Charlie Haas Shares Content Of Recent Text Exchanges With Kurt Angle
On a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with WWE veteran and current SWE Heavyweight Champion Charlie Haas. Haas is well known for his time on Team Angle, along with Kurt Angle and Shelton Benjamin, and was asked why the unit didn't get a longer run.
"At the time, you had RAW and SmackDown, so we were the number one group on SmackDown," Haas said. "Who is the one group one RAW? Evolution. It started at the same time. When we do the joint pay-per-views, all of a sudden, we started gaining ground or there's a distance between the two groups. It got shut down early. It is what it is.
"It's not like it was growing up watching Georgia Championship Wrestling or World Class where they had factions that meant something, and every title meant something and you believed it. Tag teaming was my specialty. They would go in there, and they would break it down. 'We're going to change it. There's not gonna be a double feed. I don't need you guys working half the ring.' I'm like, 'You're taking away everything man. Why even have it?' And they looked at it as a tag team is just an extra expense for another guy on the road. That's what it is, so it's a budget cut."
Hausman later asked if Haas if he ever reached out to Kurt Angle to help him train his sons, who he coaches in amateur wrestling.
"I talk to Kurt a lot on text. I love him to death," Haas stated. "I'm like, 'They're wrestling up in Tulsa. He's going to be up in PA wrestling or up in Iowa.' He's like, 'You're gonna burn them out Charlie. You're making them wrestle too much. You want them to be like my nephew? My nephew was better than me, but you never heard of him because he got burnt out.' I was like, 'Alright Kurt.' So every time I bring it up, he's like, 'He should be playing baseball or football.' I'm like, 'Well he does play those sports. He's just really good at this.' Shelton's four hours away from me. I talk to him all the time. He's my best friend, and he'll come and help coach sometimes."
Charlie Haas defends his SWE Heavyweight Championship tonight at SWE Sprang Stampede. The show will stream live on FITE. You can find the full audio and video from Charlie's interview below: