TNA iMPACT's Kurt Angle

One-on-one

The press conference over, Angle is hustled off to begin posing for photos, signing posters and taking part in interviews. By the time it's my turn the event is running late and I'm told I have just seven minutes with Angle - reduced to six after a TV crew insists he gives them an ident first. "This is Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medallist and TNA world heavyweight champion," he tells the camera. "Oh, it's real. It's damn real."

With the clock ticking and my long list of questions looking increasingly optimistic, that seems like a good place to start. Is Angle suggesting TNA wrestling is more realistic than WWE? "Yeah, TNA is more real," he says, confirming the saying is a direct reference to one of his old catchphrases.

"In WWE I was a bad guy. I would go to a city and say something bad about it, and they would boo me, but it would be true. So I would say, 'Oh, it's true, it's damn true'. I turned that phrase into 'It's real' for TNA because I believe TNA is more realistic.

"WWE is a little less hardcore. It's more about entertainment, bathroom humour-type TV," Angle continues. "We're more of an action-packed wrestling show. That's what separates us. The fans like it better because it looks more real."

But what's going to separate TNA iMPACT! from the many WWE games already lining the shelves? Again, says Angle, it comes down to realism. "TNA and Midway have spent so much time and money on making this the most authentic game. As matches go on you can see wrestlers sweating more, breathing heavily, getting tired. When they're getting beat up you can tell they're hurt; when they're angry you can see it in their face.

"It's actually like watching the real television show. It's as close as it's ever been. They've taken a giant leap over all other wrestling games ever."

It's a hard knock life

I ask Angle if he has any rock'n'roll stories of life as a wrestler on the road, but it all sounds a bit dull. "We don't have any time off; we go 52 weeks a year, so we can't have crazy nights. We have to be on every single day and be ready for each match, and we're very responsible about showing up on time, being the character and wrestling as hard as we can. We wake up early and we try to get our rest."

Of course, however well wrestlers take care of themselves, injuries still happen. One of Angle's worst was incurred during the trials for the '96 Olympics. "I got thrown on my head and I broke four vertebrae and I had two discs in my neck that slipped and stabbed into my spinal cord, so I had trouble moving my neck and I was in a lot of pain," he recalls.

Angle was unaware he had actually broken his neck, and wasn't willing to have surgery or give up time to recuperation with the Olympics just months away. So he continued to train and went on to win his medal with medical help.

"I had a doctor travel with me to the Olympics and five minutes before each match, he would stick me in the neck with 12 shots of novocaine. Then I'd run back out and wrestle my match... It didn't really affect my performance because I couldn't feel it."

The six minutes is up already; just time to squeeze one more question. Mr Angle, you are a giant of a man and a world famous professional wrestler with an Olympic gold medal you won whilst suffering from a broken neck and hocked up on prescription anaesthetics. I am a small woman from Lewisham. Who would win in a fight?

He laughs, and then says, "You know what? You're scaring me right now by asking me." I should think so. "I would say me, but I'd say it would be a good fight." There's just time to agree with Angle ("Yes, I do a lot of yoga") before being hustled out so he can tell a TV camera which is his favourite Spanish videogames programme.

The real question is who will win the fight between TNA iMPACT! and the WWE games. It's a hard one to answer at this stage. The demo on show at today's event crashes frequently and the controls feel sloppy and unfinished. The visuals look good, but not good enough to back up Angle's claim it's like watching wrestling on TV. According to the Midway rep, the code is months old and many significant improvements have since been made.

That will be key if the game is to topple the might of SmackDown vs. Raw, just as TNA and Kurt Angle are hoping to topple the WWE. Right now, iMPACT! looks like it could do with a dozen shots of novocaine. And as for the wrestler's claim it'll be the biggest hit videogame ever? Let's just say having seen him in the flesh, he's not a man you'd want to start a row with.