[Stardust]

CraveOnline: Are you getting ready for a match today?

Kurt Angle: I do have a pay per view this Sunday called No Surrender which is for the world heavyweight title. I am now the champion of Impact wrestling so I am preparing for that match.



CraveOnline: But there’s not a road show tonight?

Kurt Angle: No, I’m actually going to be at the Warrior premiere, the red carpet tonight.



CraveOnline: Of course it’s Koba in the movie, but are you worried that people will think any schoolteacher with training can take you?

Kurt Angle: [Laughs] That’s good. That’s kind of funny you say that. Obviously you saw it and that was very sarcastic of course. I did love the flavor of it that they did have a guy that was a wrestler, that fought a little bit, he went to college and graduated, became a teacher. You know how teachers are, it’s hard to make a good buck teaching so a lot of teachers do other things on the side. He had to get by by fighting and I thought that was a really good twist.



CraveOnline: Do you think Koba could’ve taken Tommy?

Kurt Angle: [Laughs] You know what, I thought they both did a fantastic job, Joel [Edgerton] and Tom [Hardy]. They played their parts so well. I was really impressed by their acting skills and their fighting skills. I thought Tommy was a lot more aggressive than Joel but Joel played his part perfectly. He was a defensive fighter that went by submissions and Tommy was more of a brutal knockout guy. I believe that was meant to be in the writing, in the directing and the producing. I believe that’s what they intended on. Koba was just an all around overall mauler. He just killed people so the characters that were mixed were really good. I thought they were very true to the characters they played.



CraveOnline: Tommy was just an animal.

Kurt Angle: Yeah, he was. Very aggressive, he really displayed his anger on screen. He displayed that in the octagon as being an abused child. That was very true to the movie.



CraveOnline: Did you do any special training to make your body or style more like MMA?

Kurt Angle: Yes, I did. We had a two and a half month training camp. It was mandatory. Both Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy had to do it. I had to do it. Even the UFC and MMA fighters had to do it, and all the stunt guys who played the doubles for Tom and Joel. It was a good time of camaraderie. We practiced our moves, we did everything to make it really true to the sport of MMA and I thought the movie really proved itself as far as very realistic to the sport of MMA.



CraveOnline: Of course wrestling is a performance sport, so what was your adaptation to doing moves for a movie camera?

Kurt Angle: I told them because they were a little concerned for my wrestling schedule. They loved my look. They loved that I could do the part, thank God. But what they were concerned about is we’re not going to have you all the time, how are you going to learn these moves? I said, “You don’t realize who I am and what I do. I’m in professional wrestling which is what I do for a living. I coordinate stunts. I memorize them. Whatever you teach these guys in 30 days, I can learn in one day.” The director and producer, Gavin and Greg O’Connor said, “So you can guarantee us you can learn everything in one day.” I said yes, I can and fortunately I did. That’s when they said, “Okay, you’ve got the part.”



CraveOnline: Is that like 10,000 hours of training makes you a master? Once you know the basics you can learn that quickly?

Kurt Angle: Well, I trained for five months because I was ready to make the transition from pro wrestler to MMA. I was going to go to UFC so I did five months of training, learned a lot of striking techniques, learned how to perfect myself, learned some jujitsu, submission wrestling. So I added that to my repertoire of my Olympic training of wrestling. When I got in I was pretty much a natural when I did the movie. I was prepared for it because of the training I had prior to that.



CraveOnline: How did Olympic wrestling, WWE wrestling and TNA wrestling influence each other?

Kurt Angle: Well, they’re complete opposites. Amateur wrestling, you can go by instinct. Pro wrestling you have to memorize and you have to go by what moves you said you were going to do. Sometimes you have to feel the crowd and do the moves at the right time and know the timing and tell a good story. They’re two completely different things but both of them helped me in the movie. One, as a fighter, you go by instinct regardless of whether you’re going over the moves or not. Two, you have to memorize your moves so that you don’t miss anything as far as the choreography is. I say that both worlds, thank God, pro wrestling and amateur wrestling helped me dramatically in the film.



CraveOnline: How will it impact your storyline if you maintain the championship at No Surrender, or if there’s a new champion?

Kurt Angle: I expect to win. Our biggest event of the year is Bound for Glory in October. I am wrestling Sting and Mr. Anderson in a triple threat match at No Surrender this Sunday, but if I am to win, at Bound for Glory, whoever wins the Bound for Glory points tournament will be the number one contender for Bound for Glory. I believe the final four is Robert Roode, Bully Ray, Gunner and James Storm. I know that they’re looking for a big star to come out of there and I will wrestle that guy. Hopefully it’ll make him into a household name and a bigger star.