You've Got To Be Kidding Me Ep. 52 No Surrender September 2006 - Kurt Angle Signing, Russo Return, Monty Gone

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0:56Spike TV has just become Serengeti Television. Your grasp of the obvious is amazing. The quantity of speech is not always indicative of the quality of thought. Triton, have you conquered the great alpha male yet? What's the capital of Thailand? Why don't you indulge me with your geography, big guy? Indulge me. Let me know. Tell me. Bangkok. Oh, what a shot!

1:26Who are you, a stalker? Every time I start talking, you start busting my interviews. Stalking you? Always. You will feel the power! Period. Welcome everybody to You've Got to Be Kidding Me. This is a TNA history podcast where we watch TNA one month at a time. On this episode, we are talking about the month that is September 2006, leading up to No Surrender 2006. I am Gary Kidney, and I am joined, as always, by Liam Jones.

1:56Wake me up when this September ends. That's a song? Is what I was feeling watching this month of TNA history. Is it just because there were six episodes of Impact? That doesn't help. You don't really feel the benefit of more episodes? You're not, like, really invested in the stories because they had more time to tell them? You know, I don't feel the benefit of more episodes. Hey, when I talk, like, right here in my mic, it's really deep. Mm-hmm. Can you hear the difference? No. So, like, if I'm going from here and then I move around to this side, can you hear the difference?

2:29No, same the whole way around. Really? Yeah. To me, like, down here, I sound like a guy with a deep voice. Couldn't think of a specific reference. Mm-hmm. Uh, Loki. I don't want to compare myself. No, we were scrolling Loki's Twitter right before we started, and I think you would love to compare yourself to that man. Uh, I would like to go and say that I fundamentally disagree with the beliefs of one Loki. The man who believes every conspiracy theory is real. Mm. Go to his Twitter.

2:59Every single one of them. Garrett, however, co-signs all of his tweets. I also believe every conspiracy theory is real. Moonlanding? Fake. Fake. Bigfoot. True, though. Real. True, though. Climate change? An agenda pushed by the libs to sell electric cars. And turn our kids gay. With the electric cars? What else are they doing? Yeah, you're not using oil, which is manly. Yeah, oil's the straightest shit I've ever seen in my life.

3:33Yeah, electricity is queer. I've been saying this for years. What's going on with you? I've been a movie boy. Oh, I saw you've been watching Paddington, so that's about to start there. I have watched Paddington 1 and Paddington 2. In anticipation of Paddington 3? Yes. When he goes back to deepest Peru. True. Because Paddington 1 is a nice, enjoyable romp, and then Paddington 2 is the best movie of all time. Paddington 1 is like, they kind of have to get through the whole Paddington of it and

4:04be like, why is he here? But once they get through that bullshit, Paddington 2 can just thrive. Paddington 2 is one of my favorite movies. It is a five-star movie to me. I went four and a half. Cowardice. Because I watched it for the first time, I watched it after midnight on New Year's Day one year. I'm like, the first thing I'm doing in my year, this year, is watching Paddington 2. Gotta start it off right. Start it off on a note that makes me feel something, and then two hours later I was bawling my eyes

4:37out at the scene at the very end. Yeah. I started to go... When that fucking door opens, and Paddington's like, ahhh! And I'm like, ahhh! Also just everyone's in these movies. Every British... It's kind of like, it has that Harry Potter effect of, like, every British actor is in Paddington 2. It was also, like... Like, it was very, like, Grand Budapest. Mm-hmm. Like, especially the prison scenes. Yeah. They are very wacky, very off-kilter, very not what you would expect from... Just, like, Brighton, Wes Anderson-y, like, it came straight out of a toy box.

5:10Yeah, because, like, when you think of Paddington, you would think that, you know, it's a very thoughtless, boring, shitty-ass, you know? Not that Paddington's bad, but, you know, when we think of people adapting children's things... Like, even the first movie was, like, kind of like Bill Murray Garfield. Mm. But, like, the second one that is like, what if we do Art House? Yeah, what if we did, like, imaginative crazy shit with Brendan Gleeson? Yeah. He's great in it, too. He's really good. Um, Paddington 3 should be, like, a noir.

5:41Well, it's out, so it's not. Paddington 4 should be a noir. Yeah, there you go. Paddington solving crimes. The Maltese bear. Paddington hitting on, like, hard times and having to start a detective agency to get his marmalade. Mm-hmm. Exactly. No one's gonna feed it to him because the family is dead. I like how much the son aged between movie 1 and 2, because I watched them night after night. You're like, wait a minute. No, it's like, this kid has aged seven years in two weeks. And they're basically adults by Paddington 3. That's amazing.

6:12Which I haven't seen yet. It is out at the moment here. I know the release is staggered. I don't think it's out until 2025 in the US. I'm not sure about Australia. But I have to go see it. In the decade of our lord, the 2020s, we're still doing staggered releases? It's kind of crazy, all right, isn't it? At any time, especially when, like, a big movie does it. It's like Paddington? I feel like Marvel just, like, stopped that shit from happening in my brain for a while. And even, like, it was very weird when Pixar still did it with, like, Toy Story 4 or Toy Story 3, I think.

