Is/Was TNA Holding Kurt Angle Back From the Mainstream?

[CM Steel]

In the spirit of the '12 summer olympics, I had to type a thread about olympic gold metalist from the '96 Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle was trained for pro wrestling by WWE hall of famer Dory Funk Jr. And has made a name for himself in the WWF/E. But now Kurt Angle has been in TNA wrestling for 6 years now constintly winning the TNA world title.

Many feel that Kurt Angle is a big fish in a small pond that is TNA/Impact wrestling. Angle claims that his now ex-wife Karen Angle-Jarrett demanded that Kurt quit the WWE due to his health on a full-time schedule. Beginning his quest in TNA. Where Kurt Angle has been slightly below the media radar.

Yeah Kurt Angle has starred in a few movies. And is still a name in olympic style wrestling. And at 42 years-old, Kurt Angle is the face of TNA/Impact wrestling. But what if Kurt Angle would have stayed in the WWE or atlease retired there? In recent interview by Angle he claims that he win indeed retire in TNA wrestling. Where he had great matches and moments!

But is/was TNA holding Kurt Angle back from the mainstream?

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Mack seriously are you on crack, you write this thread as if Angle doesn't have a choice in the matter. If he wanted to leave TNA he would have, but he didn't and still hasn't! It's not like TNA is forcing him to stay. I'm sure if he left now WWE would be happy to have him back. So if anyone is "holding Kurt Angle back", it's Angle himself. But I disagree he's holding himself back, he seems happy in TNA.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Normally I'm going going to something so crass as let a video respond for me, but I think this one really suits the purpose quite well. Start it from about 40 second, through to 1:05:

[YOUTUBE]mFq6KDaAt7w[/YOUTUBE]

Kurt Angle was recently in the blockbuster film Warrior. What films was he in before 2006? Angle's mainstream career has done better since he went to TNA.

 

[MisterRob]

Normally I'm going going to something so crass as let a video respond for me, but I think this one really suits the purpose quite well. Start it from about 40 second, through to 1:05:

[YOUTUBE]mFq6KDaAt7w[/YOUTUBE]

Kurt Angle was recently in the blockbuster film Warrior. What films was he in before 2006? Angle's mainstream career has done better since he went to TNA.

All that video shows is that Kurt Angle is a compulsive liar.

He was making the most money in the WWE at the time he left? He was their biggest star? Both of those claims are laughable; especially when you consider he was being transitioned into putting over talent and no longer being used as one of their top stars.

He was about to be in a WWE film before he left, but he left anyway and then is complaining about not being given opportunities to be in movies? I really have a hard time taking anything Angle says as fact, especially since his movie career hasn't exactly flourished while he's been in TNA.

He also said in a year's time, from that interview, TNA would be above WWE and the Monday night wars would be on again.

But yes, going back to the topic of this thread, TNA has and is holding Kurt Angle back from the main stream. Why? Because TNA isn't main stream. The main stream doesn't even know TNA exists, and so they no longer know Kurt Angle exists, certainly not to the level of exposure and opportunities he had as a wrestler of the WWE. It's sad but true.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It's possible that being in TNA is holding Kurt Angle back from the mainstream. If TNA had their way, Kurt Angle would be on every single TV show, radio show, internet site etc talking and publicising the company. But TNA aren't big enough to do that, because not enough of the general public, who aren't wrestling fans, are interested in TNA.

The average man and his dog on the street know WWE/WWF because its HUGE. TNA is getting bigger and people are becoming more aware of them, but they aren't fully known to the mainstream yet. Yeah Kurt has been in the film "Warrior", but if no-wrestling people recognised him, they will say "oh there's that WWE wrestler Kurt Angle".

Had he remained in WWE, perhaps he would be more "mainstream"- he would definitely have had more exposure. But he also may be dead right now,due to the problems he was having there. I'm just glad Kurt is still putting on great matches night after night and seems happier in TNA than he appeared to be in WWE, and that he seems to have go over his personal issues to an extent.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Yeah, TNA is holding him back. If you look at the TV shows he has been on while in the WWE...

2005:MTV's Made – Himself (1 episode)
2002:Late Night with Conan O'Brien – Himself (1 episode)
2001:The Weakest Link – Himself (1 episode)
2001:The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – Himself (1 episode)
2000:The Big Breakfast – Himself (1 episode)

Then the shows he's been on while in TNA...

2011:Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – Himself (1 episode)
2009:Howard Stern On Demand – Himself (2 episodes, Eric the Midget Visits the Studio, Kurt Angle Wants Robin)
2009:Criss Angel Mindfreak – Himself (1 episode, Car Wreck Vanish)
2008ros vs. Joes – Himself (1 episode)
2007:Inside MMA – Himself (2 episodes)
2006:2006 Scream Awards – Himself

More people watch those shows he had appeared on while in WWE than the ones he had appeared while in TNA. If he were still in WWE, he'd be on more relevant shows with more people watching him. Also, I didn't even know he was in Warrior until I watched the film. If he were in the other company, I'm pretty sure I would've found out somehow before I got my hands on the movie.

But Kurt should stay far away as he can from movies, I watched River Of Darkness a few months ago, which also starred Glacier, Kevin Nash & Sid and it was just plain awful. Cheesiest horror film I've ever seen.

And about Angle saying he's happier in TNA and wants to retire there; I read an interview from him, a few months ago, saying he would come back to the WWE and retire there. Angle is so full of crap when he talks. One minute, he's bashing the WWE and claiming Vince sends him flowers everyday, begging him to come to back to the WWE then he's praising them. Never trust anything he says cause he's always changing his mind about how he feels about the WWE. I think deep down he loves the WWE more than TNA and wants to go back there more than he wants to stay in TNA, he just won't admit it to save face.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Kurt Angle's problem is his continued legal woes, how many times has he been investigated and or arrested for domestic violence, drunk driving, etc ? I honestly dont watch the talk shows religiously to know what appearances he has made since since he joined TNA but Ive seen him on the news and in the papers with coverage about the restraining order, alleged infedility, etc related to his divorce, plus their were multiple DUI arrests in Pittsburgh and at least one other one in another city recently.

Compare that to Hogan who Ive seen on Fox News and in Rent A Center commercials with Troy Aikman, or Flair who Ive seen interviewed twice on ESPN plus his commercial work for Coke's energy drink and the North Carolina Lottery, it seems to me that TNA may not have the contacts WWE has but it hasnt stopped recognizable stars under contract from getting mainstream media attention when available. Angle's problem is too many DUIs and restraining orders to be palatable to advertisers, etc. That says a lot considering Hogan and Flair have had their legal issues but have still managed to get some mainstream media during their TNA time.

 

[satchmokilnt]

He was about to be in a WWE film before he left

I love when people say this. A wwe film! big whoop. its safe to say as shitty as all the films kurt, the rock or anyone else has done outside of the We Were Entertaining cocoon. They were still a massive step up from the marine, or the babysitter.(or whatever HHH vehicle was called)
For 99% of people when they see the wwe logo on a film, they stifle a laugh and then say "what the fuck? i bet that is awful." before placing it back on the shelves. atleast they may fumble upon a kurt angle cameo by mistake. and still kurt and rvd were recently in a rather good funnyordie clip, and that alone puts them above wwe films.
i love the suggestion aswell that kurts somehow been forced into signing and staying with tna. great stuff!

 

[MisterRob]

I love when people say this. A wwe film! big whoop. its safe to say as shitty as all the films kurt, the rock or anyone else has done outside of the We Were Entertaining cocoon. They were still a massive step up from the marine, or the babysitter.(or whatever HHH vehicle was called)
For 99% of people when they see the wwe logo on a film, they stifle a laugh and then say "what the fuck? i bet that is awful." before placing it back on the shelves. atleast they may fumble upon a kurt angle cameo by mistake. and still kurt and rvd were recently in a rather good funnyordie clip, and that alone puts them above wwe films.

If you look at the profit the WWE films have made over the profit whatever indy, nothing films Kurt Angle has been involved in, then you'll see how silly your argument is.

i love the suggestion aswell that kurts somehow been forced into signing and staying with tna. great stuff!

I haven't a clue what you're referring to here. Nowhere in any post I made did I claim anything close to this.

