Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 23:09
Awesome.
Andrew Gottlieb: 23:11
So, Kurt, if you couldn’t tell with my background, with my WWE Championship, my Austin 316 shirt on today. Being a Pittsburgh kid, I’ve admired you since elementary school. You know, that’s all everyone talked about attitude era, fourth grade I remember, you know, Kurt Angle back then. And I’ve been doing a lot of research for this. And what’s been really impressive for me is just the vulnerability and humility I hear from you.
It’s someone who I can tell has a lot of wisdom. And there was a moment that I would love for you to share a little bit more. What I, I think in hindsight, was a really humbling moment for you and want to dive a little bit deeper into why you decided to pursue this. So I might have some of these facts wrong, but for my understanding, you were offered $1 million plus deal with WWE. You turned it down, you went into broadcasting, you didn’t like it after a year, and you thought, all right, I’m going to go back to Vince and try to get that lucrative contract.
And they essentially said, no, you get to start from the bottom and work your way up. Can you share a little bit more about, you know, the humility that took to start from the ground?
Kurt Angle: 24:16
Okay. I do want to tell you another reason why I didn’t join the WWE. And I never told anybody this before. When I went up to visit Vince McMahon, he offered me a contract. It was a multi-million dollar deal ordeal and they put it in front of my face and I never saw money at all.
Regardless or even this, you know, this was huge money. And I was like, wow. This is crazy. I’m you know, he doesn’t even know if I’m going to be a good pro wrestler. But he took the chance.
And so I said, Vince, I’m not sure I want to sign this guy. I take it home and think about it. He said, yeah, take it home and think about it. Talk to your family, see if you want to do it. If you decide to do it, sign it and send it back.
So I went home and talked to my brothers and they said, you’re not doing that crap. You’re the real deal. You’re the real wrestler. You’re an Olympic gold medalist. That’s fake. That’s pretend. So I talked to my coaches too, and they said the same thing. You have to realize back in the 90s, amateur wrestling was taking a back seat to pro wrestling. So if someone asked me what I did for a living, I’d say I’m a wrestler. They’d say, oh, one of those wrestlers on TV.
I’d be like, no, you idiot, I’m a real wrestler, an Olympic wrestler. So we were taking the back seat to pro wrestling. We were always told, don’t watch it, don’t affiliate with it, stay away from it. So when Vince offered me this contract, I went to my brothers and they said, you’re not doing it. My coach said, you’re not doing it.
So I turned it down. I threw it away. But the crazy thing is when I talked to sportscasting job, and I’ll get back to that in a second. After I did the sportscasting, WWE came out of the closet and said, we’re no longer sport, we’re sports entertainment. And that meant that Vince de-legitimized wrestling.
He’s basically saying wrestling’s fake. It’s predetermined. So my brother said, hey, you heard what Vince McMahon said. I was like, what? He said, oh, they said it’s fake, so you could do it now.
They admitted they’re fake. So I was like, okay, I’ll call the WWE. And this is after I did a stint as a broadcaster, sports broadcaster, and it didn’t work out very well. But I’ll get back to that in a second too, because I want to continue on with Vince. So I called the WWE and I asked if that contract still stood from 1996 and Jim Ross was on the phone with me.
He said, no, but you can come up and try out. And I figured nothing in my life’s ever come easy. I’ll go up and try out or I’ll go up and work for it. So I went up and tried out.
After the first day I picked up on everything so quickly they offered me a contract. It was a $75,000 contract a year. Horrible because you have to remember as a wrestler, you travel 300 days a year and they pay for your flights, but they don’t pay for your rental car, your hotel, or your food or tolls. So 75 grand doesn’t go a very long way. So I ended up signing a contract and within seven months of training, I ended up on TV and it was really quick and I wasn’t ready for TV either.
But Vince McMahon said, I’m going to give you an opportunity. You either sink or swim. So the first night he wanted me to cut a promo and have a wrestling match, and we didn’t have NXT back then, so we had no way of preparing for TV, so I never I cut one promo in Memphis when I was training down there and it was horrible. So Vince is telling me I’m going to cut a promo in my debut, and I’m like, Vince, I’m. I suck at promos, I can’t cut promos.
