Kurt Angle Reveals How He Got Same Guaranteed Money As Stone Cold & The Rock

It didn’t take long for Kurt Angle to be paid as well as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker. During an episode of The Kurt Angle Show, Angle detailed being able to get WWE to pay him as much as other top stars in the Attitude Era (via Fightful).

On wanting to get out of his rookie contract: “Well, I still had three years left on my former contract, but it was a shitty deal,” Kurt said, explaining the reason for re-negotiation. “I was getting $75,000 per year, guaranteed. Now don’t get me wrong. My rookie year, I made a lot more than that, because I main-evented just about every show once I got my groove. A few months in, I was main-eventing, so I made an amazing amount of money my rookie year, I was really impressed and very happy with that money.”

On getting the same guarantee as major stars: “I went to Jim Ross and I said, ‘I need to get a new deal. Because this other deal was really bad.’ He said, ‘Okay, what do you want?’ I said, ‘Well, I made this much last year. I want it guaranteed this year, because I’m going to make it again. Maybe more.’ He said, ‘I can’t give you that. That’s what Rock and Austin get.’ I said, I want what Rock and Austin are getting. Please talk to Vince.’ He said, ‘I’ll go talk to Vince,’ and he talked to Vince, Vince said yes right away, and then they gave me the deal. So I got the same guarantee as The Rock, Austin, and Undertaker.”