Kurt Angle Reveals Brock Lesnar Asked To Join TNA

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has revealed that Brock Lesnar approached him about getting a gig with TNA in 2007.

The Next Big Thing was assessing his options, having left WWE in 2004 and failed to make the Minnesota Vikings squad. A business relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling had also turned sour, though Lesnar would make his MMA debut for a card promoted by the K-1 promotion in '07. Lesnar and Angle would actually wrestle each other on an IGF card two weeks after his quick victory over Min-Soo Kim.

Speaking on the latest edition of his The Kurt Angle Show podcast, the Olympic Hero detailed how Brock approached him about getting him a deal with TNA, saying:

"Okay, Brock calls me. He's not in WWE. He says, 'Listen, man, can you get me in TNA?'. I probably shouldn't even be saying this, but you know what, Brock doesn't care. So he said, 'Hey, what are you making?'. I told him what I was making and he said, 'If you can get me that, I'll come'.

"I approached TNA, and they said, 'No, we're not going to give him that kind of money'. It was amazing because, I think that TNA at the time, I think they were at the top of their budget, where they couldn't really give any more money out. I was making a lot of money. Sting was making a good bit of money, and then you had a bunch of guys on the roster. TNA, the Carter family funded it for a long time, and then TNA started making their own money, but it just wasn't enough to bring in another guy for seven figures a year. I don't think they were capable of doing that".

Lesnar would make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut in February of 2008, before going on to capture the UFC Heavyweight Championship in his third UFC fight.

After initially retiring from MMA in December of 2011, Brock returned to WWE in April of 2012.

H/T Fightful