6:42Like, Toy Story 3 here came out, like, four months after somewhere else. It's like, Toy Story isn't coming out everywhere? I also got sick of it because I got really used to Australia getting everything the day before America. Because they would release them all on the same date. But, like, they didn't convert it. So, like, all the Marvel stuff was coming out, like, a day before. And I got really used to that idea. And then, like, I forgot what it was. There was something that I was like, how is this shit still not out? It came out, like, four months after everything else. Yeah, discriminating against you because they hate you. It's true.

7:13Anything else you want to talk about that you were watching? I watched some stuff. Mm-hmm. The pause that you're hearing is Liam opening his letterbox. No, I already opened it. Oh, I was trying to think of, like, stuff outside of movies. I watched Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Green Book, No Hard Feelings, Groundhog Day. Which is the best? Which is the worst? Best is Moonlight. Mm-hmm. Worst, No Hard Feelings going out. Which is still, like, fun. Um, it's just, like, I really appreciate Jennifer Lawrence.

7:44I think she's very talented. Mm. Sorry, more of the non-movies you want to talk about? I don't know. Arcane? Still the prettiest show that's ever existed. And damn well it should be for that fucking price. Two hundred fifty million for two seasons. No wonder they're not doing a third one. Who has that money? Is that Riot's money or is it Netflix's money? I have to guess it's Riot's money. And they're just like, let's just blow it. Let's just do it. Let's just spend it all. I guess it's probably, like, a dual deal with Riot and Netflix, right?

8:19Yeah. But, like, those kind of production costs. Like, that's borderline Game of Thrones money. For Arcane. Mm-hmm. Which is insane. Production companies is 40G. That's the French animation studio that did it. Shout out to them getting paid. Yeah, I guess the folks at Riot are just like, let's bankroll it. I guess it probably worked. It's probably already paid off, honestly. Yeah. Well, I remember, like, some of the, like, the events they did for, like, to promote it when the first season came out were, like, crazy, interactive, like, escape room, like,

8:54roleplay events. Mm-hmm. So, like, they, like, they've really heavily promoted it, obviously. Um, but yeah, apparently, like, they're, like, they want to do it. They want to keep making stuff, just, like, they're wrapping up with this particular story. So they'll do it. And since League of Legends has, like, 120 fucking heroes or something, I'm sure they have other things that they can play off. How much established lore does League have? You're asking the wrong person. Because I was thinking about that. It's like, how much of this is, like, new stuff that's all new to these characters?

9:27And how much of it is, like, all of this was actually written in blurbs that were released alongside these characters 15 years ago? League heads, get in the comments. Is League, like, Dark Souls, where everything is done through item descriptions? I think they have animatics. Yeah. But I'm not sure. I've never been a League guy. I was, I was a brief League esports guy, but obviously they're not, like, here's the story of League while they're in the middle of an esports game. They should. They should dump lore. Also, uh, one thing I will never appreciate, and I will fight to the death, is replacing the

10:01game voice actors with, like, name actors. Mm. Fuck off, just have the voice actors, let them play their fucking roles. Yeah, but then they can't have big names attached to it. No one cares if fucking Hailee Steinfeld is voicing one of them, you know what I mean? But you can send Hailee Seinfeld on a, Seinfeld? Steinfeld on a media tour, and then she can do media. Who gives a shit? Just fucking give it to the goddamn actors. No one knows who any of these voice actors are, no one's gonna want to talk to them. No one knows who half of the fucking actors are in the show anyway.

10:34Mm. But do you like it? Um, I, no matter what I think of the story or anything involved, it is the prettiest fucking show I've ever seen in my goddamn life. Yeah. There is, like, when you play, like, a very high-end video game, or watch something like that, where, like... Dragon Age Vanguard. Yeah, I was gonna use Call of Duty, but Dragon Age works too. Like, a really high, big-budget, well-made AAA game, rather than the badly-made AAA games you get now, when you, like, where you get the money on screen.

11:05Where, like, you can see the money on screen. There is certain, a certain something satisfying about that. Yeah. I mean, like, and it's very creative, and, like, it's interesting. Like, it's just so damn pretty, though. Like, it's funny, it could have, like, a great story. Like, I think it has a good story. It could have, like, a great story, and I think I'd still be like, but look how pretty it is. Yeah. Um, all I've been doing is watching Critical Role. And I already know all your thoughts and opinions. That's true. I've sent you two 1,000-word pieces about Critical Role.

