Kurt Angle – ‘Gable Steveson Is An Incredible Athlete’
In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Kurt Angle discussed Gable Steveson’s talent, his own WWE career, the damage done to his body throughout the years, and more.
Angle also wished he could still compete at this age. The Olympic Gold Medalist hung up his boots following his loss to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2017.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his thoughts on Gable Steveson in WWE: “First of all, he’s an incredible athlete. You know, he not only incredible on the mat wrestling, I mean, this kid, you know, he can do backflips. He’s really athletic, super athletic. And I think he’s gonna have a great future. I just don’t know how entertaining he’s gonna be. I know that he loves to talk, a lot of his friends that I talked to say he’s kind of a loudmouth, which is kind of good. Because you want to be able to, you don’t want to be shy when you’re in this. You know, I was a shy kid, and when I went to WWE, I had to learn how to suck it up and just go out there and put everything on the line. And it was really a hard transition for me. But I think Gable Stevenson will have the same thing. He’ll probably, you know, have to, you know, break that mould of being an amateur wrestler, because as an amateur wrestler, you show no emotion. You go out there and you focus and you wrestle and you go from the pen. It’s not like pro wrestling, we have to show people emotion. You have to show if you’re scared, or if you’re mad or if you’re, you know, excited. So there’s, there’s a lot. You have to have incredible charisma. And I think that Gable has that. I just don’t know how well he’s going to translate that when he starts talking. I do remember doing a pre-tape with him in Pittsburgh. And he did all right. You know, he didn’t do incredibly well. But he did well, that it was like, Okay, this kid. He has potential. I think he’s going to be pretty good. And so I expect him to have a great career. I don’t know if he’s going to have the career I had, but I think he could he could definitely.”
On thinking about a WWE return while working in TNA: “Yeah, I thought about it all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I really love TNA. The thing is, when I started thinking about going back to WWE, was when the money started running out, and people were getting let go, or people were getting laid off. And, you know, I signed my last contract with them. I think it was for five more years. And I figured you know what, after this contract is up, they probably won’t have the money to pay me because they were paying me seven figures, and it was a part-time deal. So I knew that they probably wouldn’t give me that money that I was making. So I figured you know what it’s time to think about going back to WWE. And I also want to go back because I wanted to go back for the fans and to thank them, the WWE Universe, because I had six and a half Incredible Years in WWE. And I wanted to go back and thank the fans personally and perform for them before I retired.”
On wrestling too long, his current quality of life: “I wish [I could still go]. You know what, my quality of life right now Chris isn’t so good. I had my knees replaced about a year ago, I had back surgery about four months ago, I have to have my shoulder replaced, and I still have another neck surgery coming up. That will be my fourth neck surgery. I really paid the price wrestling as long as I did. I wrestled amateur wrestling for 20 years and then pro for 20. And looking back, sometimes I regret maybe I should have retired five years earlier. Because you know, it comes to a point in time in your life where you’re older, and you want to play with your kids. And here I am having these surgeries, I can’t really do anything with them. I can’t pick them up. I can’t play with them. I can’t run with them. So it gets a little disgruntled thing that I’m not able to be the father that I want to be. And what I’m doing now is I’m having knee surgeries to have a better quality of life so I can play with them. And I just want to make it fast. Because these kids are growing up quickly. And I don’t want to miss it [I am in pain] Every day, every day, my back, my shoulder. My knees are good. My knees feel great. They recovered really well. I’m 100% with my knees. But my neck and my back and my shoulder. I have a lot of pain running all day long all night. So it’s something I just have to deal with until I have these surgeries and until I recuperate.”
On doing a moonsault off the top of the cage: “I am praying to God, I don’t get injured. I even did the cyclocross right before I went. Yeah, it’s scary, man. And you know what, I never practiced it before. My first Moonsault ever was on Bob Holly. And I broke his arm. I fell short because I never did it before and I never practiced so I didn’t know how far out I was gonna go. And I came up short my legs hit his arm, and broke his arm, right in half. And so never practicing it. You know, those aren’t the moves you want to practice. Because they’re the bumps are so hard. They’re ridiculous and hard. So that somebody’s just saying what the heck just go, you know, and hopefully you land properly.”
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