The following is an excerpt from a new interview with TNA Wrestling star Kurt Angle:
You are an extremely busy man with films, touring, pro-wrestling and training for the Olympic trails? What is the secret to your longevity?
Probably being insane or crazy. [laughs] I am always trying to have a new goal to reach. I started a food company to start making a living in a different way because I know that my pro-wrestling career is coming to a close. I signed a three-year deal and I am very happy with Impact! Wrestling. I promised them three more years before I retired. I started Angle Foods and we are doing pretty good right now, Thank God! But I have always wanted to be an actor. The thing is doing “Warrior” really rekindled my interest in trying out for the Olympics again because, at the age of 41 at the time I didn’t think I would feel so good. When I got in there, I was sparring with some really good fighters and I was doing really well! My take-down skills were overwhelming and I didn’t realize that I was still that good! I believe that pro-wrestling kept me young as far as being part of that in front of a crowd. The last thing I am going to do is choke because there is a big crowd in front of me. At the Olympic trials there are 20- to 25,000 people and I have been doing that for years. The only thing that I need to do is to get my technique down right and make sure that I am injury free and I should do pretty well. My training is going phenomenally well and I am well ahead of schedule. I am on weight and only 3 ½ pounds over already. I didn’t expect to be this light but I take this product called Ultra Fiber DX™ from Angle Foods, which you can get at www.kurtanglefoods.com, it is an eight layer matrix that helps you lose body fat quicker than any other product on the market. It came from a doctor in Germany. So I been taking that and I lost 30 pounds in three months.
What do you think the future holds for you in film and in MMA?
I want to use the movies that I have done in the past year, especially with Lionsgate, as a platform to hopefully continue my acting career. I believe that the movies that I have done are very good choices. I didn’t take the lead role, they were co-leads or a smaller part like Koba was in “Warrior,” even though he was talked about a lot during the film, I am not in the film as much as you might think I would be. The fact that I was talked about during the whole film was an honor for me. When I was shown in the film, that was when people are like, “Wow” because they bought into a different person. They didn’t say, “Hey! Look! There is Kurt Angle!” They said, “Oh my gosh! Who is that beast from Russia, Koba?!” It was cool to see that reaction from fans that have already seen the movie. The future is very bright in regard to MMA. It really depends on how well I do at the Olympic trials. If I place in the top three, I imagine that MMA will still be knocking on my door. As far as movies, that is my general focus, along with Impact! Wrestling. I have a Pay-Per-View this Sunday, “No Surrender.” I am the World Champion and I have to defend my title. I am very true to my company.
What do you think is the biggest misconception out there right now about Kurt Angle when it comes to MMA?
There are a lot of rumors. I have had a lot of opportunities, thank God, in MMA. The problem is that reason that I didn’t get into MMA, where I had the opportunities to get into it, which was just about anywhere, were because they weren’t under the terms that I thought were best for me. The reason that I am trying out for the Olympics and not signing a deal with an MMA company is because it is under my terms. I know when the trials are, I know when I have to be ready. That is all I ask. Let me be prepared, let me be ready when I know I am going to be ready and give me the time to do it.
The Olympics seem like a very good platform for me. I knew I still had it in me, thank God! I knew that I could do really well. Trust me, trying out for the Olympics is a lot harder than getting into the octagon. The problem was the terms. I don’t want to discuss the terms but I do want to say that I do love Dana White. I want to respect his privacy when it comes to what those terms were, what his terms were. He is one of my good friends and I have the utmost respect for him. I can’t really talk about the terms but they just weren’t right and I couldn’t do it at the time.
Check out the complete interview online at IconVision.com.
