Kurt Angle says he's 'not a TNA guy', will sign a new deal somewhere within a couple weeks

Kurt Angle's contract with TNA comes on Sept. 21 and it wasn't all that long ago that he said he turned down an extension. For some time now, the Olympic gold medalist has stated his desire to return to WWE, apparently even going so far as to call Triple H and, when he ran into a brick wall there, go over his head and call Vince McMahon.

That's why this quote from his recent interview with Ring Rust Radio makes so much more sense:

"What I would label myself? You know you always go back to where you started. I don't think you can label Sting as a TNA guy. He's a WCW guy and even Sting in WWE now will always be remembered as a WCW guy. So I can't say I'm a TNA guy obviously. WWE is where I started and Vince McMahon made me who I am and gave me the opportunity but I've had a better career in TNA. Now a lot of WWE fans might not believe that or they may have never seen me wrestle in TNA but the matches I've had in TNA were actually better than the matches I had in WWE. That's a hard thing to say, but the matches I've had with Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and the different matches with different wrestlers like Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Desmond Wolf, Mr. Anderson, and Bobby Roode. I would say I was probably more consistent in TNA although I was always known to have the best matches and be a very consistent wrestler in WWE. I think it's because the older I got the more I improved, the more I mastered the craft, the more I was able to let myself do what I do and have more confidence. The reason the second part of my career was better than the first was because of that."

That's one way to put it.

So what's his next move?

"Well right now I'm not at liberty to say where I'm going but I will tell you I'm going to do the right thing for me and my family. I am in the process of structuring a deal and I do have a company in mind. I haven't said yes because I want to make it a public thing with the company and myself. I can't really say who it is or where I'm going but I can tell you it's going to happen in the next two weeks before my contract is even up. I won't be wrestling until January but there will be a signing in the next couple of weeks."

As far as reports go, nothing has changed on the WWE front. Angle is considered a liability with his history of health issues and drug problems, even if he's claiming he'll be completely healthy by January and that he's been clean and sober for over a year now.

That said, TNA's future is still up in the air with no television deal announced and Spike TV seemingly moving on from professional wrestling programming. GFW, headed by Jeff Jarrett, would be the next logical choice but as far as we can tell, that's hardly even a real promotion at this point.

Perhaps signing Angle and making him the company's flagship star is the big plan.

Or not.

Stay tuned.