Kurt Angle looked back on his rookie contract with WWE during the latest episode of his Kurt Angle Show.
After climbing up the ranks in WWE after making his debut in 1998, by the time 2002 came about, he was a main event player and wanted to get paid.
“Well, I still had three years left on my former contract, but it was a shitty deal. I was getting $75,000 a 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 in a few months, I was main-eventing all the time. So I made an amazing amount of money in my rookie year. I was really impressed and very happy with that money. I went to JR. and I said, ‘I need to get a new deal because this other deal is really bad.’ He said, ‘Okay, what do you want?’ I said, ‘Well, I made this much last year. I want a guarantee 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.’ He talked to Vince and Vince said yes right away and then they gave me the deal. So I got the same guarantee as The Rock, Austin, and Undertaker.”
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription