Angle talks about this being his final TNA tour, if he will return to the ring after a year, his thoughts on the WWE Hall of Fame, why he still wants a match with Daniel Bryan, and much more. You can read a few excerpts below:
Is this really it for Kurt Angle in TNA?
“Yeah, this is my final tour for TNA Wrestling. Is it my retirement match? For TNA, yes… I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a year off after that and see what I want to do.
It’s cool because if I were going to retire anywhere, it’s here. The crowd, the fans, every time we come here we pack the house. We’re having a bit of difficulty doing that in the United States, so to come here and be able to have my last few matches is phenomenal – it’s a great way to go out.”
Will he return to the ring after his hiatus?
“Am I finished wrestling for good? No. I don’t plan on doing a lot of it. Whether I do decide to wrestle for myself, or TNA, or WWE, it would be very, very part time – very limited. But I’ve had a wonderful 9 years in TNA. It’s been a lot of fun. This company has been through so many ups and downs and being along and enjoying the ride was really cool.
For a small company like TNA, the things we were able to do were nothing short of phenomenal. The wrestlers we had – Sting, myself, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode – it was a lot of fun.”
Kurt Angle comments on possible WWE HOF induction:
“I’ll believe the hype when I decide to talk to WWE. I haven’t. We were going to have some type of meeting last year, unfortunately it got cancelled. We really haven’t spoken. I don’t expect them to speak to me until my contract’s up and I haven’t really gone after them to talk to them.
Somewhere along the line it’ll happen, I just don’t know when. Would it be an honour to be in the WWE Hall of Fame? Yeah, it’s an incredible honour. Would it kill me if I wasn’t? No, it wouldn’t. The most important thing to me is being in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, which is Olympic wrestling. That’s where my legacy truly is. It would be nice to be on the WWE Hall of Fame – it’ll happen, I just don’t know when.”
Angle comments on Daniel Bryan, why a potential match is appealing:
“Daniel Bryan is my pick. He always will be, I really believe he’ll be back. Right now, pound for pound, he’s the best wrestler on the planet. He reminds me a lot of AJ Styles – there’s a kid who doesn’t get credit either – he’s one of the top three right now in wrestling, Daniel Bryan. I’ve had my eye on him for years.
“It was like when I was in WWE. I’m happy, I’m having all these wonderful matches, but that young kid over in TNA, that AJ Styles, I’d love to get my hands on him. Eventually I did. That’s how I feel about Daniel Bryan. It’s going to happen. Whether it’s in WWE or TNA or independently – we’ll book it and make it happen somehow.”
