Kurt Angle Discusses His Retirement, TNA’s UK Tour, & More

Credit: Gavin Horne

This past Friday night, I attended “An Evening with Kurt Angle” at the Leicester City Football club as he is almost finished on his U.K. Golden truth Tour by Triple M Promotions.

Also at the evening was TNA’s Jeremy Borash, who brought a TNA camera to the event and said that his girlfriend lives in Leicester and so he has been trying to get TNA to visit Leicester for a few years as he loves the city and owns a flat (apartment) here.

Angle and Borash then talked about TNA’s upcoming UK tour in early 2016 and Borash announced that Angle will be retiring from TNA. They were both quite clear that this would be the last time you would see Angle in a TNA ring, and that he had chosen England as his TNA swansong as he loves the passion from his UK fans. Angle talked about briefly about leaving WWE from being burnt out on the road and taking pain medication to cope with the day to day wear and tear on his body, and then mentioned that he has been sober now for 2 1/2 years. He also talked about leaving WWE because he wanted a part time deal and they were never willing to offer it to him. He then praised TNA for offering him exactly what he needed and helping him get his life back on track. It was hard to tell, but during this interview it also appeared that the TNA camera (which was little more than a portable handheld camera) switched itself off, and there seemed to be a little bit of panic in the face of the guy from Triple M whose responsibility it was to record that segment. It’s also worth noting that the camera did keep working throughout the evening but Borash regularly had to run up to it to seemingly switch it back on.

Kurt was asked what was the likelihood of us seeing him in a Bellator ring and he said that the chances were pretty slim. He said that he was starting to feel his age and that he respected Bellator for backing older guys like Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock and that he personally found their recent fight one of the most exciting he has seen in MMA just because he didn’t know who would win. He said that if he ever did MMA, he would not fight a young guy because he doesn’t think he would keep up. He then went on to say that whilst he is feeling his age and doesn’t feel it all that likely, he would go there if the stars aligned and the opponent was the right one.

Kurt was then asked who would win in a legitimate fight between Haku and Brock Lesnar. Angle misheard the question and immediately started laughing replying, “Brock Lesnar and Hulk Hogan? F@ck Me!” The fan then repeated he had said Haku (and not Hulk) and also said his WCW name Meng. Angle laughed and said “Wow, that makes more sense” and everyone laughed for a few minute at the mistake. Kurt took a moment and then said it was a very tough question, but he would have to go with Brock. He said he knew about Haku’s legitimate tough guy status, but said that Brock was also just as intimidating and tough in real life. He said that Brock is everything Haku is but also with a 300 pound frame of muscle, so it would be like Haku with everything that Brock has too. He then praised Brock as being one of the toughest and most competitive people and said that he can do pretty much anything he set’s his mind too, and feels that if he woke up tomorrow and wanted to be a starting quarter back in the NFL then he could and that he proved it when he went from being NCAA champion to the WWE, and then on to the UFC championship as well.

After this segment with Borash, the interview was taken up by one of the Triple M guys named Matt and he took an interview through the crowd for a Q& A session.

A member of the audience asked Kurt what he thought about NXT and guys like Chad Gable and Jason Jordan and how much they compare to Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). Angle said that he things both Chad and Jason are great athletes and have the potential to be every bit as good as a Shelton or a Charlie, and even better.

All in all it was a very entertaining evening and is the third such event I have attended ran by Triple M Promotions. I would highly recommend them to anyone in the UK as they are a fun evening with a lot to offer and on the evenings that I have personally attended like this one the Superstars are very open with answering any questions put to them. Triple M are also hosting evenings like this in March and April 2016 for both Ken Shamrock and Bret Hart respectively and they will also be hosting a wrestling event in Coalville, Leicestershire on Saturday April 23rd 2016 where Bret “Hitman” Hart will be a Special guest and the card will be headlined by ICW and TNA star Grado.

100% DIRECT LINK (PHOTOS): Triple H & Stephanie McMahon At The Gracie Academy! AWESOME PIX!!