11:39I want you to never mention it on Twitter, or on Link to the Cast, until you've completed it, and you're like, alright, guys, I have 200 hours worth of opinions to talk about. But, mm, it'll just be an entire episode. That will be the episode we'll finally invite you on, so I can just dump 200 hours. Actually, it'll be 1,000 hours of opinions. Just everything I have about Critical Role. I've posted occasional screenshots just for gags, so that's the only hint to the world that I've watched. I've watched 52 episodes, of which are four hours, 200-plus episodes of hours of Critical

12:13Role at the moment. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that's basically what I've been doing for two weeks. I haven't done anything else. I saw Hamilton yesterday. Talk about Hamilton to the people. U.S. politics go crazy. It's true. You think in, like, a hundred years, we'll be getting, like, the Trump-Kamala Harris rap musical? Yeah, Lin-Manuel Miranda's, like, great-great-grandchild will write... No, you see, you can't write it about Trump, because Trump is the president. He has to write it about, like, Rudy Giuliani.

12:43Please do it. I need the Rudy Giuliani rap musical. Yeah. Rudy Giuliani. My name is Rudy Giuliani. See? It works. It works the rhyming structure. You can't say Donald Trump. You have to stretch the syllables for that one. Um, but, yeah, it's so funny just to be, like, the losing presidential candidate and the former, like, uh, the head of the treasury had a fucking duel in which one of them was

13:17killed. I need to bring back that. As I was walking out, the man behind me, I was telling you this, was like, I didn't get it. Why did he die twice in a duel? And the person had to be like, that was, that was his kid the first time. I was like, what? He was very confused. Um, it's really good. It, like, listen, it's become, like, Lin-Manuel Miranda has become a meme and, like, his style. Because also, like, everything since then has been the exact same sound. Yeah. Like, he has a style and he beats it into the ground.

13:49And he's a WWE fan. Boo! Yeah, this man has never stated a preference for TNA, so we don't respect him. Uh, but Hamilton is undeniable. It's just undeniable as this, like, force of music. It's really good. It is maybe the most 2012 thing that has ever existed. Even though it didn't come out in 2012? Yeah. When did it first come out? I think it was, like, 1516, I think, wasn't it? I guess he would have been probably writing it in 2012. 2012, okay, well, like, the video, uh, give me the, shut up, shut the fuck up.

14:20Uh, 2015. Yeah. Okay, it actually is, it might even be more 2015. It is the most early 2010s thing to ever exist. It is contemporaneous with Lucha Underground. Okay. It is, it is the most Obama-era shit to ever exist. It is kind of funny how, like, Hamilton came out and then the Trump years. I had to do the math of when Obama was still president. Yeah, he was president until 20, what, start 2017? It's so funny, like, there is a, like, a whole genre of media that I grew up on that is, like,

14:56I look back on you and I'm like, it is very much the Obama-era. Yeah, you watch, like, Parks and Recreation, it's like, show couldn't exist outside of the Obama-era. Like, like, Simon gave me the greatest quote, which is, like, New Girl is the most Obama-era show ever, and it accidentally went over into the Trump-era and it ruined it. Mm, like, yeah, the cynicism of the Trump-era does not match with the New Girl of it all. Yeah, and so it's like, now that I look at it, it's like, there's just so many things that are, like, maybe I just have nostalgia for when I was 14.

15:27There's always a little bit of that. But, like, I, I, give me back to the, the, I don't know how you'd describe it, the white toast era. Just plain and simple, like, you know what I mean? Yeah, I do think, like, legitimately, Trump has changed the mood of the world. Oh, 100, like, you saw it immediately when he got in. And not just in the form of, like, politics or the way we feel, but it has influenced the kind of power we're making. No, the, the general state of the world. Yeah, 100%, of course it does.

15:58Which is the way, like, for all the things you can say about Trump, and you can say many, and all of them are true, you can, you can, the thing I'm, I'm just sick of is, like, we're gonna have 15 fucking years by the time this guy is out of office of one man being the main character of planet Earth. Yeah. 15 years of just every day, that one dude, constantly. I'm so tired of it. I think I'm just gonna, I'm gonna, like, become a recluse. I, like, legitimately, I'm, I'm, I'm, like, listen, it's a position of privilege that I can do it.

16:30Don't attack me for my white Irish privilege that I can just tune out the Donald Trump of it all. But, like, that was my main response in, like, the days after. He's gonna be the rest of my 20s. And I'm just like, no, I can't do every day, here's the bad thing Donald Trump is doing. I can't do that for four more years. So I'm just going to tune it out. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, America. I'm sorry to my friends in America who are gonna be fucked by this. I'm so sorry. But I just can't do it for four more years. Sorry, it's just really dawned on me that the last years of my 20s are gonna be dominated by this man's existence.

17:03I'm just, like, every day you have to hear about this man. I shouldn't have to hear about any man every day. Not even myself. I don't want to hear about myself every day. And I have to do that. I have to put up with that. But Trump? Ugh. The only man I want to hear about every day is Kurt Angle. That is a smooth pivot that we will get to after we do the Patreon plugs. Shit. And blue sky. And merch. You can go to patreon.com slash kiddingme or tnachat.com where you can subscribe and you can get loads more content.

