Kurt Angle reflects on Hulk Hogan asking him to join Real American Freestyle

Kurt Angle reflected on Hulk Hogan asking him to be part of his Real American Freestyle promotion during a recent interview.

Angle was a guest on Wednesday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show to promote RAF’s second event, which takes place Saturday, October 25 at the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State. Angle will be on commentary for the show on Fox Nation’s broadcast. During the interview, Angle revealed that he initially turned Hogan down on being part of the promotion.

Angle said:

“(Hogan) said, listen, we can make this thing really big, but I need you to be a part of the team. Well, I turned him down because the first time he offered me a certain amount of money and I said, well, to be a part of this promotion, I probably need a little bit more than that. And he said, well, we can’t give it to you right now.”

Angle then mentioned he was in contact with a similar promotion, the Champions League of American Wrestling, and turned them down as well before going back to Hogan to re-negotiate.

“We talked again and we made it work. And then he passed away in the process of me signing the contract. So Chad Bronstein, the other owner, continued on with me and he signed me on. So I’m really excited about this because for the first time, I feel like freestyle wrestling could be mainstream.”

Later in the conversation, Angle revealed that he owns a percentage of RAF in addition to working commentary for the promotion.

Angle continued to say of Hogan:

“Terry, him and I were always close. We had a mutual respect for each other. I remember when I got the opportunity to wrestle him, and not only did I wrestle him but he really surprised me. He was probably in his late 50s and I was in the prime of my career, and we had a great match. And the crazy thing is I’m the first one to ever make him tap out and I never thought he’d go for it, but he did. He had enough respect for me to say you know what Kurt, I’ll do the job tonight. And it was really cool that Hulk Hogan did that for me. He took me to another level.”

“I was a fan boy, I’m like holy crap I’m wrestling Hulk Hogan, I was so excited.”

Angle’s full interview with Ariel Helwani can be viewed below: