Kurt Angle On John Cena's Retirement, 'Perc Angle', Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar

On nearly becoming a Pittsburgh Steeler:

"You know what? It's a long story, I'll make it short. A football player or a wrestler. Three time national champion, Division One, NCAA Championships, his name was Carlton Haselrig, and when he graduated college, he didn't play football, never played football a day in his life. When he graduated college, he won three NCAA division one titles, and the Steelers called him and said, Hey, you want to come try out? Not only that, but he didn't even try out. What they did instead is they drafted him in the eighth round, one of the lowest rounds, and they brought him on the team and he did incredibly well. He was a seven-time All Pro, and they saw me. I was the next one coming up through the ranks for the NCAA Wrestling and I dominated for the next three years, just like Carlton did. Steelers thought, you know what, this kid might be a good choice too. I tried out at a skill position, which is backfield, defensive back, quarterback, anytime that you have a lot of movement. Carlton was a lineman, so he was an incredible athlete, and he was so much better than the other athletes on the line. So I understand why they picked him and why they drafted him. But for me, being at a skilled position, you have to have college experience. They want me to be a running back and it's like going from wrestling to pro football, it's a hard transition."

So it wasn’t gonna happen?

"Well, they had me try out. I had a real good tryout. They wanted me to go to NFL Europe for a year or so, and I didn't want to do that. Don't forget, the reason why I tried out for the Steelers is because I wasn't making the Olympic team in wrestling. So 1993 and 1994 I was losing. I ended up third in 93 and second in 94. I kept losing to these two wrestlers consistently. So after the 1994 season, I decided to quit. I figured, what's the use, I’m never going to beat these guys so why even try? So that's when the Steelers approached me, and I tried out for them, and I'm glad that I didn't make the team because I ended up coming back after five months and I made myself a promise that I was going to do everything possible to make sure that I could give the very best I can in the tryouts in 95 and 96. So I did something that really helped me. It was called exhaust training. That's when you train to your exhausted and that's when the training actually begins. It's almost a form of torture. I learned this from the University of Iowa head wrestling coach Dan Gable. He taught his wrestlers this and they were always the most well-conditioned wrestlers. So I did that and in 95 and 96 I won the world championships and I won the Olympic gold medal and never looked back."

On how he made extra money on top of his guarantee while with WWE:

"It comes with merchandise, but you have to be a businessman, which I wasn't. Also pay-per-view buys. If you're main eventing a pay-per-view, you're going to get a hell of a lot more than the other guys are. We're talking significantly more, 50-70 grand more. So yeah that's another way to make more money. But for me, for the most part, I made about two and a half million a year. I did all right, no, I did fantastic, but I wasn't a businessman. I didn't promote myself, I didn't do a lot of merchandise. I didn't know. I went into pro wrestling thinking all I have to do is wrestle and that's it, but you have to market yourself, and I didn't do that. I didn't do that at all. And watching Stone Cold Steve Austin, rumor has it that he made 10s of millions of dollars with merchandise. So he obviously was a good businessman, but he was also the most popular wrestler of all time."

On merchandise he regrets not having made:

"My gold medals. But the problem was, I don't know how this happened, but somebody started making them, and the reason why I couldn't make them is because we weren't allowed to duplicate them, but somebody else did it. Now a lot of fans come to me with these gold medals, I'm signing it and I'm like, Where'd you get this? They say I got it online. And I'm like well somebody snuck in there and made those gold medals without the Olympic Committee's permission."

On the "It’s True" catchphrase:

"That came by mistake. Vince McMahon was having me cut promos and whenever I go to whatever city or whatever town, he would have me pick on their sports teams. Usually their sports teams were doing horrible. So when I would say, hey your Olympic hero is here to save your year. I represent you now instead of the Detroit Pistons, who actually suck right now. The fans would boo me and I'd say 'No, it's true. It's damn true.' So that came by mistake, just because I was reacting to the fans' reaction."

On his moonsault:

"You know what's crazy? I never practiced it. It's one of those things you don't want to practice. I mean, you could put a crash mat on there and go ahead and do it, but what the hell. If you're going to do it, just go ahead and do it. Take a chance and see how it goes. I don't know any other way. I don't know anybody that does practice moonsaults off the top of a cage. I could see them doing at the top of the rope, but practicing off the top of the cage is just stupidity." 

On possibly picking a different career after the Olympics:

"You know what? I wish I would have finished my career in WWE 10 years shorter, in WWE or TNA. So in other words, instead of 20 years, I think 10 would have been enough and I think I would have been okay. But I pushed myself further, got into my 40s and kept working at a high pace. The only reason why I retired is because I was losing a step, and I could see it when I watched me on film. I didn't like what I saw. I didn't want the fans remembering me as a broken down Kurt Angle. I wanted them to remember me when I was in my prime, and that occurred when I went back to the WWE for the second time. That was in 2017 when I came back, they wanted to induct me in Hall of Fame and I was like Vince, I'm not done wrestling. He's like we'll get to the wrestling and then he said that that night after the Hall of Fame I want you to be a General Manager of Raw. I was like, Vince, I want to wrestle. He said it's coming. So he made me General Manager of Raw for nine months and during those nine months I was inactive. I never got in the ring. I was so busy doing General Manager stuff, I couldn't get in the ring. And by the time they had me wrestle, I looked like an old man. Taking those nine months off, especially at my age, close to 50, it just shut down. My body shut down and literally, my knees were bent full time, I couldn't straighten my knees out. I had to have knee replacements. Now my knee is straight, but I had a rough time in that ring. I wanted to retire against John Cena, but I was doing a program with Baron Corbin and Vince McMahon said if you wait another year we'll give you Cena. And I said, Vince, I want to retire this year. I don't want to be the person I am right now. I don't want to be out there in the ring where I lost the step, and I don't want the fans to remember me like that. He said, Well, you're going to have to wrestle Corbin, and that was fine."

On if there were any conversations in 09 to return to WWE:

"No, I was happy in TNA. I was literally moving along nicely and I loved being there. The great thing about it is you got to be creative yourself. They would give you an idea, a promo, and you would write the promo and do it. And when you wrestled, you usually have agents that will structure the matches for you. We did it ourselves for the most part."

On the Perc Angle nickname:

"I know that fans, it's almost like they want me to feel good about it, the fans are having fun with it because I was the best wrestler in the business. So they want to say that, Kurt Angle was Perc Angle. That's why he was doing it, because he was all perked up. The thing is, I didn't use painkillers while I was wrestling. I did them in the morning, and then at night I would wrestle, then I did painkillers after I got done wrestling. So I never wrestled high."

On the misconception that he wrestled well because of painkillers:

"No, listen, you can't wrestle messed up. It's going to be sloppy. You've seen people in the past that have wrestled high, people are like what's wrong with them? So you can't do that. It's almost impossible, especially to have a good match. You have to be sober or you're not going to have a good match."

On if it feels strange talking about Chris Benoit:

"I will tell you this. I did it for a while. I did what I was told to do, [which] was to pretend Benoit didn't exist. But what that did for me is it took away all my best matches. It was rubbing on my legacy. So by saying that Chris Benoit no longer exists is saying I never had those matches, and it's like whoa, I have my best matches with that kid, and he was an incredible wrestler. I don't condone what he did. What he did was 100% wrong and it's unforgivable, but how he was in the ring, he was the best in-ring worker I've ever been in a ring with. He reminded me of me. I felt like I was wrestling my twin."

On if he considers Chris Benoit his greatest rival:

"Yes, I do. Him and Brock Lesnar. I also loved wrestling Shawn Michaels, but we only wrestled three or four times. It wasn't a big program, but Benoit and I, we went for years. I mean, it would be him and me, and then they would take a break from it, and then we'd go back to him and me and take a break. Then it'd be him and me tagging together when we'd be tagging and fighting each other while we were tagging. We just had a really strong program and it went on for years. But Brock, our program went on for about two and a half three years, and that was a good run."