17:33We have over 150 pieces of exclusive audio. Wow. Watch-alongs of every three-hour pay-per-view we've covered so far. Watch-alongs of a bunch of the two-hour weekly pay-per-views. Watch-alongs of a WrestleMania at one point. We've reviewed a Chris Rock movie. We've reviewed a Randy Savage album. We have multiple, multiple sub-series. We have a series about Lucha Underground ongoing. We're a gift of the pods where we're talking all about the wacky adventures of Lucha Underground. We have an ongoing series about New Japan Pro Wrestling from 10 years ago where we're talking about, like, the Rainmaker Shock onwards.

18:05So that's Rain Takers. We also have a bunch of old series covering Global Force Wrestling, Ring Ka King, covering the Monday Night Wars, covering Pro Wrestling Guerrilla from 2012, covering Wrestling Society X. All of that sitting there. Patreon.com slash kiddingme or tnachat.com. So support the show and you can get a ton more of us. More us than maybe anybody should ever want. But if you would like to support the show more and get something tangible, Liam, something physical, something you can hold in your hands, something you can sleep with and imagine that we were there with you.

18:38You can head to the links in all of our descriptions or bios of wherever the fuck you're listening to this where you can see the link to our merch. There you can get t-shirts, you can get show posters. Before tariffs make you pay more for it from our dropper shipping empire. Yeah, that's actually the excuse when we height the prices like 40%. It's like, Donald Trump's tariffs are hitting us really hard, guys. So get in quick. You can get show posters, including this month's LAX show poster, which is fucking awesome. So all of that is at the links in our bio.

19:11If you are a patron, you can get a 10% discount on merch. We have a pinned post on Patreon that has the link as well as... That's almost the pre-tariff price. As well as a promo code that you can use to save 10%. And as we said last time, if you'd like to do a little hack, if you subscribe at the $1 tier on Patreon and then you buy something in the merch shop, you will save more than $1. So you will actually be taking money from us, really, when you think about it. And I'll find you and I'll kill you. Liam will hunt you down, compliment your shirt, and then kick you in the balls.

19:45Or any groin, to be honest. That's true. I don't want to specify. Woke Liam Jones will kick anybody in any groin. Exactly. That's my woke-ism at work. So, yeah, we have launched Blue Skies for Individuals. I guess we should probably launch one for the podcast, too. We should get that before someone takes it. Can we make it so that our at Blue Sky thing is at tnachad.com? I don't know how to do it, but I want it. I will look into it, but I will probably get confused and give up. Ask Warren. Apparently he knows. But, yeah, we're on Blue Sky, too, as we're on the Twitter migration.

20:18I'm not one of those people that are like, I'm abandoning Twitter because I'm not stupid and crazy. I'm not in denial that much, but... I'll jump fully when Rovert jumps. Yeah, when Rovert moves, by all accounts, he will be the last one to move. And allegedly, by the way, he's signed up. I don't know if it's actually him, but if he... If that man followed me on Blue Sky, but not in the decade-long time period in which I have had interactions with him on X the Everything app...

20:48Yep. I'm fucking pissed. That's happened a couple of times. Don't think I've noticed this, people of Blue Sky. There are a couple of people on this Blue Sky application that have followed me there that never followed me on X the Everything app. That would tell me that they just don't realize they don't follow you on X the Everything app. But, like, what am I supposed to do with that information, Garrett? It says the message would go, Hey, you don't follow me on X the Everything app. Rovert's a listener. Yeah. And this is how I choose to broach the subject. You're calling Rovert out on a podcast?

21:19First of all, I would never call Rovert out again. I don't want that smoke. Yeah. First it was Jack the Jobber, now it's Rovert. Which, very important, we do bring us back, we are fully at peace with Jack the Jobber. Well, actually, I would like to mention that, although he followed me on Twitter, he hasn't followed me on Blue Sky, and neither has Matthew, so... Starting more fights. We're at peace with Cultaholic.

21:49Like, they even plugged the show. That's okay. Our next series will be What Culture Watch Along. Just to spite them? Is that spite? Yeah? I don't think it is spite. Well, it's their rival organization. Oh, shit, they're not What Culture anymore, are they? No, Cultaholic and What Culture are very distinct different things for reasons.

22:15I don't know. I'm sorry. The reasonable middle ground is we'll watch Defiant Wrestling. Is that still a thing? No, but it was like the post-What Culture? Okay, yeah, we'll watch Defiant, not What Culture. Boo. Which I only remember that because I got a YouTube recommendation for Will Ospreay vs. Walter in Defiant the other day. We'll watch Defy Wrestling from Seattle. Yeah, I think that's the peaceful middle ground where everyone can get along and thrive. We'll watch WWE ID competitors vs. AEW Futures competitors.

22:50It will be the best wrestling you've ever seen in your life. What is Defy's slogan?

22:58Defy. Actually, I think it kind of is because isn't there like Defy? Defy. Their company is Defy, but their slogan is Defy. Gotta put some stank on it. Kenta is still a Defy champion? Kenta is champion of like seven different indies. Cool. It's very weird to see Kenta being like the top star of the 2024 US indies. Oh, because he's cool. He is still cool. He is still Kenta. Oh. Yeah. Literally, like, his name is still Kenta?

