Joe Rogan Experience #2036 — Kurt Angle Transcript

Transcript

0:00 the Joe Rogan experience There you go. with my neck broken. what's your plan? He said, well, you're not I might be able to get you ready by then. I said, what's your plan? But he said, I'm warning you, an hour after your matches are over, you're going to be I mean, there was no guarantee I was going to make the Olympic team in 2000 or 2004. Wow. I've had five surgeries, and none of them have really worked.

3:14 I went to South America. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. A lot of athletes athletes a lot of fighters go down there yeah it didn't work for And so the thing is, all right, if you look at my chest right here, you'll see there's a dip here. because if I don't, the damage is going to get worse and worse. with a knee to the head while he was down, lost his title that way.

5:26 It worked extremely well for him. Cervical, I think eddie bravo has one in And he told me that he's going to have to do three levels and that I'd have to retire. artificial fighting and winning against the best in the world. Yeah. It's like it doesn't really working out like three days later. Yeah. I don't know if you knew that. Yeah. You lose a video of Yoel Romero running.

8:15 And one of the best athletes that's ever competed in the UFC with a fused neck. I mean, who knows? fighting you can't even turn your head yeah the crazy thing is he could take a hell of a shot and maybe even more so in the pro wrestling game. That would be something small. It's crazy. That's crazy. When you're at one live, it doesn't really that's a thousand times better live.

11:04 I mean, not a foam like a bed. Well, hopefully WWE's listening. I think they're definitely going to cross promote. Yeah, but I don't see many wrestlers crossing over to fighting. I mean, that's a completely different beast I mean, he's explosive. He said, I'd kick his ass. He said, no. So Big Show was facing me. So we went. I did beat him, but he's the real deal.

13:48 I think he would have medaled. He was the final cut for the Minnesota Vikings, That video, that would have probably killed most people on Earth. So I go and cover him, and I'm like, please kick out. And so I said, I'm going to pick you up. I want you to give me the F5. Can you do it? He said, I think so. And so I said, I'm going to pick you up. I know.

15:20 No. I got to drop the title and get my surgery the next day. So I told Vince, I'm not going to wrestle at WrestleMania. and I thought you know what I'm gonna wrestle to lose a title to Brock on Smackdown that's what Now you can't do that stuff. And he was on the other side of the ring. You could tell in the match when you watch it. They had again, but what's crazy is I broke my neck again,

18:02 I was out for about three months. It's called a lap endectomy. I really do. It controls everything. They're always cold. I'm barely making it right now. I mean, there was a time in WWE where they were going 320. all that at your level those are longer matches you know it's not even a normal thing you were Dana and I have been on the opposite ends of the spectrum with this

21:20 the first time I won't even talk about it, the second But he said, if you win, you're going to get a six-fight deal. And my neck is, like, so messed up. And I was fooling myself, and I'm glad I failed the physical. I think that you're a glutton for punishment. who the fuck does that? And when I start taking them, I really liked it. Whoa. but there were times

24:42 where my brother called me. who was only 40 years old, So what time did you have to be to the arena, and did you do it? But I kept thinking, I know my sister will want me to. I mean, it sounds like you were in such excruciating pain all the time. swallow them. So I've been really lucky. And I got my painkiller problem under control there because I found a doctor that got me on MS-Contin.

27:54 So now I'm taking Xanax. and I got four DUIs in five years. First of all, the withdrawal was the worst experience I ever had. Oh, my God. And you want to stay in there. How long did it take before you felt normal? right when I got out. And I know if I start taking them, I'm going to have to experience that again. You're throwing up. You know, have you seen that painkiller show on Netflix?

31:39 Meanwhile, they didn't tell you that they're opiates and they're addictive and that they could kill you. I mean, people weren't just taking painkillers back then. like, it's fine. Because you know what I would do? Okay, and I had a Mexican contact where I got them illegally. So I have all these things set up so that I can get what I need. The Sackler family.

33:55 The story from the documentary is sensational. And then they took this guy. Like, no one knows what they did in this hotel for two days. Yeah, I don't think it's addictive. So in 10 years, a million people die from this stuff. I want to help humans. You're not thinking about people, and it's not your responsibility. Everybody's a drug addict. I think everyone.

