Kurt Angle wishes he would have paid more attention to merchandise throughout his career and discusses why he never had a custom-made championship belt.
Many professional wrestlers are just as well known for their merchandise as they are for their matches. John Cena, whose merchandise is perhaps more baked into his character than any other wrestler in history, also had his custom championship belt. However, unlike Stone Cold's Smoking Skull WWE Championship belt, John Cena's spinner WWE Championship design became the official WWE Championship design from 2005 until 2013.
Kurt Angle wrestled John Cena many times throughout John's first run as WWE Champion. Speaking on his podcast, Kurt Angle explains why he never had a custom-made championship design.
Kurt says he was never much of a merchandise guy and wishes he had had more of a business mind for merchandise then.
"I just never thought of it. You know, John Cena did, Stone Cold Steve Austin did. I never did, and I could have had a really cool Olympic belt. I believe Vince would have bought into it, and he would have followed through. I wasn't a merchandise guy. I wish I was. I wish I would have pushed the merchandise harder. You know, early on, I just didn't have a business mind when I got into business," said Kurt. "I was an amateur wrestler and didn't really market myself. You know, John Cena came in fully prepared. Stone Cold Steve Austin, same with him. They had ideas for merchandise before they even started, and they continued to have ideas for merchandise during their careers.
"I didn't start [having merchandise ideas] until, like, my fifth year in the business. Then, I was like, 'Okay, I need to start making merchandise,' and it was just horrible that I didn't have a business mind at that time," Angle said
As for the design itself, Angle says it was okay for John Cena but did not like using it for other individuals.
"It was good for Cena. Having someone else carrying that belt, it's kind of odd, because Cena's the one that came up with the idea and the concept, and he made a lot of money on merchandise with it," Kurt said. "If Cena was going to carry the title that was great for him, but I'm more of a traditional guy. I like the old title, the eagle title. I also love the World Championship, but the spinner belt was cool. I just think it was cool for John."
WWE recently celebrated 60 years of the WWE Championship, and they will introduce a new World Championship at WWE Night of Champions 2023 when Seth Rollins clashes with AJ Styles to determine the first World Heavyweight Champion.
John Cena recently stated that he believes how he performed at WrestleMania 39 against Austin Theory is what he can offer the business today. Read more here.
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