23:28Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he still has it all in capitals. Yep. When you say Kenta, your brain still goes to good Kenta. No matter what happens. Which, fair play to him. That's a legacy, you know? Yeah. Anyway. What's that?

23:41Blue Sky. Oh, my Blue Sky is Dixie Carter, not the Gleet Mooder. Just so you know. Yeah, which will make plugging it very annoying at the end of the show, because I have to say two different things. Yeah, I'll change it eventually. When you get all the, you trick all the TNA wrestling wrestlers into following Dixie Carter? When she pays me. This is your way to just get James Storm to interact with you? I just want like 600 bucks. That's a decent, reasonable fee to give it over. USD. That's like 7 million Australian dollars.

24:12Exactly. I'm set for life. Oh, no, no, actually, the people need to know. I had TNA wrestling dot Blue Sky. Yeah. And was strongholded. I was forced to give it up. Yeah, because you took it last year, and there was a certain thing happening that might make the TNA wrestling Blue Sky a little more relevant. Well, I didn't know that. I had the Impact Wrestling Blue Sky. I just thought it would be on brand for us. Didn't think there was, well, I did at the time. I knew there was, when Blue Sky was becoming a thing, when I was holding handles, I was

24:45like, I should probably get a Blue Sky handle. And I was like, Liam, give it up. It's bullshit. I should have been able to keep it. And then I should have made them pay for it. I'll send you $15. All right. I'll actually do that. Cool. Pay you all $15 for the TNA handle.

25:03That brings us to the news, starting with one of the bigger stories in TNA history. TNA signed Kurt Angle. So, this Kurt Angle guy. Kurt Angle in 2006, in particular. Yeah. By all accounts. Yes. Before this had happened. Mm-hmm. Uh, Kurt Angle not exactly in the best place. Yeah, we'll talk about it in more detail, but, um, there is a reason he left WWE. And left is a curious term. Yeah. Was kind of fired, kind of left, kind of mostly fired.

25:36I don't know. But, I guess, um, so, I imagine your first Kurt memory was this in TNA. Like, your first TNA Kurt memory. You were, like, watching at the time. I wasn't. Kurt was, arguably, my root in. Between the best of the, because, like, I started watching right after this. Mm-hmm. So, like, I started watching TNA regularly in November 2006. So, the first show I actually watched that I remember sitting as, like, watching Impact Weekly was Kurt's first match.

26:09It was the Abyss match on TV. So, Kurt is, like, my defining Kurt memory is right after this with him coming. Obviously, I would have watched Kurt in the World Wrestling Federation, so it's not, like, my first introduction to Kurt in general. But, yeah, it's interesting. Like, we are hitting the period where I started watching TNA on a weekly basis. Well, let me tell you whose first, uh, knowledge to Kurt Angle was TNA. Was it actually? The first time I'd ever seen Kurt Angle wrestle, like, live on TV was TNA.

26:41I guess, yeah, you would have been just a little too young to see him in WWE, wouldn't you? I had seen him on DVDs. Yeah. But he was not on WWE TV when I was watching WWE TV. That's, uh, yeah, he's a TNA guy to you, then. Yeah, he is. I don't think he is kind of a TNA guy. He is. Well, wasn't he there longer? I, well, I think with the second run, it might have tipped it back in favor of WWE. Oh, boo. So, two years versus eight years the first run, and then how long was he there the second run?

27:12Yeah, TNA was, what, just nine and a half years? Yeah. And then he went back to the movie for one year! I think he's still technically a TNA guy! If you don't count, like, sporadic appearances since then. TNA. Technically, as a full-time pro wrestler slash on-screen character, I think he was in TNA longer. So, were you more in, like, what did you feel when you first started watching Kurt in TNA? I was like, I know this guy from my WWE DVDs. Nice. Um, I always thought he was a really good character.

27:46I, like, it was always his character work that I enjoyed, because I was a kid and wrestling was dumb, but the, you know, hit the music. The thing with Kurt, where, like, he has, like, the, again, like all people, the reputation of being a wrestler. And he is so much more than that. He is such a well-rounded? Well-rounded performer. Um, Kurt was also, like, the thing I tried to use to get people to watch TNA in, like, grade three. Oh, that's fun. I was like, you know, Kurt's there now. And did that work? You know what's funny?

28:17Though, I had a conversation with one of my friends, and he ended up giving me, um, no, one of my other friends ended up giving me all of his brothers wrestling DVDs, which was great. But my other friend, um, we made a trade, and I gave him my three-disc best of DX, and he gave me, he, uh, he gave me bloodiest ECW matches, which is already a win, um, and the three-disc RVD set. You won out on that. You fleeced that person. I fleeced that one. But I remember, like, being like, oh, you know, because this is when I first started watching TNA, uh, famously my first TNA moment, the Abyss, Stevie Richards, Raven segment.

