Kurt Angle made a lot of money working for WWE, but only a very small percentage was made through merchandise.
On a recent episode of his podcast, The Kurt Angle Show the WWE legend was asked about his favourite piece of wrestling merchandise. Angle explained that it was an old t-shirt from his first year with WWE as that was the shirt that made him the most money.
Angle added that Vince McMahon even told him that he wouldn’t be used for merchandise because the company couldn’t use the word “Olympics” or any Olympic imagery. McMahon instead said that would “pay him to wrestle.”
Angle then discussed Steve Austin’s legendary merchandise earnings revealing that he once made $12 million in one year for his famous “Austin 3:16” t-shirt. Perhaps surprisingly, the Olympic Hero then revealed that he made more than Austin purely from wrestling, but earned millions of dollars less in merchandise.
“In one year, he made $12 million on merchandise and that was the 3:16 shirt. That’s when it came out. $12 million. He told me. I was like, ‘Holy crap.’ He only made two and a half million wrestling. Vince McMahon said, ‘I pay you (Angle) to wrestle.’ Vince, I’m not gonna lie to you, he paid me well. I made more than Austin did with wrestling. I didn’t make nearly as much as Austin did with merchandise, but Vince took care of me on the back end with wrestling.
Merchandise, I made, I’ll give you just roundabout figures, between 700 and 900 grand a year. It wasn’t a lot. It’s a lot of money, don’t get me wrong, but not for being a big star like that. For some reason Vince just told me, ‘Hey, can’t do anything with you in merchandise, so just wrestle.’ I would come up with merchandise ideas and Vince would utilize them, but you know, I didn’t sell like Stone Cold, and I was a heel most of my career too.”
Kurt Angle Missed Out On WrestleMania Match With The Undertaker
During the same episode, Angle opened up about trying to get a match at WrestleMania with The Undertaker in 2006. Angle said that the match ended up happening at No Way Out because Vince McMahon didn’t want Undertaker to win the World Championship or lose his undefeated WrestleMania streak.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co