 

[satchmokilnt]

re: mister rob
you seem to be getting yourself mixed up between profit and quality. katy perrys "film" would outsell all the wwe catelogue and kurt films many times over. still, i wouldn't wish to see her film as i know it will be a steaming pile o' shite. so your counter argument is really silly.
As i said, wwe films have been shockingly awful. they are seen as a joke by their own "universe" and they are largely ignored outside of the wwe bubble. unless of course they are pointing out how pathetic vinces attempts at being a film producer are.
And i'd like to see all these profit figures that you are stating. as i have high doubts that any wwe film makes a profit of any credible number.
also, you state that you didn't say that kurt had been forced into signing & staying with tna. i didn't insinuate that you did. that bit was in rebuttal to the original post. i.e the reason to reply to this thread.

 

[MisterRob]

re: mister rob
you seem to be getting yourself mixed up between profit and quality. katy perrys "film" would outsell all the wwe catelogue and kurt films many times over. still, i wouldn't wish to see her film as i know it will be a steaming pile o' shite. so your counter argument is really silly.
As i said, wwe films have been shockingly awful. they are seen as a joke by their own "universe" and they are largely ignored outside of the wwe bubble. unless of course they are pointing out how pathetic vinces attempts at being a film producer are.
And i'd like to see all these profit figures that you are stating. as i have high doubts that any wwe film makes a profit of any credible number.
also, you state that you didn't say that kurt had been forced into signing & staying with tna. i didn't insinuate that you did. that bit was in rebuttal to the original post. i.e the reason to reply to this thread.

WWE Studios co-produced the Scorpion King. It made a profit of $165,333,180 worldwide.
WWE Studios also co-produced the Rundown which was well received, despite slightly losing money.
They also co-produced Walking Tall, which made a profit of a little over $100,000,000 at the box office.

All of those had the Rock in them. So, imagine the possibilities for Kurt Angle’s movie career if he had stayed in WWE for main stream opportunities? Much more then his opportunities have been in TNA.
Now onto films solely from WWE Studios?

See No Evil, with Kane, grossed $15,003,884 at the U.S box office on a budget of $8,000,000. Whether it got negative reviews and you don’t personally like it or not, it still made money.

The Marine with John Cena grossed $18.7 million domestically and $22,165,608 World wide. It’s WWE’s most successful film to date.
While the Condemned, which starred Stone Cold, was a failure at the box office, it has sold an estimated 1.185 million DVD units earning $22,673,378, more than 200% it's box office gross.

I could go on, but I won’t. And whether some movies didn’t do well at the box office, a huge amount of the profit that comes from these films comes from DVD sales afterwards. So whether you hate the movies and feel WWE studios is a failure, the FACTS show that they aren’t a failure because they still become profitable for the company. They still make MONEY.

What about the movie’s Kurt Angle has been in?
Dylan Dog grossed $4 million worldwide ($1.2 million domestically) on a $20 million production budget! That’s a HUGE loss. That movie certainly hasn’t garnered any recognition and credibility, now has it?

River of Darkness is a piece of junk indie movie. It had a 3 million dollar budget for crying out loud.

While Warrior was well received and got good reviews, it was a commercial failure and wasn’t even profitable. It had a worldwide total of $23,057,115, failing to reclaim its budget of $25,000,000. And Angle had a small role in that film, he certainly didn’t star in it.


So, when you compare what’s valid to this thread, Angle has had a horrible list of films, mostly pathetic indie films. That compared to the possibilities he could’ve had in far more mainstream films, that reached a far greater audience, and that (while possibly not great films) were still PROFITABLE. They still made money, which is what matters most.

And in future you should try to be more coherent and separate your rebuttals, because when one is placed in a convoluted paragraph with the one meant for me, then OF COURSE I’m going to assume you were making the entire context at me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't really see TNA holding Angle back at all. If anything, TNA has done EVERYTHING possible to accomodate Angle. I don't see TNA even attempting to hold Angle back in any way. TNA would try to encourage all the mainstream exposure for Angle as much as possible in order to piggy back some attention for themselves.

I've been a fan of Kurt Angle since he arrived in pro wrestling. He has enormous talent and might be the best overall pure athlete pro wrestling has ever seen. However, Kurt Angle is also something of a bullshitter. Most pro wrestlers are bullshitters to one degree or another, that's especially true of the ones who are big stars. In the past, Angle has made some pretty outlandish statements regarding his own ability, what he's capable of and what he can ultimately do. Angle has an ego, which is understandable to some degree when you consider his ability & his accomplishments, but sometimes his ego gets in the way of reality.