37:11 I started to feel pain like four or six And 20 minutes later, I just start sweating and smiling like a super villain. I'm like, this is trouble. they had me on a morphine drip. And I remember lying in that hospital bed feeling I should have been in agony. not have been that was my first one and my second one my second knee surgery i got was in 2000 my

39:35 I would occasionally have, you know, I'd smoke pot maybe like six times until I was like 30 years old. He's like, oh, my God. I can never do that again. Your family can tell you. Because I've always avoided drugs as well. I'm like, I'm not feeling this. They'll come to you, hey, buddy, what's going on? A nice bottle of wine. You know, Brigham from Ways to Well.

42:31 You would know all these people. they hire these really hot young girls that were the representatives most effective way to make a lot of money they made billions and you know what they didn't break Like, what did you do to the world? like you would like people the lives of untold millions of people. Your job is to get pills to people. You're selling heroin.

45:05 Everything is by the book. You got to do what they say to college. They get their medical degree. They go to medical school. They do the residency. Everything is by the book. good at their job, but what they're trying to do is make you better. No, those hospitals are trying They had on the bill like the linen, what the linen costs and this and that.

46:29 Yeah. Yeah. That must be very nice. I had them replaced a year ago. Oh, my God. It usually takes a year, but I did it in probably four or five months. It doesn't really work on me. Yeah, CBD is like for people that have like mild arthritis and general discomfort and inflammation. I mean, the fact that he was able to get that surgery, Interesting. Yeah.

49:31 What did they give you, like a timeline? I only run two miles two or three days a week because of my knees. the medical, like the technological He's going to get his other one done. Yeah. You can't go sideways with them. And Kurt's also known for that. And so it's wild to hear, you know, Wow. It doesn't really matter. Yeah, yeah. I don't know, man.

53:53 Brandy Couture is going to be in it. And I also own a supplement company. We're in Physicallyfit.com. That's what people, when they look, when they want to get in shape, the first thing they type up is, how do I get physically fit? Those are chicken protein. They're all different. Randy Couture is probably the best example of a UFC fighter that went from, you know, fighting to, I mean, he was in the expendables.

56:09 He's done two Expendable movies? You're watching these really old guys just kicking the shit out of everybody. Stallone's pushing 80. I heard about that. Well, he's hardcore. Yeah. God. The fact that he – I mean, it's got to be hard for a guy like that too. The agility is incredible. his different characters that he's done He's fucking incredible. There's a lot of those guys that just get so tired of being other people.

59:16 Yeah. and push themselves like that. I mean, once you're in it, you love it, and you never want to leave it. He's just not wrestling in the ring day he's just not wrestling in the like security guy i know i go where's the bar and he points like that it was just right over his He's like, you're going to be our driver. We went from 1.30 to, he didn't leave me until like 8 p.m.

1:03:06 There's a part of me when you're, you know, And everyone gravitates towards him. when he was in WCW he was only only making 600 a year, 600 grand a year. have been getting paid four or five times that so you know he always had money but he was running The crazy thing was I didn't even watch pro wrestling. I said, can I go year deal, let's do it. So he gets me a job as a sportscaster in Pittsburgh for Fox.

1:06:11 they were out of order so i'm looking at teleprompter the producer says just look at the And I guessed it was baseball and it was actually football. with a character named Stone Cold Steve Austin. So I went up and tried out. territory down in Memphis. And I worked there for four months where I did one TV a week for four And he's going to tell me it.

1:08:36 any of this. So when he gets done, I said, and he was like, I think I have somebody here. and he just wanted to create another star and he thought i had the ability to do it and uh I did, what else did I do? in a man's world, and I'm I was the bad guy, but they kind of loved me. Yeah, you have to move there. Middle of nowhere. I devoted everything to stand-up comedy.

1:11:51 Really? Two, three shows a week, pay-per-views, all of these big, long, drawn-out storylines like week after week. And as a real fan. It's we need you in the office right now. But, yeah. And they hired him back. not headlining yet couldn't sell a ticket to my name just some comedy store door guy so like I He was a huge fan. Actually, you know who hired him?

1:14:40 This guy was part of peak entertainment. And Cena and Batista are kicking ass. Yeah. he actually is like uh working out like he's 30 years old that's crazy yeah and he's probably What is it like working for Vince? Nope. He works seven days a week. And you know what's crazy? He only sleeps two hours a day. generations and generations, grandfathers, their sons,

1:18:12 I thought you would have to take it from his cold dead hands, pry it from his cold dead hands when he died. $1 million to $9 billion. That's crazy. I just don't get it He's gotta be closer to 80 78 jacks. And he said, I'm never letting the company go. but what's he going to do now? Kind of, but that's what he says, right? The power walk. Look at that picture of him in his 70s.

1:21:18 Wow. That guy is something special. Train kept on rolling all night long. There's very few humans like that out there. He sticks to his diet. yeah i mean that's what he looks like you don't look like that when you're 76 unless you're a The mental sharpness. Like a flintstone that they used to cut mammoth meat with. It's just extraordinary when you see someone who's such an outlier.

1:24:08 Who's competing with him? Yeah. Yeah, these guys. Or Bellator. One's MMA and one's pro wrestling, you know? He's entertaining. Yep. But he's got so much money. Like Floyd Mayweather went over there and the Paul brothers. You're going to say that? But, I mean, he's probably still a part of the company, probably in stock or something. I see it everywhere.

1:27:30 Made 100 million dollars But that leg snap's a real problem. Anderson was a little older, I believe. and you're taking kicks. two years right it's about two years now since he last competed i believe it's about two years I really think they should do all that in-house. Fucking insane. He lost that fight to Dustin Poirier, I mean, it would be an amazing story,

1:30:32 But you've got to think Weidman took two years off as well. guys can come back from. Yeah. Never recovered, huh? and there was a real touch-and-go moment where they didn't know if he was going to make it. It's just when you got hit by a car. and they went back, and Paul Felder, a lot of guys, Right. And also, there's a real problem where they're stopping guys from taking things like BPC 157.

1:33:11 You ever use that? You'd probably love it. A lot of people have very good success with it. Well, I think they should still. They understand the game better. fighting. With fighting, with football, knocked in the head a bunch of times is Oh, yeah. So he's an older athlete. We knew. When you get older, you lose testosterone. I'm not going above and beyond and trying to abuse it.

1:36:47 Yeah. But other than that, it keeps your energy level. It is. sure you're not fucking off and doing something crazy but like this is the amount you get let's fucking three times a day yeah you mean you really if you really go crazy with the test See, they can find Alistair Overeem now. Who are you talking to? I mean, I think he's probably natural now.

1:40:06 Yeah. Now go to Alistair Overeem weighing in for the Brock Lesnar fight. Look at me behind him. Bro, he was a fucking monster. He fought Badr Hari. Francis Ngannou knocked him into veganism. Oh, my. And also natural after taking supplements for who knows how long. Oh, he's so good. No, he didn't. But he might still. he's looking at his heels. Look how far his head snaps back. mean, insane. His head snaps back to where he's looking at his heels.

1:42:59 It's got to be a scary situation when you wake up and come to. pull me back down. You know what's crazy is that you guys use regular tables. So did you wake up and realize what was happening? They're getting ready to do a live shot of me said, just say, I'll do it for you. they actually pulled my head down and would hit somebody else when I was supposed to duck.

1:45:34 I ended up in the hospital that night, and I came to and said, what happened? looking at like what's going on with football players and what's going on with boxers. And I'm just wondering if something like that is going to happen. You see all the damage that's done in boxing. A leg of an athlete like that is just as hard as a wooden bat. Boom. cte than than other people and it's it's it's different but it doesn't mean that you're immune

1:48:39 Like Don Fry. You're talking about an old school fighter. Mark Coleman, too. If you watch his Instagram, he's a maniac. Really? I learned it from the University of Iowa head wrestling coach, Dan Gable. strongest or the most technical. But what I knew I could be is the most well is insane. Have you seen that? And he was just a giant of a man. He was like 250.

1:51:29 He was such a machine. dominant yes yes the documentary originally was just about this guy who's this unstoppable force And that was when Kerr was in his prime. things. But it was just And then he moved up to my weight Yeah. Mark Kerr submits Dan Bobish. Bobish was a giant of a man. mounted him. I think he mounted him. And you look at the size of Bobish.

1:54:44 I don't think anyone's ever done that since. That's it. Okay. So what he did is he basically got head and arm inside control And that's Coleman in his fucking prime. Yeah, there it is right there where you just had it, Jamie. He's crushing him. The more he steps that way, the tighter it gets. That was it. Mark, we can get a couple words from you. Or wanted to compete in wrestling

1:58:52 Yeah, yeah, he did. because there was some talk, like would Kurt Angle ever fight in the UFC? When you dictate where the fight takes place, because if that guy wanted to take you down, he's taking you down. Okay, so it was jiu-jitsu versus wrestling. Yes, yes. Yeah, Kevin Jackson fought Frank Shamrock, and he got armbarred. So then they understand fighters and they try to get in there and do it and they get crushed. Because guys just take you down. No matter how good a striker. Their rise has tried to be their stand-up fighters,

2:01:39 But I saw a good one of Derek Lewis going, See, it's just who you're doing it to. That reach from the position, you get into that spot. And if you're fucking Roy Nelson, you're like, oh, shit. That's a guy Derek, I think, would shine in pro wrestling at the end of his career. But the heavyweight division is so shallow. Those guys go into the NFL. and when you go higher and lower it gets lighter.

2:04:42 They'd go over and pin themselves. of what a pussy I am. It's Carellon. That he got beat his last match. Yeah, he did well in Pride. on the planet. He was so big. guy, his mobility was sensational. They called him the experiment. A lot of it was like movement-based. Yeah, for a 300-pound guy. That was pride, right? You know, he wasn't wrestling anymore.

2:08:41 Watching him compete, I just didn't. stars, you got a pee? but Hickson was the master of jiu-jitsu back then. Yeah, and then you would see him roll. videos of it of him just effortlessly tapping everybody just rotating in and out rotating Is it because of Hickson's age? And it was also – it was in some ways a better advertisement for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu

2:11:29 was really an advertisement for Gracie of guys, guys would instinctively grab so much better than him. Hickson, yeah. Even in boxing, like when Terrence Crawford fought Errol Spence, It might have been 96. But it's just like once Hickson got you to the ground, man, you were just fucked. And, you know, I don't know what he knew in terms of real martial arts.

2:13:56 And when he did, he fought Funaki, His jiu-jitsu was so good. fucked so as he's reaching with his arms right there he doesn't understand hicks is just kind And this was Hickson's final fight. because that would have been insane. And then he eventually gets his back and strangles him. Yeah, he just goes out cold. Yeah, he's out cold. It's wild. That's what Francis is coming in to talk about.

2:17:10 man. Oh, yeah. They're throwing that money around. Oh, yeah. underestimates Francis, and gets clipped. Well, that could be two straight losses for him too. He is the most overall talented fighter I've ever seen. He's meticulous about it. It's mindset. has been a world title fight. And again, that wrestling base. And again, that wrestling base. It really is.

2:19:58 Oh, yeah. And the lower weight class was 198. He was 270. Why? I would have had to lose seven pounds to make it. Right, that's the whole mindset of weight cutting. brock do you remember what you did was it double leg takedowns did you like duck unders ah yes yeah You'd be happy to know. All of his training is exhaust training. It was hilarious. We had Chinese dumplings right before that.

2:23:21 What's just incredible about your career was that you were able to accomplish that I just wrestled 220 for the Olympics and heavyweight for a college wrestling. 6'6". He was 270. Actually, he pinned all five opponents before this match. titles. I guess as long beating me, he got bigger. It's a real problem. and all you're worrying about at least from my high school experience all you're worrying about

2:26:04 about mma it's the one thing that i would cut out if i could i think there should be more weight It really lowers your work ethic. Yeah. So you don't want to do that. I've always said it about MMA. When he got into the octagon, he was 226. And I was wrestling down at 200, 299 pounds. so you know when they finally get a chance to eat they're going to eat

2:27:17 I didn't have to worry about it. everybody else. Yeah. I think 12. 12 would be right, yeah. Yeah. And he's fucking dense like this table like Bohovic at light heavyweight who was the to light heavyweight, and he just beat Jan Bohovic at light heavyweight, who was the former light heavyweight champion. I mean, it's a lot of mental toughness, too. exactly what's crazy about wrestling is you have to compete the day of yeah that's what's yeah you

2:30:20 Yeah. They're covering him with plastics and thermal suits. He's about 6'4". But also, I think it affects your chin. Right. On their heavyweights, yeah. You know, I'm not telling you what to do, but I'm telling you what to do. Might mean for sure. Can I ask one more question? Yeah, please do. I'll tell you what happened. And he let it go and it hit the wall.

2:33:27 There's a kid out there somewhere listening to this, cringing. You're just a little kid. I appreciate it. All right. Second show. Unbelievable.