TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle spoke with The Mirror out of the UK to promote the newly announced Maximum Impact 8 tour in early 2016.
“It’s always great going over there – we’ve have our best crowds in recent years and we’ve had our best matches in the UK. We treat it as if it were our WrestleMania. We always try and put on our best shows over there and we get a great reaction from the crowd, which looks great on TV. I wish we could come back more often but at this point once a year is all we can do.”
Angle touched briefly on Bobby Lashley, who has been both his opponent and partner in recent months, claiming that he “got Bobby into pro wrestling” in the early 2000s.
When asked about a possible return to WWE, prior to making the decision to wrap up his career in TNA, Angle said it was an easy decision.
“You know what, when it came down to it, I talked to both companies and it was an easy decision. From every perspective, from amount of dates, to the amount of money, to the amount of interest, it wasn’t a hard decision – TNA trumped the WWE. And for whatever reason, maybe the WWE didn’t think I could still go, maybe they just wanted to start grooming younger talent, although they’ve obviously hired Sting, brought in Batista and brought guys back like Jericho… I don’t know the full story, it could be anything, but when it came down to it I had my options open. I never said I was going to leave TNA and I never said I wouldn’t go back to WWE, but when I looked at the best scenario for me, hands down it was TNA.”
Check out Kurt Angle’s entire interview with The Mirror for more, including thoughts on his time as TNA executive director, alleged heat with Vince McMahon and/or Triple H, and more.