Angle isn't someone that's almost certainly never going to be a huge movie star, even though he's had some acting gigs while in TNA. Angle isn't The Rock in terms of charisma and Angle's been gone from WWE for more than half a decade now. He's still respected, he's still revered and he's still one of the best in the world. But TNA is a MUCH smaller stage than WWE. It's not a knock against TNA, it's just the rock hard truth. Pretty much the only way a wrestler can get any significant mainstream exposure or opportunities is through WWE. Do you think the world at large would've paid as much attention to the Benoit murder/suicide story had Benoit not been a prominent member of WWE? I rather doubt it. It would've gained some notoriety, but the fact that Benoit was part of WWE and that WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world played a huge part in the story taking on a life of its own.

As for Angle's Olympic dreams, again, I think this was mostly just Kurt Angle's ego running way with him a little bit. Angle's a tough guy, no doubt about that, but he's also a tough guy that's nowhere near his physical prime. He's a tough guy that's been a pro wrestler since the late 90s and has accumulated a number of serious injuries during that time, along with the general wear & tear that pro wrestling can do to the body. Angle is a man well into his 40s with a number of significant physical issues, such as the muliple neck injuries he's had over the course of his adult life, and it was said to be an injury that kept him out of the Olympic trials this time around. If he hadn't gotten injured, Angle could've gone in there and embarassed himself. While in great shape and all, he's also a man whose endured a lifetime of injuries that would be in there competing against men probably half his age and whose bodies aren't worn out in the same way his might be. Angle strikes me as a macho minded kind of guy that measures self worth based on his physical prowess. At least, that's the impression I get from the man based on stuff I've heard him say over the years. He strikes me as someone that has trouble accepting that he's getting older and that he's not the physical specimen he used to be.

TNA has given Angle EVERYTHING he's ever asked for and would probably offer him help in anything he could ask for. At the end of the day, Angle might just not be a "mainstream" kind of guy.

 

[satchmokilnt]

And in future you should try to be more coherent and separate your rebuttals, because when one is placed in a convoluted paragraph with the one meant for me, then OF COURSE I’m going to assume you were making the entire context at me.

You are right there, mistake on my part. trying to rush a off a reply before heading out, does that sometimes. apologies.
I still cant help but feel you are getting numbers mixed up with quality. as i hinted upon when saying about katy perrys film. Also the co-produced credit really means little in the long term. As proven, no matter the quality of the film dwayne johnson is in. like katy perry, he sells. it certainly wasn't the wwe logo hidden on the back of the dvd that sold it. the jobs dwayne had got show that. the studios havent been rushing out to get production credit off wwe films. why would that be?

wwe films was another set up by vince to try and infiltrate the mainstream. another vince failure. yes, they sell somewhat to their "universe" but outside of that. like xfl before it, they either aren't watched, or are seen as a joke. i think the dwindling numbers, when compared to the films the rock was in, would back this up. which seems to suggest that wwe films just isn't learning.

Of course indie films aren't going to be able to fight against such big budgets. 'throw enough shit, some of it may stick.' that's the big budget motto in hollywood. spouted by many high ranking producers, and i'd agree. I'm not suggesting kurt has been in some arthouse classics, as they are god awful by and large.

not accusing yourself here at all, in case it may come across like that. but doing a little research, i think those numbers may have been pumped up by a few sneaky wwe employees.

Anyway great responses to may cack handed, rushed posts. to be honest i just fancied knowing the numbers of wwe and kurt films. cheers for that man. much appreciated.

 

[braveh]

Normally I'm going going to something so crass as let a video respond for me, but I think this one really suits the purpose quite well. Start it from about 40 second, through to 1:05:

[YOUTUBE]mFq6KDaAt7w[/YOUTUBE]

Kurt Angle was recently in the blockbuster film Warrior. What films was he in before 2006? Angle's mainstream career has done better since he went to TNA.

Isn't that the interview where he says he was the top paid talent or best paid talent in WWE? So he was making more money than HHH and Underaker?