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Kurt Angle spoke with The Sun about a few topics related to TNA’s upcoming UK Tour.
On Team GB's Olympic Gold Medalists:
“I’d love to meet them. They have an open invitation to join me in the ring or come backstage and meet everyone. I’m sure all the guys would be honoured to meet them. We would throw a special Olympic party. Who knows, we might try to do something with me and them on TV to kind of parlay it. That would be great for the athletes, great for Britain and great for me, too.
"I’m proud to be called a hero for winning an Olympic gold medal and I know what effort it takes to gain that honour. I saw Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis win in their athletics events. They are great athletes and have great characters. Who knows, we might be able to make great wrestlers out of them!”
On his health after an injury-filled year:
"I’m 100 percent now. The Olympic training took a lot out of my body. It wore me out. I was trying to train full-time and wrestle professionally full-time. It was too much at my age. It’s OK. I have one gold medal but it would have been nice to do it again. My wrestling was great but trying to wrestle for TNA at the same time was literally impossible.
“I think I had five injuries in 11 months. It was just heartbreaking. But it’s OK. I’m doing what I love to do right now and I have no bad feelings about it. Everything worked out.”
On performing in front of the British crowds:
“They are amazing crowds. I love going over there. Last year, because of my Olympic training, they didn’t have me wrestle. They had me written off the shows because they didn’t want me to get hurt while I was training. But this year I will definitely be there and I will definitely be wrestling.
“It’s going to be a different scene this year. Last year was last minute notice and we did the best with what we had. The crowd made up for it and we didn’t skip a beat. We love wrestling in front of the great British crowds. Britain is the country we can rely on to know we have a lot of great fans. Going over there, the wrestlers aren’t upset. No one is like ‘oh darn, I have to go to England’, they’re just as excited as the fans. They love going over there.”
On the British Boot Camp contestants and other British wrestlers in TNA:
“They came over and did some stuff at an Impact taping and they were really good. I think these guys have the ability to make it.
"With the girls, I saw that they had the mechanics, the technique and were very talented. They just need to tighten a bit as far as fitness is concerned. They need to get their bodies a little harder and in better shape. Not that they were in bad shape, they looked good, but when you are in that ring, you need to look great. Other than that, I thought the girls did a phenomenal job and worked with some of our best. I thought that was pretty impressive.
“The guys looked good, too. I think that TNA as a whole might have dropped the ball a little bit with Doug Williams and Magnus, when you look at the talent they have. I hope they don’t do the same with these guys.
“They are starting to use Magnus and I believe they have big plans for him. But the reason I thought they might have dropped the ball is because he was so young when he started. They might have thought ‘he’s just a baby, we can wait’ but four years later he’s still only 25. I think Magnus is ready to explode.
“With these guys, I think that with our fan base in England, we can never have too many British wrestlers. The more the better.”
On Team GB's Olympic Gold Medalists:
“I’d love to meet them. They have an open invitation to join me in the ring or come backstage and meet everyone. I’m sure all the guys would be honoured to meet them. We would throw a special Olympic party. Who knows, we might try to do something with me and them on TV to kind of parlay it. That would be great for the athletes, great for Britain and great for me, too.
"I’m proud to be called a hero for winning an Olympic gold medal and I know what effort it takes to gain that honour. I saw Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis win in their athletics events. They are great athletes and have great characters. Who knows, we might be able to make great wrestlers out of them!”
On his health after an injury-filled year:
"I’m 100 percent now. The Olympic training took a lot out of my body. It wore me out. I was trying to train full-time and wrestle professionally full-time. It was too much at my age. It’s OK. I have one gold medal but it would have been nice to do it again. My wrestling was great but trying to wrestle for TNA at the same time was literally impossible.
“I think I had five injuries in 11 months. It was just heartbreaking. But it’s OK. I’m doing what I love to do right now and I have no bad feelings about it. Everything worked out.”
On performing in front of the British crowds:
“They are amazing crowds. I love going over there. Last year, because of my Olympic training, they didn’t have me wrestle. They had me written off the shows because they didn’t want me to get hurt while I was training. But this year I will definitely be there and I will definitely be wrestling.
“It’s going to be a different scene this year. Last year was last minute notice and we did the best with what we had. The crowd made up for it and we didn’t skip a beat. We love wrestling in front of the great British crowds. Britain is the country we can rely on to know we have a lot of great fans. Going over there, the wrestlers aren’t upset. No one is like ‘oh darn, I have to go to England’, they’re just as excited as the fans. They love going over there.”
On the British Boot Camp contestants and other British wrestlers in TNA:
“They came over and did some stuff at an Impact taping and they were really good. I think these guys have the ability to make it.
"With the girls, I saw that they had the mechanics, the technique and were very talented. They just need to tighten a bit as far as fitness is concerned. They need to get their bodies a little harder and in better shape. Not that they were in bad shape, they looked good, but when you are in that ring, you need to look great. Other than that, I thought the girls did a phenomenal job and worked with some of our best. I thought that was pretty impressive.
“The guys looked good, too. I think that TNA as a whole might have dropped the ball a little bit with Doug Williams and Magnus, when you look at the talent they have. I hope they don’t do the same with these guys.
“They are starting to use Magnus and I believe they have big plans for him. But the reason I thought they might have dropped the ball is because he was so young when he started. They might have thought ‘he’s just a baby, we can wait’ but four years later he’s still only 25. I think Magnus is ready to explode.
“With these guys, I think that with our fan base in England, we can never have too many British wrestlers. The more the better.”