Matt Hardy talks about why Kurt Angle succeeded in TNA Wrestling.
Kurt Angle had many great memories, matches, and moments in WWE, but the bulk of his active wrestling career was spent in TNA Wrestling. Angle first joined the promotion in 2006 and would not return to WWE until 2017.
Matt Hardy recently made a return to TNA Wrestling himself and on the most recent episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy spoke about Kurt having success in TNA and reflected on Angle being one of the most naturally gifted professional wrestlers in history.
“It was a big deal. I remember when Kurt debuted on TNA, they announced he was coming to TNA. It was very impactful and I thought it was going to be a big deal. I definitely think it helped elevate the status of TNA, it made TNA more of a legitimate player in terms of being a place where you can go and be looked at as a serious wrestler and one of the best wrestlers in the world. Kurt had so much equity behind his name then and his body of work TNA was fantastic, it was phenomenal. Yeah, I thought that it was a big deal and I think Kurt going there is a huge turning point which helped elevate and add a lot of equity to TNA as well," he said.
Matt Hardy also attributed much of Kurt Angle's success to having the freedom that TNA Wrestling allowed as opposed to all of the parameters given to performers in WWE.
“I just think Kurt was such a natural in pro wrestling the way he picked things up, I was with him in his first couple dojos whenever he was first really learning the ins and outs of pro wrestling and how this stuff works. It was crazy because it was so different from anything he’s ever done because he’s a legitimate wrestler and legitimate athlete," said Hardy. "The way he picked all of this up and then he picked up the entertainment aspect, you can see that over this first few years in WWE. He picked it up so quick and he was just an anomaly man, he was special. Great athletes like him that are legitimate, they just don’t pick things up like that. Him and Brock Lesnar, they’re two of the best to ever do it because they were anomalies. Once he comes to TNA, there’s a lot more freedom, you get a much bigger say in what you do in ring, even character-wise to a degree. I feel like Kurt would take those opportunities to not have any parameters drawn around him and he went nuts and that’s why he excelled so well.”
Kurt Angle has not wrestled since facing Baron Corbin at WWE WrestleMania 35. He is, however, open to doing some cinematic matches.
Matt Hardy will be in action on the May 16 episode of TNA iMPACT! On that episode, he will compete in a special Champions Challenge.
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