Kurt Angle On What It Would Take For Brock Lesnar To Jump To AEW, Training With Mike Tyson

Wrestling Inc. – Kurt Angle Interview

Conducted by Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman

Audio Link – https://audioboom.com/posts/7676612-wwe-s-third-party-crackdown-matt-hardy-aew-all-out-controversy-feat-kurt-angle

On Brock Lesnar becoming a free agent and the possibility he jumped to AEW

I don’t know. I don’t know what transpired. Something had to have happened because I heard they pulled all this merchandise off the shelves. So it’s not just Brock not having a contract and not knowing where he wants to go. The company, obviously, they’re not going to let him go. Brock’s pretty level headed. He doesn’t get in any trouble. So there’s no reason to fire the kid. He’s a tremendous athlete, a tremendous employee. So I think Brock just got tired of doing it.

I don’t know. I don’t know if he wants to fight again. I don’t know if you want to go to another company. I cannot see him going to another company, unless Tony Khan wants to pay him $10-20 million. I don’t know, but you never know, but I think Brock should just end his career in WWE. I mean the way they treat him and the way he gets paid, I don’t know why he’d not want to just stay. It’s really up to him, but I think he wants to fight. I think that’s the reason.

On Brock Lesnar possibly returning to UFC:

Brock’s told me that several times that’s who he wants. So if it happens, it happens, but I think that might be the only way to get Brock to fight. I think he just wants Jones, but I just talked to my buddy Vitor Belfort, just did a photo shoot with him a couple days ago. We’re both ambassadors for Smart Cups… But Vitor wants to fight Brock.

On recently training with Mike Tyson:

We were shooting a commercial and some ads for Smart Cups, Mike. Tyson is also an ambassador. I’m not sure if he owns it too. He might be part owner. I don’t know. All I know is they wanted all the athletes to come to Mike Tyson’s ranch in California and shoot a commercial and do some ads, and Mike was one of them. I was one of them. Henry Cejudo [and] Cody Jubrant, but he had coronavirus so he couldn’t come. Also Vitor Belfort and Chavo Guerrero so we all got together and we did the ads and the commercial and got to train with Mike and watch them train, and it was a lot of fun.

I bet Mike one other time. We did an autograph signing together, and he’s a very humble and generous guy. If you don’t know Mike, don’t put a label on him because the guys are sweetheart, and he’s the kindest guy I’ve ever met. I’m not BS-ing you. He’s very genuine, and he’s very smart, very canny. And I learned a lot from him watching him train. He’s a very smart guy, very smart.

He’s in better shape now than he’s ever been. What he did is he surrounded himself with doctors, trainers and advisors. I actually joked with him. I walked in, he’s like, ‘Kurt you look like you’re stiff in your neck and your back.’ I said, ‘I am. My neck’s always killing me.’ He goes, ‘here, I’m going to have you do my therapy session.’ He actually gave me his therapy session. It’s an hour long. He had me go through it, and I mean I felt like I was 20 years old again when I was done.

It’s stretching and massaging and altogether all one, and Mike does this every day before he trains and he looks great. His body looks like it was when he was 20, and he’s punching hard. He’s quick, very technical. I think he’s going to do really well, and hey, Roy Jones Jr., he’s been fighting actively anyway, so the guys a stud too so it’s going to be a great fight, but Mike is ready for this.

This isn’t 43-year-old Mike Tyson that wasn’t training, and this is what he told me. He said when he was fighting in his 40s, he wasn’t looking forward to the fight. He couldn’t wait until it was over so he could get drunk and hang out with the girls. That was his mentality. He didn’t want to fight. He was doing it for the money, and he wanted to get it done and go to the parties, and he’s not like that now.

He’s back to the old Mike Tyson, and I asked him, ‘why didn’t you do all this therapy back then?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. I’m an idiot. I didn’t take care of my body.’ So long story short, he’s ready now. He’s really ready.