Most WWE fans agree that the company dropped the ball on Kurt Angle's final few months of in-ring action and, unfortunately, his health has now reached a point where he's unable to wrestle.
The WWE Hall of Famer's final match came at 2019's WrestleMania 35 when he squared off with Baron Corbin in what proved to be a largely underwhelming bout. The Olympic Gold Medallist lost to the heel, though that ultimately did very little for either of them.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Angle explained why he chose to retire after that bout and shared his disappointment over not facing John Cena.
"I was doing a program with Baron Corbin when I decided I was going to retire," he says in the video below. "The reason why I decided to retire is because I wasn't me anymore. I was a half a step behind. I looked like I was old. When I was wrestling, I didn't like what I saw. And Vince wanted me to keep wrestling."
"I asked Vince, 'Hey, can I have John Cena? 'Because I started his career. I think it'd be proper if he ended my career.' And Vince said, 'No, you have Baron Corbin. You've been doing a program with him for six months. You have to continue. But if you want Cena, you can have it next year.'"
"And I said, 'Well, I'm going to go this WrestleMania," Angle continued. "And he said, 'Well, then you're going to wrestle Baron Corbin. Are you okay with that?' I said, 'Yeah, that's fine.' So I wasn't able to get Cena, but he gave me the option."
It's a shame the stars never aligned, though Angle's final handful of matches on RAW and SmackDown - against a number of dream opponents, including his old TNA foe AJ Styles - proved to be largely disappointing given his inability to compete at a high level.
You can watch the full interview with Angle below.