WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle spoke with The Takedown on SI.com on a number of topics, including the people in his era who could get million-dollar guarantees.
Angle said, “Back then, there were only a handful of people — Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, a couple other guys, me — we were the only ones that had million-dollar guarantees.”
On his first contract offer from WWE:
“So, I called the WWE and I asked if that contract from 1996 still stood, and they said ‘No, but you can come up and try out. They offered me a contract, but the contract was only $75,000 a year, and let me tell you, that’s not a good contract.”
On not understanding how to sell merchandise:
“I was horrible at it [selling merch], I didn’t come up with ideas, I wish I would have! You know, Stone Cold Steve Austin was great at it, he got it right away. He said ‘I’m going to make a character and I’m gonna make a lot of money with this character.”
On his mindset when he came into the wrestling business:
“I didn’t come in with a business mindset, and I should have. I should have had a better business mind when I started, because I could have made a lot more money, definitely sold a lot more merchandise!”
You can check out Angle’s comments in the video below.
