Kurt Angle opens up about his relationship with Vince, reason for leaving, Rollins injury and more
Kurt Angle’s wrestling future has all been ruled out by the man himself – as he plans on taking a break from in-ring activity after his current contract with TNA expires.
The Olympic gold medallist, though, has been a prominent part of Bellator MMA’s activities as he was heavily featured on the Bellator 145 show. Kurt has been on a promotion spree for the same and stopped by at 105.7 The Point for an interview. He was asked about how it was to be working with Vince, Rollins’s injury and his reason for leaving.
Below are the excerpts:
On working with Vince McMahon
It is a known fact that Vince is a very demanding personality that pushes every star to their limits as he sets the bar of expectations really high. Kurt reasserts that fact and said that it was tough working for his former boss.
“If you're going to be his guy, and I was for 4-5 years, he expects a lot out of you. That's the reason I left. We're talking over 300 days a year. He wanted me to continue to go full time and I couldn't. I literally broke my neck four times in a two and a half year span, and I just kept rushing back for him," Kurt said.
On Rollins’ injury and whether WWE will push him for a premature return
Angle shot down the idea of an early Rollins return as he pointed out that WWE’s Wellness Policy is something that they strictly adhere too.
He said, “The WWE went public about 14 years ago, and started really implementing the Wellness Policy around 2006-2007, around the time that I left. They won't even let Seth Rollins step into a ring until he's 100 percent healthy.”
He was of the opinion that they wouldn’t even let Rollins enter the ring to drop the belt – which wasn’t the case during his days. “I had a broken neck and I had to drop it to Brock Lesnar in a match at WrestleMania. That was okay back then. Today they wouldn't do it," said Angle.
On Vince not wanting Kurt to wrestle with a broken neck against Lesnar at WrestleMania
Vince was against the idea of Kurt wrestling at WrestleMania, according to Kurt and said that another plan was in the works with regards to him dropping the title to Lesnar.
"We knew I was going to have surgery, and were going to cancel the WrestleMania match and have a 30-second match on TV the week prior to drop the title to Brock Lesnar,” Kurt divulged.
By stating the reason to go ahead with the match, he added, “I was over at my neighbor's house, and his child with down syndrome showed me the DirecTV magazine cover and was all excited to see me wrestle. I literally looked at him and started crying. I called Vince and said I'd do it. Back then it was fine. It won't happen anymore. I respect Vince for that."
To listen to the complete interview click on this link.