In yet another interview with SLAM Wrestling, this time with Kurt Angle instead of Angelina Love, Angle offered up his view on TNA’s status in the community. Kurt Angle however was openly critical of TNA and how they are “going overboard” on the number of gimmick matches the company holds. “I believe pay-per-view matches should be straight up, one-on-one,” Angle said. “One on one, or tag on tag, nobody else involved, no run-ins, no gimmicks. I feel TNA sometimes thinks we’re being innovative by having matches that are gimmicks.”

Angle then gives us a few examples. “Like on one pay-per-view, we had a cage match with weapons, and a Last Man Standing match, and a New Jersey Street Fight. We don’t need to have gimmick matches. We have the talent to have great wrestling matches. That’s why we are different than WWE. We have amazing wrestlers that can put on incredible matches.”

Angle believes TNA will one day be on the same level as WWE. “But within four to six years, we will be comparable to them as far as ratings. As far as value of the company, we’re getting there. If, God forbid, Jeff and Mrs. Carter wanted to sell the company right now, it’s worth a lot of money. I think eventually the company will be almost every bit as valuable as WWE.”

Angle also talks about differences between WWE & TNA, TNA’s growth, and more. All in all, it’s actually a really good interview which can be read in its entirety here.

EagleTribune interviewed TNA Champion Kurt Angle this week. One of the (few) notable parts of the interview was Kurt Angle reminiscing about defeating John Cena in Cena’s 1st televised WWE match:

“I remember he was really green,” Angle said about Cena’s first match. “He was really nervous that first night. My job that night was to make him look good. I was going to win, because I was the established guy and the company thought I needed to keep that momentum, but I wanted to make John look good. I set it up with him so I would win, but he would look better than me. He kicked out of my finisher, and I won with a quick pin.”

Kurt Angle went on by praising Cena, recognizing his natural ability and even his work ethic. “I knew John would be special. I give him a lot of credit; he works so hard at it. He’s a great kid, and when I worked him, we were on TV every week, but my job was to teach him, and he was a great learner. He’s one of the guys in the WWE I still really respect. I’m proud of him, and I’m proud to say I helped him a little bit.”

The UK Sun Newspaper interviewed Kurt Angle last week and it’s a great interview! Angle talked about his chilling encounter with Chris Benoit about 1 year before the tragedy and had some serious words for Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. Here some of the best parts:

Kurt Angle about Triple H: Burying him backstage when people cheered Kurt over John Cena: “Triple H obviously wanted to bash me because I was a better wrestler than him and I deserved to be in the spot that he was in but he was never going to give up, he’s Vince’s son-in-law. I had to deal with that stuff all the time.
I’d wrestle Shawn Michaels and I’d get a little rough with him, then I’d get heat from Vince McMahon because I beat up on Shawn too much So I’m like: ‘Well you know what, I’m tired of the two long-haired sissies. If they can’t go up against me then don’t put them up against me.”

Kurt Angle about Vince McMahon: “TNA is where I want to be and I’m happy where I am. Vince McMahon can kiss my *ss.”

Kurt Angle about Chris Benoit: “About a year before what happened I was talking to Chris – and they (WWE) were kind of running him ragged – and he pulled me aside and said: ‘Listen, I’m ready to snap.’ And I could see it in his face, it wasn’t like a normal:
‘I’m ready to snap, I’m really run down.’ He was looking at me real intense like he was going to kill me. He got some time off but when he came back they ran him ragged him again and he ended up getting concussion, brain damage and somewhere along the line he did snap. But everybody wants to blame it on WWE and Vince McMahon – and it’s really not their fault.”

As for Kurt’s move to TNA when he first arrived: “When I stepped in, what I saw were a bunch of good wrestlers flying around the ring. Nobody really cared about them. That’s the philosophy and psychology I’ve been trying to teach these wrestlers. We need to build characters.”

If you want, you can download the entire interview here.