During the most recent episode of his podcast on AdFreeShows.com, WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle looked back on his departure from WWE and then signing with TNA. 

Check out the highlights below:

On why he beat Brock Lesnar to win the IWGP Championship:

“He (Brock Lesnar) called me out of the blue. I guess he didn’t want to do a job for anybody over in Japan. He was IWGP Champion. It was the third belt that we wrestled for, the IWGP third belt. I heard Brock was stripped of that title, but he wasn’t stripped because I beat him for that title. Brock wanted me to come over to Japan to wrestle him so he could lose to me, and I would end up losing to somebody over in Japan. That was his idea. I told him I would do it. We were good friends, very close, and if he wanted me to come over and do that for him, I was willing to do it.

TNA gave me the approval. Obviously, TNA got paid for those events because they were paying me, so I didn’t see any money from the events in New Japan for the IWGP Title even when I continued to defend it. I think I did it three more times. TNA was getting that money, and that’s when I put a stop to it and said, ‘Ok, I can’t be going over to Japan and not making any money. This is ridiculous.’ That’s when I dropped the title because they wanted me to hold it for a while longer, and I said, ‘No.  I’m going to drop it the next time I wrestle in Japan.’”

On working with Dixie Carter:

“She was all business. I loved her. She also has a motherly-like careness about her that really makes her stand apart from others. She really cares about the individuals, without a doubt. Always cared about me. Always putting my health and my life first. That’s what I really enjoyed about Dixie. If I wasn’t feeling good or if I couldn’t work a certain night, I could just tell her if I could take the night off and she would be ok with it. When I had to go to rehab, she paid me the whole time I went there. She even let me have three months off afterwards. She is the most giving person. It wasn’t always about money with her. It was about being a humanitarian.”

Angle talked about his contract he had with TNA:

“It was seven figures. It was a five-year deal, and I ended up signing that five-year deal again when the contract was up. They always took care of me. I got 11 years out of them for seven figures a year. That was enough for me. I was good with that, especially being a smaller company like TNA. I don’t think anybody else was getting paid nearly as much as I was. I think the next guy in line was making like $300,000. There was a big gap. They were taking a big, gigantic chance with me, and I knew that. I was very grateful for that.”