Kurt Angle is well aware of the fact that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin sold far more merchandise than him and many others in WWE.
During the latest edition of his “The Kurt Angle Show” podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer commented on how much money Steve Austin made on merchandise, being paid more to wrestle than Austin, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how much he made on merchandise: “I have to tell you this, it wasn’t Stone Cold money. I didn’t do it; I wasn’t a merchandise guy. Vince McMahon came to me and said, ‘Listen, we can’t use the word Olympic. We can’t use Olympic rings. You’re not going to do merchandise, and I’m going to pay you to wrestle.’ Listen, 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.’”
On being paid more to wrestle than Austin: “He only made two and a half million wrestling and 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. The 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.’ And 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.”
