By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

Bruno Sammartino says Kurt Angle would rank among the very top of wrestlers in the history of wrestling. Without needing to rank certain wrestlers, Sammartino says there is an elite group, which Angle would be included in.

TNA is releasing a Kurt Angle-themed DVD on Nov. 25 featuring his best matches in TNA and exclusive interviews. Sammartino was interviewed for the DVD and TNA posted a clip of his interview that will be contained on the DVD.

"Kurt is such a great, scientific wrestler that you always want to be part of the best," Sammartino said about whether he would like to wrestle Angle if they were both in their heyday. "I think we would have thrilled the audience to no ends. If you give the people something that's extremely exciting, they will appreciate it and they will love it. I believe that I could have provided that kind of a match with Kurt Angle."

Sammartino also says that he relates very well to Angle with their Pittsburgh background and with a strong mom raising them with toughness and love to make it to top ranks in amateur and professional wrestling. That background also includes a focus on conditioning, he says.

"What I see in Kurt that's absolutely great - he's such a credit to the business because I see him doing a lot of great wrestling moves as well as professional moves - but I see great conditioning," Sammartino said. "I always prided myself in that. ... Watching Kurt, I can see that kind of great conditioning he has."

Sammartino continued: "I wonder, because I don't watch that much of it (current wrestling), are there that many guys there that if they had a go with Kurt for one hour, could they do it? I would really doubt that because his conditioning is great."

FYI: Bruno Sammartino will be appearing at this weekend's Killer Kowalski Memorial show in Massachusetts. In the TNA video clip below, Sammartino talks about his battles with Kowalski. For more on Sammartino's career, Torch VIP Members can access the Torch Talk Appendix for the in-depth On Point interview series with Sammartino that I conducted in May 2006.

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