28:55The Fireball. Mm-hmm. Um, and I was, like, trying to, like, sell people on TNA, like, oh, dude, have you guys ever watched this? I know, like, wrestling was still, like, a thing that was cool to talk about, because I was 12 or whatever. Then I had to hide it for a decade. And they were like, you know, I tried to watch TNAs, too much talking. Really? Too much talking was their takeaway. Which I guess is probably true, because it was, like, Russo's TNA at that point. Mm-hmm. But also, it's very true of WWE at that point, too. Yeah. So, like, I don't know. I don't know. I guess, like, just, uh, it's more forgiving, I guess.

29:26Because when I was in, like, when I was, like, this period, when I was starting to watch TNA, I would have been in secondary school. I would have been in my teens. I would have been, like, 14. So, most of my friends had, nearly all of my friends. I didn't have many friends that stayed wrestling fans in their teens. I had a decent few who were wrestling fans when they were kids. So, only one person did I ever, like, come close to converting to TNA. With a shout-out Jack Casey, who I gave a bunch of TNA DVDs to. I'm not sure if he watched them, but he eventually returned them. So, he at least had the interest to take some DVDs off me once.

29:59But that's the closest I ever got to, like, convincing somebody to watch TNA in my childhood. Yeah. There was, like, one year where wrestling was cool to talk about. Which year? Uh, I think it was grade 3. So, when I was 11. So, do the math. Like, 2009, I guess. Yeah. Jeff Hardy? Was it just because of Jeff Hardy? Um, me. I'm, no, because, like, Batista and Cena and Triple H were the fan favourites of the era for people. And I guess that is, like, the first period of, like, the PG era.

30:29So, it makes sense that suddenly that exploded into, like, 11-year-olds. Yeah. Um, and then I also had the famous, like, debate where, like, I was a kid that would, like, often back down in, like, in conversations. I'd be like, well, I guess I'm wrong. But there's one time my friend was convinced that Kurt Angle's name was Kurt Angle. What? Like, K-U-R-Tangle. Oh, no. And I would not, and I fought to the death over this. I was like, his name is not Kurt Angle, you dumb fuck. Kurt Angle?

31:00Mm. Good lord. And he's like, yeah, because he tangles him up. I remember this, I remember this conversation vividly from when I was 10. Did you win? I mean, I, of course, I was, I was right! Maybe that guy's right. Maybe, like, the Berenstain Bears thing, where in his world it was Kurt Angle. It's not Kurt Angle. You know what, when he, when he said, you know, it's like, it's the tangle lock. I was like, that actually does kind of make sense. Because he tangles his ankle. He tangles him up! I remember growing up, my dad didn't believe Kurt Angle was actually an Olympic gold medalist.

31:32He's like, it's a gimmick. Yeah, he's like, that wrestling shit's fake. He's not an Olympic gold medalist. So we found, like, an encyclopedia that had, like, the Olympic winners. It went back to 1996. I was like, he's right there! He's actually an Olympic gold medalist! Did he concede it? He did. And that was back in the day when you couldn't just fucking Wikipedia it. You had to find a source for that shit. You couldn't just be like, look, the internet says it's true. You had to be like, I opened a CD-ROM encyclopedia that had the Olympic results on it. And I showed it to my dad to prove I was right.

32:05Do you remember, like, parent faves? Not really. Because my dad, he went to, like, a kind of a world of sports show once. He told me about this randomly. He's like, oh, I went to, like, a show that came to Cork. And, like, it had, like, Big Daddy on it. So, like, he sees, like, a show. This is almost bar for bar the exact same as my grandfather being like, ah, yeah, I went to a show on Mojura once and Andre was on it. Hmm. So he wasn't much of a fan. Like, he would do a bit where every time we would be watching it, he would walk past the room and just call it rubbish and move on.

32:38My grandfather did the same thing, but then, like, famously, my grandmother would sell him out and tell me about how, like, when I wasn't there, he'd watch, like, Raw. And, like, his two guys were Seamus and John Cena. Yeah. That's a good, that's a good two. Hmm. So Kurt Angle, coming to TNA. It's very exciting. TNA's website issued the following statement on September... September 1 warning. It is a good warning for once as opposed to a bad one. It was a message from TNA President Dixie Carter to the TNA fans.

33:12This is a Dixie quote, so you do have to read it. In the course of herstory, there are defining moments that change the fabric of a company forever. I'm just Jim Cornette now, that's all I can do. These are moments that are spoken about for years, not days, and serve as benchmarks in the annals of a company's growth. And on occasion, these moments transcend the individual company and rewrite the history of the industry. This Sunday, a No Surrender pay-per-view. An announcement will be made that will do just that. You will not want to miss the No Surrender pay-per-view. So how do you feel about the level of hype of that announcement?

33:45I mean, I always prefer that they didn't advertise it super heavy. And also, they're probably still working out details, you know? Which is funny, this statement was put on the website. The pay-per-view... Let me get the date. I think it's the 24th. 24th is the pay-per-view. And never once on the TNA Wrestling Television Show Impact did they mention this. But, like, I get it, because by all accounts, like, four people knew. Yeah, they wanted to keep a tight lid.

