Kurt Angle was in negotiations with Hulk Hogan when the fellow pro wrestling legend sadly passed away earlier this year.
The former Olympic gold medalist and WWE Hall of Fame legend spoke about this in an interview that streamed live today, Wednesday, October 22, as Kurt Angle appeared as a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show.
During the discussion, Angle spoke about initially turning down Hulk Hogan when he approached him about being involved with his Real American Freestyle Wrestling promotion, eventually coming to terms and Hogan sadly passing away in the process of him actually signing the contract to join Real American Freestyle Wrestling, his respect for Hulk Hogan and his memories of getting to wrestle the late WWE legend.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On initially turning down Hulk Hogan when he approached him about being involved with his Real American Freestyle Wrestling promotion: "[Hulk 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.'"
On eventually coming to terms and Hulk Hogan sadly passing away in the process of him actually signing the contract to join his upstart company: "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."
On his respect for Hulk Hogan and his memories of getting to wrestle the late WWE legend: "Terry ['Hulk Hogan' Bollea] ... 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."
Check out the complete Kurt Angle interview from the October 22, 2025 episode of 'The Ariel Helwani Show' via the YouTube player embedded below.