He said, listen, I’m going to give you a chance. You either sink or swim. It’s up to you. So I he starts telling me the promo. He didn’t write it down for me to memorize it.
He said, I’m going to tell you the promo once. I want you to go out there and perform it. So he starts telling me the promo and I’m listening, and he’s going on for three minutes and I’m like, Holy crap, this is a long promo. And he keeps talking. And I stopped listening.
I’m like, oh my God, this is too much. So he talks for like six minutes and he gets done. He says, all right, I want you to go out there and perform that promo. I said, Vince, I’m sorry, but I didn’t hear a word you said. Could you repeat it?
He said, I’m going to tell you one more time. You either sink or swim. It’s up to you. So I went up out there and I got about 80% of it, right? And he said, you know what?
I can work with this kid. This kid has ability. So he starts having me cut promos every week. And every week they’re getting longer and longer. I’m getting better and better at them.
I started mastering promos. I became one of the best in the business at cutting promos. And that’s because Vince brought me out of my comfort zone. If he wouldn’t have done that for me, I would have never learned how to cut promos and did what I did. So it was crazy.
But I’ll go back to the sportscasting job and I’ll tell you. What happened was when I brought my contract back home, my brother said not to do it. I went to my agent and I asked him as well. I said, do you think I should do that? And he was a former amateur wrestler.
So he said, no, you’re not doing that crap. I’ll get you a job. It’ll be a sportscasting job. So he got me a sportscasting job for Fox in Pittsburgh and I. It was a startup station, so I didn’t train for it.
I wasn’t I never got in a studio and learned how to read from a teleprompter and read from my notes, my script. So my first night on the air, I was going to anchor the sports. I was the weekend sports anchor. And so I run into the studio, I have my scripts in my hand. They’re all in order, and I run in and I run into the producer and the scripts go up in the air and they fly all over the place.
So now I’m picking them up and they’re all out of order. And the producer says, get to the desk, hurry up. We’re going to start the angle on sports. That’s what they called it, the angle on sports. So I get behind the desk and I look up and I’m looking at the teleprompter, and I have an earpiece in my ear so my producer could talk to me, and it says, time for the angle on sports.
And I look up and my teleprompter goes blank. So I’m not saying anything. I’m waiting for the teleprompter and there’s nothing on it. So I’m like I’m waiting for like 30 40s my producer says, Kurt, say something, say anything. You got to say something.
And I was like, I remember that. The first one was about the Steelers. I said, The Steelers had a game today. Let’s go to the highlights. So I go to the highlights and I don’t know the player’s name.
So I’m like there’s number 63 with a tackle. And this here’s a here’s the quarterback throwing the pass to receiver for the touchdown. So then they, I, I ended up because my scripts were out of order. I didn’t know what the next story was. So I had to guess.
And I was like no. And now next is baseball. And it ends up being golf. And this happens for the whole eight minutes. I’m guessing the wrong story each time a new story pops up.
After eight minutes, my scripts are everywhere. My two co-anchors are next to me. We all look like we just had sex because we looked exhausted. We’re looking through the scripts, trying to get the right scripts. It was the longest session, eight minute session I’ve ever been a part of and it was a disaster.
And that was my first night on the air. And that’s how my sportscasting job literally ended. I mean, I it was it never got better. So it was the worst experience of my life and I couldn’t wait to leave. So as you can imagine, I couldn’t wait to get to the WWE.
Andrew Gottlieb: 32:03
You were no Bob Pompeani started.
Kurt Angle: 32:05
No, no, I wasn’t even close to Bob. Yeah, you know what? I used to see him at events and he would help me out. He would like, you know, hey, do this and do that. And for you, you know, act more comfortable in front of the camera, you know, say this, say that.
So I always had Andrew Stockey and Bob Pompeani. The guys that were I was competing against, they were always helping me out there trying to make me a better person or a better sportscaster.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 32:31
Kurt. So there’s a New Jersey police officer, Daniel Novoa, who had a question. It’s one of our team members’ husbands who’s a huge fan of yours. So he said you’d be coming on. And he along those lines of what you were talking about, he wanted to know, you know, obviously you’re one of the few people who did it all from the technical wrestling and the entertainment side.
