Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 15, 2002 14:12:10 GMT -5
Kurt Angle Speaks On An Olympic Return, Brock Lesnar, more
The following are interview highlights with Kurt Angle. For the full interview go to USOlympicTeam.com:
QUESTION: How close are you to deciding on a comeback for 2004?
KURT ANGLE: I'm going to decide in January. Right now, if I were to say, yes or no, I'd say no because I'm so banged up from what I've been doing. But they're giving me some time off here; the WWE is actually encouraging me to go on and train for the Olympics. I'll have to see. Right now, I banged my knee up pretty badly and I have a back problem. In the next couple of months, if everything heals up, I'm going to go for it. Like I said, right now I'm not healthy enough to, so if I feel this way in January, I know I'm not going to be able to train the right way, so I probably won't do it. A lot of people think it's going to be impossible. A lot of athletes have been able to come out of retirement and make an impactful return, but wrestling is a little bit different. Wrestling is a very physical, brutal sport. To be older and to be out of it for a long time, it does make it a lot harder to comeback. You're competing against another wrestler that's younger, stronger, using new techniques that you've never seen before … the chance for injury becomes highly possible, especially during your training.
QUESTION: The current WWE champion is Brock Lesner. He was an amateur wrestler, but I don't think he ever went to the Olympics. What do you think is going to happen when you face Brock Lesner?
KURT ANGLE: The people, who've been watching the show, the one thing that they take notice to is, why haven't Kurt Angle and Brock Lesner touched. That's because that will be probably … in my mind and in many other people's minds … the biggest match-up ever. When you talk about a Rock-Stone Cold showdown, when you talk about a Hulk Hogan-Andre the Giant showdown … a Kurt Angle-Brock Lesner showdown is of that caliber except you're going to see a much better match then the other ones … and I'm not taking away anything from Rock and Stone Cold or Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan, but you're not only going to see a professional wrestling match, you're going to see a wrestling match that consists of amateur wrestling, pro wrestling. You're going to see the brutality. You're going to see two of the world's best athletes go at it - true, best athletes - so they're holding off on that. You're probably going to see something like that at something like, WrestleMania. There's a lot of curiosity from a lot of fans. And I'm more excited about that match than I am about guys like Chris Benoit and Edge and wrestling Rock and Stone Cold and Triple H and Undertaker … I've enjoyed wrestling all of those guys. But this one is going to be extra special because him and I come from the same roots. We were trained the same. We have the same beliefs. We have the same background, so this is going to be not just explosive, but very competitive. And I can't wait for that to happen, but then again I'm very patient because I know this is probably one of the biggest - if not the biggest - showdowns ever. We're going to have to hold this off for as long as we can.
The following are interview highlights with Kurt Angle. For the full interview go to USOlympicTeam.com:
QUESTION: How close are you to deciding on a comeback for 2004?
KURT ANGLE: I'm going to decide in January. Right now, if I were to say, yes or no, I'd say no because I'm so banged up from what I've been doing. But they're giving me some time off here; the WWE is actually encouraging me to go on and train for the Olympics. I'll have to see. Right now, I banged my knee up pretty badly and I have a back problem. In the next couple of months, if everything heals up, I'm going to go for it. Like I said, right now I'm not healthy enough to, so if I feel this way in January, I know I'm not going to be able to train the right way, so I probably won't do it. A lot of people think it's going to be impossible. A lot of athletes have been able to come out of retirement and make an impactful return, but wrestling is a little bit different. Wrestling is a very physical, brutal sport. To be older and to be out of it for a long time, it does make it a lot harder to comeback. You're competing against another wrestler that's younger, stronger, using new techniques that you've never seen before … the chance for injury becomes highly possible, especially during your training.
QUESTION: The current WWE champion is Brock Lesner. He was an amateur wrestler, but I don't think he ever went to the Olympics. What do you think is going to happen when you face Brock Lesner?
KURT ANGLE: The people, who've been watching the show, the one thing that they take notice to is, why haven't Kurt Angle and Brock Lesner touched. That's because that will be probably … in my mind and in many other people's minds … the biggest match-up ever. When you talk about a Rock-Stone Cold showdown, when you talk about a Hulk Hogan-Andre the Giant showdown … a Kurt Angle-Brock Lesner showdown is of that caliber except you're going to see a much better match then the other ones … and I'm not taking away anything from Rock and Stone Cold or Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan, but you're not only going to see a professional wrestling match, you're going to see a wrestling match that consists of amateur wrestling, pro wrestling. You're going to see the brutality. You're going to see two of the world's best athletes go at it - true, best athletes - so they're holding off on that. You're probably going to see something like that at something like, WrestleMania. There's a lot of curiosity from a lot of fans. And I'm more excited about that match than I am about guys like Chris Benoit and Edge and wrestling Rock and Stone Cold and Triple H and Undertaker … I've enjoyed wrestling all of those guys. But this one is going to be extra special because him and I come from the same roots. We were trained the same. We have the same beliefs. We have the same background, so this is going to be not just explosive, but very competitive. And I can't wait for that to happen, but then again I'm very patient because I know this is probably one of the biggest - if not the biggest - showdowns ever. We're going to have to hold this off for as long as we can.
