a good mixture of wrestlers. We have (high
fliers) like Rey Mysterio Jr., but we also have guys like me and Samoa Joe who
are more of a ground-and-pound style, more mixed martial arts oriented.
8D: In 2006, you left WWE for TNA. Why did you leave WWE?
Angle: TNA
takes better care of me. They don’t want to overwork me. They want to make sure
I can stay wrestling for another five to eight years. There’s a lot of politics
in wrestling, wanting to be the top guy. There’s no politics here. That was more
important than anything. I can’t say the same about WWE. I’ve seen guys who
could elevate quicker, but because of politics, didn’t.
8D: You have rather unique experience as, prior to entering pro wrestling,
you were an amateur wrestler and, in fact, were very successful, a gold medalist
at the 1996 Summer Olympics. For you, what are some of the biggest differences
between amateur and pro wrestling?
Angle: In amateur wrestling, nobody threw
me around. I was too good. In pro wrestling, I had to learn to bump the right
way, do moves and learn how to tell a story for a match.
8D: What was the
hardest part of making the transition?
Angle: Emotion. In amateur wrestling,
you don’t show emotion. You’re a robot. Pro wrestling, you’ve got to show
emotion. That’s how you include the fans in the match. You’ve got to get them to
cheer or boo you. If you don’t get anything, you’re in trouble because they
don’t care about you at all.
8D: Physically, what is the difference between your amateur career and your
pro career?
Angle: I have to save myself. I don’t wrestle every three or
four months like I used to. At TNA, I wrestle 52 weeks a year. When I wrestle, I
don’t wrestle for six or eight minutes. I wrestle for 20 to 30 minutes. In pro
wrestling, the bumps you take make it so demanding on your body. I’ve got to be
very careful how
I train.
8D: And what’s your training schedule like?
Angle: I lift weights for 45
minutes one day, and the next day I run three miles as fast as I can. I try to
keep my body in shape to continue to wrestle and to be the best that I can be.
8D: You’ve spoken a lot about the “art” of pro wrestling. How does a wrestler
turn pro wrestling into an art?
Angle: It takes a good storyteller to go out
there and perform. It’s about keeping the fans emotionally involved. They pay
their hard earned money to see you put on a show. It’s like watching a movie.
8D: What advice would you give to people who would like to be a pro wrestler?
Angle: Sit down, watch, look, listen. Listen not just to wrestlers but to
the fans around them. It’s not about making yourself look great, it’s not a
competition — it’s a performance. The true art of wrestling is to make everybody
look great. Ric Flair knows how to do it. He’s the greatest. I also think they
need to watch Kevin Nash, Christian Cage, Sting. They’re some of the best.
8D: When it comes to pro wrestling, who do you look up to?
Angle: When I
started, I would study matches from the ’70s, how they got the fans involved,
so, of course, Bruno Sammartino (from that era), Hulk Hogan in the ’80s, Bret
Hart in the ’90s.
8D: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that you would like to try mixed
martial arts. Is that still a possibility?
Angle: Well, my first priority is
TNA. A lot of companies have asked me. In mixed martial arts, the danger is
always there. If he puts me in a submission hold and I’m too proud to tap out
and he snaps my arm, I’m out for a year or two. If I were to do it, the money
would have to be unbelieveable because if I get injured and I’m out, I need to
provide for my family. If the money I get in mixed martial arts does not exceed
the money I make in TNA, it’s not worth it.
8D: So, Kurt, this begs the
ultimate question, why do you love pro wrestling so much?
Angle: I love
going out there in front of thousands of fans and performing. It’s my
playground. Even though it is brutal on the body, it’s fun to go out there and
play your character.
THE MORE I READ ABOUT LINDA BOLLEA ....
A huge exclusive in PEOPLE today about Brooke Hogan issuing
an apology to papa Hulk over what she now calls false allegations against him
that he abused her mother Linda "Hogan" Bollea. This Linda sounds like a real
prize. Hope 19 year old Charley knows what he's in for.
You can read the whole story HERE
Brooke Hogan issued an apology for making what she now calls false
allegations that her father Hulk abused her mother.
"I did it under
significant pressure from my mother," Hogan, 20, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive
statement. "It was only after I learned all the facts that I realized I made a
big mistake in signing it."
Hogan released the statement after a tabloid
reported that she had signed a legal affidavit accusing her father, whose real
name is Terry Bollea, of verbally and physically abusing wife Linda during their
marriage.
Linda, 48, filed for divorce
last November, and her attorney told PEOPLE it was going to be "war."
Her attorney was not available for comment. A rep for Hulk Hogan
declined to comment.
In her statement to PEOPLE, Brooke
admits to signing the affidavit. But, according to her rep, she later regretted
the decision and asked that it not be filed in court. (At this point, according
to Hulk's attorney, no such document has been filed.)
Brooke's rep says:
"Brooke Bollea is distressed at the latest efforts by mother Linda to fracture
the family. This time they let leak out an old document that Brooke signed
filled with exaggerations and fabrications about father Terry's behavior during
the marriage. The months-old document was signed by Brooke at a time when she
was upset with her father."
Brooke is now living with Hulk, 54, and not
on speaking terms with her mother.
"I love my mother, and hope to one
day reconcile with her," Brooke says. "But using kids as pawns in a divorce is
awful. Every day my mother resorts to this kind of behavior makes it that much
harder for us to ever have a relationship again."
