We recently had the privilege of conversing with Kurt Angle, Olympic Gold Medal winner and inductee of the WWE Hall of Fame.
In a wide-ranging discussion with comic Casey Salengo, Angle spoke on various subjects, including his relationships post-retirement and the advice from Pat Patterson regarding life post-wrestling.
Reflecting on the people Angle has remained in contact with following retirement:
“Well, I have my Team Angle. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. I speak with them fairly frequently. I have occasional touchpoints with the likes of Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Brock Lesnar. But there aren’t a lot of people I stay in touch with.”
Discussing Pat Patterson’s insights regarding life post retirement:
“I’ll share this with you. When you’re active in the industry, your family is on the road alongside you, because you spend more time on the road than at home. But once you finish with wrestling, once you call it quits, the contacts cease with those people. It’s truly quite sad, because these were your closest friends. They were akin to your family. And then when you leave, it all stops.
I underwent a period of depression when I exited. It wasn’t solely because I stopped wrestling, but because I lost those bonds. Adding to that, I had to deal with retirement, on top of losing contact with the friends I trusted most. It’s just the nature of the industry.
Pat Patterson mentioned this to me. He pointed out, ‘Kurt, once you’re finished with wrestling, I can assure you, you won’t maintain contacts.’ To which I replied, ‘That’s not true, Pat. I plan on staying connected with everyone!’ But his response was ‘No, you won’t. Mark my words.’ And I do remember his advice… and he was right.”
This marks the end of our report series featuring snippets from the interview. We appreciate your patience, and please keep an eye out for the complete interview, which we plan on releasing this weekend. If you’re sharing this content elsewhere, kindly acknowledge Casey Salengo and eWrestlingNews.com.