34:17The more you teased it, the more people would probably have to come into it. But, like, there's a quote at this point that I included. Like, Dave Meltzer called this at one point, The Best-Held Secret in His Time in Professional Wrestling. Which, like, think of the ground that covers. You know who knew about it? Who? Dixie Carter, Jeff Jarrett, Super Dragon. Why did Super... Oh, Super Dragon tried to book him, didn't he? He tried to book Kurt vs. Danielson, and had to be told by TNA that they couldn't do it.

34:47Before he was actually announced. Before he was actually announced. That's funny. Yeah. So, they made this announcement. Dixie Carter has kept a tight lid on the actual announcement, and who actually knows, other than Jeff Jarrett, isn't clear. What is clear from the TNA website announcement is that something big will be revealed at No Surrender. The three main guesses among various sources is that TNA has signed Bill Goldberg, TNA has signed Kurt Angle, or TNA will be expanding to moving to a new primetime slot. Or both! Two out of three ain't bad.

35:17Yeah. Or, well, half of the other one, because they were expanding, or they were moving to a primetime slot, but not expanding. Jim Cornette introduced, at the end of TNA's No Surrender pay-per-view, a video which featured Kurt Angle. He was said he was headed to TNA, that revealed the secret that TNA has been teasing for nearly a week through its website, on the pay-per-view pre-game show, and during the pay-per-view itself. It is funny, you get in the pay-per-view itself, and then all of a sudden, it's like, Mike is telling us big announcement, Jim Cornette is telling us big announcement, it's like, oh, here it is. Yeah. Dixie Carter said the surprise would change the course of the industry,

35:50and the signing of Angle does have that potential. Initial concerns centered around why TNA signed Angle when WWE had apparently determined he was too physically and emotionally at risk to employ anymore. Okay, well, first of all, it's like, we know why. It's like, but why isn't the question there. It is the should. Yeah, like, this is the company that had Jeff Hardy around for a year and a half, when they probably shouldn't have, but his name is Jeff Hardy, and it's the exact same thing here. It's like, whatever you say about Kurt's physical,

36:21mental, emotional well-being, he's Kurt Angle. John Cena could be smoking crack in the middle of the ring, and they should still sign him. Yep. After his hands frequently going numb during matches the past couple of years due to his neck problems, accumulated stress from life on the road and marital issues leading to erratic behavior, and a heavy usage of pain pills, WWE cut all ties with them, presumably only after failed attempts to get him to seek help for his issues. We'll talk about this more in a second, about exactly why he was available. We'll focus on the TNA stuff at first.

36:53Angle came to Nashville on the 20th of September, filmed secret vignettes in a local warehouse, and TNA did not even allow its regular television crew to film it, using a different crew, making them sign confidentiality papers and filming at midnight. The only thing that did get out is they hired several local independent wrestlers to set up a ring, paid them well and made them sign confidentiality agreements, but none of them saw Angle and they left confused, believing that nobody ever got into the ring they set up. Angle wrote a six-page handwritten thank you letter to Dixie Carter that day,

37:25which apparently she was touched by, which Dave had this, I don't know where he got it from. Probably from Kurt Angle. Or Dixie. Angle's statement handwritten on a hotel notepad in Nashville this past week after shooting his vignette reads as follows, Being with TNA feels like I have finally found my home. I had fun in WWE at certain times, but I was never really happy. Now being part of TNA, I know I have a purpose. I feel like I am part of history, part of a company that is not only on the rise, not only going to be the number one watched wrestling show in the world

37:55within a short period of time, but TNA gives me an opportunity to spread my wings. The company has no limits to where it can go, the sky is the limit, and the main reason is because they brought the real back into wrestling and that is the perfect fit for the greatest wrestler in the U.S. Olympic history. I have room to grow here and to help TNA grow. Working for these caring and very giving employers of TNA makes me feel like I have a purpose and the sky is the limit. I don't feel trapped or held back like I did the first six years of my tenure with the other company.

38:25They held me back. Now our wonderful audience will see the real Kurt Angle doing what I love to do, real wrestling. That's what puts a smile on my face each time I come to work. I even smile when I think about it. TNA will be the most watched television show on cable television. It's only a matter of time. Now I get the opportunity and privilege of being part of it. Thank you, TNA, for saving my career, my life, and my desire to do what I love. I will be here in some capacity for the rest of my life. That's real. That's damn real.

