Kurt Angle Signs Autographs, Mugs for Photos at Family Video in Whitehall

Better late than never.

Though he was tardy by about 25 minutes, Kurt Angle ended up giving more time than he promised at the  on Saturday.

Angle, a former Olympic gold medalist and current professional wrestler, signed as many autographs and posed for as many pictures as fans wanted before finally leaving the Route 51 store after about two hours on Saturday.

"Signing doesn't bother me," said Angle, who was there to promote his movie River of Darkness but was also in the Pittsburgh area for a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling show at The Rostraver Ice Garden that night at 7:30.

"Meeting the fans is the best thing," he said. "They may think you're a mean guy, and sometimes, you hear some positive things and some negative things.

"But when you meet them face-to-face, they say, 'You know what? Kurt Angle's a good guy.' I'm grateful. I had about 200 fans show up today. That's pretty cool for a movie signing.

"I think Family Video will be happy with that as well. We do distribution with Family Video. (They've) been really good to us."

Mark Yoo, the district manager for many Pittsburgh-area Family Video locations, including the Whitehall store, said that events like the Angle signing on Saturday are what make Family Video still attractive to consumers despite other options that they may have to buy or rent video games and movies.

Yoo pointed out that having a Family Video in Whitehall is good for the community as well since the store pays taxes on the property that it owns along Route 51.

But Saturday was all about the fans, some of whom arrived at the store as early as 8 a.m. to get a good spot in line.

Bob Spicer, a 1965  alumnus who grew up on Olympic Road in , was one of the day's attendants. Spicer waited in line for at least an hour.

"My boy's a wrestling fan," Spicer said, "and I came down to get a DVD and a book signed for him."

John Pouch and his 10-year-old son, Nick, both Baldwin Borough residents who live on Edward Drive, also waited out the line to get their turn with Angle.

Though Nick said that his favorite wrestler is John Cena of World Wrestling Entertainment, he said that he's a big fan of Angle's, too, even before Angle wrestled in the WWE.

Nick said that it was Angle’s Olympic gold medal in wrestling and his roots in Pittsburgh that made him a fan of his.

Angle is a nearby Mount Lebanon Township native who wrestled in college at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

Angle plays a sheriff and the lead protagonist in River of Darkness who has to deal with three "undead" brothers who have come back to the sheriff's jurisdiction seeking revenge for their murders several years ago. 

Two of the brothers are played by fellow pro wrestlers "Psycho" Sid Eudy and Kevin Nash.

Angle is serious about acting and hopes that movies like River of Darkness, a North Shore Pictures production, could lead to bigger and better things for him.

Angle said that he is a part owner of North Shore Pictures.

"The transition from wrestling to acting is easy," Angle said. "It's just that Hollywood doesn't know that a lot of wrestlers wanna act.

"WWE kind of contains their wrestlers; they just do specifically WWE films.

"I might be coming back to WWE in the fall, so it's one of those things where, if I stay in TNA, I might be able to act in Hollywood. (But,) if I leave, I might be only contained to doing WWE films, which isn't a bad thing. It's actually a good thing because they do really well, but it's something that I have to think about. My contract's up in August.

"Do I want to continue to do Hollywood films? I've made incredible contacts, thank God, and God willing, I'll have bigger and better movies in the future. This is just a steppingstone for me. This is the beginning …

"What I'd like to do is 15 to 20 Hollywood films and then just do my own films (in Pittsburgh) at North Shore Productions ...

"Once I get my name big enough where I can go off on my own, like Sylvester Stallone did, that would be great. That's my goal."