On not being able to return to the ring for John Cena’s retirement tour:

"No, I can't wrestle anymore. Actually, you know what I did? I did wrestle about two months ago. I did a commercial for CBS, and it was for the NFL pre-game for the Ravens and Steelers. So me and a gentleman named Kyle Brandt, he's a sportscaster for CBS. He pretended he was the Ravens and I pretended I was the Steelers. We had a pro wrestling match and I was bumping." 

So you're telling me there's a chance?

"No, no, no. Because what happened was I threw my back out and I couldn't walk for a week after that. My wife was like, you're never getting in that ring again, and she's right. I shouldn't have even got in the ring, but it was a lot of fun to do it. But I would love to wrestle John Cena. There's nobody that wants to wrestle John more than I do for his retirement match, especially with the respect I have for him. I just can't do it."

On being the odds on favourite to induct John Cena into the Hall of Fame:

"Well, I'll tell you this, there are a lot of people that deserve to induct John. Randy Orton, who was his biggest competition, or his nemesis. But Stephanie McMahon, don't forget that she's the one that discovered his rapping ability, and she was a big fan of his, she really supported him quite often. But no I'd be honored to induct John Cena, the one thing I want to say about him is he has shown that he is possibly the greatest WWE superstar of all time. Winning 16 World Heavyweight Titles in one company, Ric Flair won 16, but he won them in NWA and WCW and WWE and you can't take that away from him, they were all major promotions. But to do it all in one company, that makes you that company's greatest star. And I really believe that he deserves another title before he retires."

On his match against Chad Gable:

"It was okay, but Chad made me look good. Chad is incredible. He's a very talented kid, and I'm just glad that they're utilizing him properly, I know because he's undersized a little bit, they didn't know what to do with them. But this kid could be a World Champion and be very marketable. I mean, especially with the gimmick he has right now with the whole USA thing and the 'You Suck' and everything, he's like my son. [He should have been your son]. Yeah, he should have been, exactly. But Vince McMahon had other ideas having Jason Jordan be my son, which was ridiculous, but that was cool."

On a photo with Eddie Guerrero that recently resurfaced:

"Okay, Eddie and I had a little scuffle one night. What happened I was in a faction called The Honor Society. It was with Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak, and we were supposed to get heat on the Guerreros. It was the end of the show, we went out in the ring and Luther and Mark Jindrak beat up Eddie, and I was beating up Chavo. We got backstage at the Gorilla, where you enter the arena. When we went backstage Eddie started yelling at me. He said 'You were stiffing me. You were hitting me hard for real.' I'm like, 'Eddie, I didn't touch you.' And he's like, 'Yes, you did' and he pushes me. I said, 'Eddie, don't do that again.' He pushed me again. I shoved him, and he tried to double leg me. I got him in the front face lock and I choked him out. The thing was, when we went to talk, I went over to him and said, 'Hey, I want to apologize.' He goes, I'm not ready to apologize. And I said, Oh really, we start going at it again. So Eddie and I were like brothers. We loved each other and we hated each other hard. But that was right after that occurred. That's when Eddie calmed down and said, Listen, I know, let's just let bygones be bygones. He's like, I love you Kurt, you know I do. And so that photo right there is right after that incident."

On staying sober:

"Well, I stay clean for 14 years. Time always helps. When you're not in trouble and you're out of the eye of going against the law, and you show that you got your sh*t together, people start to forget it. The only time they remember is when they say, Hey, remember Perc Angle? So that's one of the things that I still have to deal with, but I understand that for the fans, it's more of a term of endearment, how great was Perc Angle? He was awesome. So I know they're not saying it to try to hurt my feelings."

Does it hurt your feelings?

"Yeah, but I know they don't mean it. And for that, I'm okay if they say it. I don't want them to say it to my face, but it is what it is."

What is Kurt Angle grateful for?

"God being there for me, being a father and a husband and for my legacy."