Kurt Angle Recalls Brock Lesnar Calling Him About Joining TNA

In 2006, Kurt Angle left WWE and signed with TNA. At the time, TNA — now known as Impact Wrestling — was making significant talent acquisitions in the hopes of realistically competing with WWE; TNA had previously brought in longtime WWE performers The Dudley Boyz and Christian Cage to boost their roster. In TNA, Angle became a six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion during his near-ten-year stay with the promotion. Interestingly though, a certain "Beast" reached out to Angle during his TNA tenure about potentially joining him in the company. 

"Brock [Lesnar] calls me. He's not in the WWE," Angle said on "The Kurt Angle Show" podcast. "He says, 'Listen, man, can you get me in TNA?' ... He said, 'Hey, what are you making?' And I told him what I was making. He said, 'If you can get me that, I'll come.' And I approached TNA, and they said, 'No. We're not going to give him that kind of money.'"

The same year Angle signed with TNA, Lesnar — who had also exited WWE a couple years earlier — was the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. However, Lesnar was later stripped of that title after reported visa issues prevented him from returning to Japan to defend it. In 2007 though, Lesnar and Angle reignited their early 2000s WWE rivalry and squared off in Tokyo for the IWGP Third Belt Championship; Angle defeated Lesnar, which was the last time they ever collided in the ring. Lesnar would eventually return to WWE in 2012. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Kurt Angle Show" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.