38:56He gave it ten years. Like, he gave it a fair whack. Yeah. If he said that and then he's gone and through, if he's like Christian, if he had like a Christian run, it's like, I would be like, fuck you. But he gave it a fair whack. Yeah. Um, it's, I mean, it's a great attitude to go into a company with. If you are a Dixie Carter and you do read that, you are like, fuck yeah. Yeah. Like, like, if I'm trying to call it, like, I want Mirror to send me this shit the day that he shows up, you know what I mean? Yeah, you're like, you are in,

39:26you want to take this to the next level, this is a meaningful thing to you, you're not just cashing a paycheck because you got fired by the other place. Yeah, sounds perfect. Dixie Carter said this week that TNA is a family organization that puts the health of its workers first. That will be tested if it appears Angle needs help or treatment, but he's booked for a major pay-per-view match. TNA sources say it's obvious the company is taking a risk, but they are taking Angle at his word that he's fine and plan to take steps to get medical clearance from doctors before he participates. It's possible TNA already had a physician of their own choosing evaluate him because the situation is sensitive

40:00and because the signing was kept secret until Sunday. Few details are known at this point. TNA sources say that Angle does plan to make himself available to the media very soon to address many of the questions fans and media have about his health and whether by supporting TNA they are guilty of taking part of him and putting him in a dangerous position. The circle of people who knew about Angle ahead of time consisted of Dixie Carter, Jeff Jarrett, Dave Sahadi, Sting, TNA's CFO, a couple of Spike TV officials, and maybe talent director Terry Taylor, but Taylor was not the one that did negotiations.

40:30And apparently this was negotiated directly with Dixie herself. TNA has what is described as an exclusive relationship with Angle with the caveat I believe that he is able to do MMA if he wants to. Because that was like the big thing as well at the time that like people, there was a lot of speculation that Kurt would go to the UFC. He would have died. He would have died. Like, I'll talk about this in a sec, but like one of the reactions from within WWE is that while they would prefer not to see him with the competition, they would also prefer him in TNA than going to UFC.

41:02Yeah. I mean like 1999 Kurt Angle? Sure. But like, Kurt Angle now? No. He would die. Yeah, like keeping Terry Taylor out of negotiations was like, that was how concerned Dixie was with keeping this secret. TNA has not released details of his contract other than indications he is part of his long-term plans. Many booking ideas are being bandied about within the company, hoping that Angle is able to perform reliably and safely for months, if not years to come. Which he broadly was. Hmm. There are periods where Kurt's pretty rough.

41:32Yeah, there's a whole different name for those periods. But even during some of those periods, he's still the best wrestler in the world. Yeah, like that's, the craziest thing is like, even on like autopilot, like the man is like one of the best to ever do it. Yeah, like that, and I don't think his entire career in TNA is on autopilot. I don't think the entire thing is like a drug altase. But there are certainly periods of it that you can see, like you look into the man's eyes at times and you're like, oh shit, oh no. But then there are others where it's like, he's Kurt Angle. He's just Kurt Angle.

42:04His enthusiasm at the product and the company has led to a morale boost, albeit guarded, among wrestlers and management. Angle watched No Surrender from home, but was on phone with Dixie Carter several times during the show, commenting on what he was saying. I'm sure he loved the laxative Angle. Finally, they put the real back in real wrestling. Yeah, and Petey Williams is shitting his pants. His public statements released through TNA indicate he's gung-ho about trying to take TNA, not just to the next level. Oh, so TNA probably released that full statement. Okay, that makes sense. And to help it become the top-rated wrestling show on cable, Angle clearly feels abandoned or wronged by WWE.

42:37Whether that's irrational based on the circumstances does not matter when it comes to his motivation to help TNA improve its stature and profile. Well, Sting met Kurt Angle for the first time last week when TNA filmed the Kurt Angle video in an empty warehouse with a wrestling wing setup. Sting was among the roughly half-dozen people who knew of Angle's pending arrival because he was also there to film footage of his costume. He underwent a makeover, but how extreme isn't being revealed by anybody at this point. Because the idea is that Sting is disappearing to train for Bound for Glory.

43:07We'll talk about that when we get to the stories on the show. Dave Sahadi, who is responsible for much of TNA's highly praised video production work filmed the Angle vignette. Dave Sahadi the goat. Yeah, it's a very simple vignette. It is, like, literally, Kurt Angle is appearing on screen, doing, like, dropping to a knee and other such wrestling motions. As Barry Scott's like, he is the Olympic gold medalist. He is the world champion. Kurt Angle is coming to TNA. And then you just get Kurt with the, it's real, it's damn real. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ah!

43:37Simple video. Dropped at the end. It was fun that you didn't know that it was on this show. No, um, because, like, I try to be, like, as in the dark as possible. Like, I don't want to know this shit, you know? Which was fun, because, like, they were teasing at the end of the show. They made another announcement that we'll talk about in a second as well. But when they got there, it was like, does Liam know that this is Kurt? And then Kurt appeared on the screen. You're like, oh, Liam didn't know it was Kurt. That's fun. Yeah, I don't know when, you know? You can hear Liam's organic reaction to it on the watch-along. Mike Tanae pushed in a production meeting the afternoon of the pay-per-view

44:10to find out more about the surprise announcement so he wouldn't be at risk of hurting his credibility by overhyping it. He was not given any hints and was told to do as he was asked and pushed the surprise as an industry-changing announcement. He was among several people who are usually plugged into what's going on who are upset or hurt that they weren't trusted. A number of wrestlers were also offended they weren't told,