Kurt Angle says he did a lot of great work with Samoa Joe in TNA Wrestling, but does still feel like the company rushed their first feud with each other.
Kurt Angle spoke about his match with Samoa Joe at Turning Point 2006 on the latest episode of the Kurt Angle Show and explained how the rematch was approached. Angle and Joe first squared off at TNA Genesis in November of 2006, then the highly-anticipated rematch took place just a month later at Turning Point.
Angle spoke about not only being the man to end Samoa Joe’s undefeated streak in TNA, but also what the plan was and if he agreed with the decision at the time.
“No, but it was a no-brainer. I mean I did beat Joe and end his undefeated streak, and I had to return the favor. So you know, Joe needed, even though he was built up pretty strongly in TNA with his undefeated streak, I did defeat him, and that might have hurt his credibility a little bit. Not getting beat by a big star from WWE, but knowing that he did lose and he would have to gain a win back on me in order to have more credibility. And I was all for that.”
“I agreed with it because somebody had to beat Joe, somebody had to end his undefeated streak. And it was going on for quite a long time. And even Joe was relieved after I beat him because you know, having the undefeated streak, Joe told me that they were finding excuses, like he would get DQ’d and they wouldn’t count it as a loss when they were trying to protect the other wrestler. So he was like, ‘Listen, I didn’t really, I’m not really undefeated because I did lose by DQ, I just never got pinned or submitted. And I couldn’t wait for my undefeated streak to come to an end.’ And I totally understood why.”
Angle offered praise for Joe, crediting him for what he achieved, but said he felt like their feud was rushed in a way and wished things had a bit more of a slow build.
“I think so. I think it was rushed. I think we coulda done it for several months. We coulda spaced it out, let the fans digest the finish of every match and move on and continue the storyline, and move forward. But we jammed it all into three weeks and it was really fast.”
“I think they just got excited and they thought, you know, since the pay-per-view and Joe and I did so well, and had the record pay-per-view buys, she, I think that TNA felt that they needed to keep doing it…and shotgun it, you know, just have Joe and I keep grappling and wrestling each other. And you know, three times in three weeks was just ridiculous.”
Kurt Angle also spoke about being the heel in the feud, noting that he was in a position to make Samoa Joe a bigger babyface being playing the heel, and he was doing the job that TNA asked him to do.
Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle would go on to face each other many more times on live events and on pay-per-view, including at Lockdown 2008 when Joe beat Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Title in a steel cage match.
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