Kurt Angle Says He Turned Down Hulk Hogan’s First Offer To Join Real American Freestyle

Skylar RussellOctober 22, 2025, 4:22 pm

Kurt Angle initially rejected an offer to work for Real American Freestyle.

Angle made his debut for the promotion at their first event, which was held in Cleveland on August 30. The company’s second event is fast approaching, which will take place on October 25 in State College, Pennsylvania.

Speaking with Ariel Helwani for a new interview, Angle revealed that he turned down Hulk Hogan’s initial offer to work for the promotion.

“Hulk Hogan came to me before he passed away, he said ‘Brother, I’d love to have you on my team. I’m starting a wrestling promotion.’ I thought, okay, okay, pro wrestling, it’s another WWE. He’s like, ‘No, I want the real wrestling, I want the freestyle wrestling.’ I was like, woah, that kind of surprising. He said, ‘Listen, we can make this thing really big but I need you to be a part of the team.’ I turned him down. The first time, he offered me a certain amount of money and I said, to be a part of this promotion, I’ll probably need a little bit more than that. He said, ‘Well, we can’t give it to you right now.’ I said, that’s alright man, I’ll pass on it.”

Angle went on to reveal that he worked things out with Hogan and Real American Freestyle after talking with another freestyle wrestling promotion.

“So, then someone called me about another wrestling promotion called Claw. They’re trying to do freestyle wrestling. I talked to them and I turned them down. I contacted Hogan again and said, listen, let’s talk again and let’s see if we can make something work. We talked again and we made it work. He passed away in the process of me signing the contract so Chad Bronstein, the other owner, continued on with me and signed me on.”

Gable Steveson recently stated that he doesn’t have interest in competing for Real American Freestyle. Check out his full comments by clicking here.