You know, he wanted to know how you hone the entertainment factor, right? What were some of the things you did? Because like you said in the beginning, you’re like, I couldn’t cut a promo. And we were talking about even 30 people with 30 or 40 years’ experience who can’t cut a great promo. So what did you do to hone that entertainment factor?
Kurt Angle: 33:11
You know what? It was something that Vince McMahon said to me. And, you know, because I made an ass out of myself quite a bit. I became like the butt of a joke. And I did a lot of comedy in WWE and the reason why I was able to do that is because not a lot of other wrestlers were willing to put themselves out there like that, because if you take the comedy approach, fans aren’t going to take you seriously as a wrestler.
But what Vince McMahon told me was, listen, you’re an Olympic gold medalist. Everybody in the world knows you’re a badass so you can make an ass out of yourself all you want. It’s not going to matter because when you go out there and wrestle, they’re going to take you seriously. So when I heard that, I was like, you know what? I’ll relax a little bit.
I’ll let the, you know, I’ll let my personality come out, you know, show a lot of charisma, be funnier. And I took like the dope approach, you know, like the airheaded approach to it, The gullible approach, where I was doing vignettes with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon, and we really did some funny skits, and we had a lot of fun doing it. And the reason why we even started doing it is because Stone Cold Steve Austin and myself, we were both injured. I broke my tailbone and Stone Cold Steve Austin hurt his back at a pay-per-view, and we were the two top guys in the business at the time, and Vince McMahon didn’t want us to sit at home. So he said, you know what?
I’m going to have these guys do some comedy bits so that we can keep them on TV. So we were doing the comedy bits and they were hilarious. I mean, and so because of, because Vince McMahon told me that, you know, I was a badass in real life, that it wouldn’t matter how funny I was, the fans would still take me seriously. I was able to let myself go and do some, you know, really I, you know, comedic stuff. And so because of that, it made it easier on me.
But there was a certain point in time where Vince was like, listen, now you’re, you’re too you’re too comical. We need to change your character to the wrestling machine so that’s when I made that transition from comedy to serious. And so Vince had me do all different facets. And I think because of that, it made me look like I was the most well-versed wrestler, one of them in history. You know, I could do comedy, I could do seriousness, you know, drama, I could do whatever.
So I became really well-versed at everything. And I think that Vince made me a better sports entertainer because of it.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 36:09
This is definitely one of my favorites on your photo page right here. Yeah.
Kurt Angle: 36:14
The milk truck that was that was my favorite moment. I, was so excited that night because, you know, like 3 or 4 years before this Stone Cold Steve Austin came out with a beer truck and sprayed down Vince McMahon with beer. And that night, four years later, I got to bring a milk truck out and spray Stone Cold Steve Austin down with beer or with milk. And it was it was the greatest moment of my wrestling career. I absolutely loved that moment.
I love that it was in Sacramento, California. That milk truck is from the 1950s and it was such a great moment for me.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 36:50
You can’t even see your face. It’s amazing.
Kurt Angle: 36:53
Yo, hey, I’ll tell you a quick story. You guys are gonna love this. So I’m wearing that. Those clothes. Right?
Well, I had a red eye that night, and this show was. It ended up going off air two hours before my red eye. So I didn’t have the chance to change. I had to wear those clothes in the airport.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 37:17
The person sitting next.
Kurt Angle: 37:18
To you with. Yeah. And two hours into the plane trip, the whole plane starts smelling like sour milk. And people are like, who the hell stinks like that? And I’m like, oh, my God, I put my hands on my face.
It was so bad. I smelled like spoiled milk the whole trip home.
Andrew Gottlieb: 37:39
Kurt, speaking of a serious moment, and I want to make sure as well my best man for my wedding had a question. So serious moment when you debuted in TNA and you headbutted Samoa Joe? Yeah, that was in 2006. To this day, I still watch that video when I’m trying to get jacked up for meetings and I need to get into a zone. I just watch you do that.
It’s just an amazing moment. So thank you for that. You know, almost 20 years later and I have to make sure bestman for my wedding, Dan Schimmel, we started watching professional wrestling. Fourth grade. He came to WrestleMania with me for my bachelor party.
Pittsburgh kid as well. He wanted to know how did Pittsburgh make you a better man and a father?
Kurt Angle: 38:24
Oh, God. You know, Pittsburgh is you’re growing up in Pittsburgh. You know, everybody was in the sports, you know, because we were the City of Champions. You know, my dad was into sports. He played football.
All my brothers played football and wrestled. Being from Pittsburgh, you had a certain pride about you. And, you know, we weren’t just a City of champions. We were also, you know, a labor city. So we were a blue collar town.
And we took a lot of pride in that, too. And so if you’re from Pittsburgh, you know, you were considered a tough guy, a badass. And that’s how we carried ourselves. And, you know, my brothers, I’m not going to lie to you. They got in a lot of trouble as kids.
They got in a lot of fights and, you know, they gave my parents, you know, they gave them a lot of stress. And, you know, my even my brother Mark, at one point in time, he was only in eighth grade. And he was getting in so many fights that he ended up being thrown into juvenile delinquent center for two years, and he actually beat up two cops. He was only in eighth grade. He was a real badass.
And that’s what people when people think of Pittsburgh, they think of tough guys. They think of, you know, great athletes, the City of Champions, the labor city, blue-collar city. So, you know, I take a lot of pride in that. You know, I was never a blue-collar worker, but I trained like it. And that that’s where I got my work ethic from is from my dad and my brothers. So Pittsburgh was is known for being very high on work ethic.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 40:19
Kurt. I’d love to hear. I know we have a few more minutes. Just some of the wrestlers you admire and what you learned from them from Brock Lesnar, the Rock. Just name a few and maybe a lesson you learned.
Kurt Angle: 40:32
You know what? I learned a lot from the Rock. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Undertaker. These guys were the ones that were carrying me through my matches. I’ll tell you this.
My rookie year. Now, granted, I only trained for seven months before I started on TV. So I wasn’t ready. And I’ll tell you why I wasn’t ready. I could barely structure a six-minute match at this point in time in my career, and I barely knew psychology.
Do you guys know what psychology is in wrestling?
Andrew Gottlieb: 41:07
I do.
Kurt Angle: 41:09
Okay. I’ll explain it to you in an easy detail. It’s good guy versus bad guy.
Good guy. Out wrestles the bad guy. The bad guy cheats and gets the good guy down for the heat. The good guy makes a comeback. The bad guy cheats and wins.
Or the good guy overcomes the cheating and wins. So that’s psychology. And I barely knew that at this point in my career. So what my opponents had to do for me is structure the whole entire match before the match started. And then they had to call the whole entire match in the ring so I wouldn’t forget any spots.
And I did this for about a year, even when the Rock beat, when I beat the Rock for the World Championship, ten months into my rookie year, he structured the match for me and called the whole entire match in the ring so I wouldn’t forget any spots. And I did this for about a year. But I became such a good listener and a good follower that I then became a good leader. And I started structuring the matches and I started leading the matches and within two years in the business because of guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, the Rock, Undertaker, them teaching me I became the best in the business two years into the business, just two years, and I was considered the best in the business because these guys showed me the ropes. They cared enough about me.
And you have to remember, wrestling is about yourself. It’s not about sharing with others. But they did that for me because they like me, because I was humble, I had humility, I showed them respect. I didn’t walk in there saying, hey, I’m an Olympic gold medalist. I’m better than everybody else here.
I let them know I’m at their level and, you know, and it didn’t matter whether I won or lost, as long as we put on the best possible product. That’s all I cared about. And they knew that. And because of that, they liked me. I’ll tell you something about the business.
If you don’t get along with the boys and the girls in the locker room, you’re not going to have a very long business. You’re not going to have a very long career. It’s just not going to happen. So you, you know, you have to get along with everybody. If you don’t then, you know, your career is going to be relatively short.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 43:20
Kurt I just want to be the first one. Thank you. Thanks for sharing your journey, your lessons. And everyone can check out fundraising for USA wrestling Kurt Angle org check out project one Nutrition and you can check out his website Kurt Angle Brand.com, which we’ve been on if you’ve been watching the video. Kurt, thank you so much.
Kurt Angle: 43:43
Thanks guys. I had a lot of fun today. Thanks for having me on.
Andrew Gottlieb: 43:47
Thank you Kurt.
Kurt Angle: 43:48
Thanks man.
