Kurt Angle made his WWE return in 2017 to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Days later, the Olympic Gold Medallist was announced as the General Manager of
RAW, and he remained in that role for a long time with only a couple of matches during his tenure.
By the time he was freed up to wrestle again, it had become apparent that he was no longer at 100%, and what followed was a disappointed series of
RAW matches before he was retired by King Corbin at
WrestleMania. Now, Angle has shared his regrets about how his return was handled and the fact he wasn't allowed to wrestle from the start.
"I wanted to come back to WWE and wrestle right away, unfortunately that wasn't their plans for me, they wanted me to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, then they wanted me to be the GM of Raw. By the time I had got to wrestling, I wasn't quite the same anymore. Just sitting out that year and a half, I probably only had 1 or 2 matches where they were special occasions. [TLC] in that tables ladders and chairs match where I substituted for Roman Reigns, that's all I did. When you get older and you're not active, your body gets arthritic and then you start slowing down. Your neck and knees and back start to get tighter. You start getting a lot more pain. I believe that if I would've stayed active, I'd still be wrestling right now.
"I'm not blaming the WWE. I don't blame Vince McMahon for doing what he did with me, because I was a liability coming back. I broke my neck 4 times in the WWE in the past, I had a pain killer addiction and the company wanted to tread lightly with me when I came back so I totally get it. I'm glad they brought me back to induct me into the Hall of Fame, I would've just done it differently, I would've wrestled right away. I was still wrestling pretty well at that point, I took a year off from TNA, I did the Indy circuit and I was wrestling extremely well. When I got to WWE they kind of pulled the reins on me and said well we're not going to have you wrestle right away. Taking that time off and sitting around really affected my body."
It's a real shame to think about what might have been, and Angle's wrestling career definitely didn't end the way he - or fans - wanted. Still, there's no denying that the WWE Hall of Famer has left behind an incredible in-ring career, and he's now helping shape the Superstars of the future as a producer behind the scenes.
Are you disappointed with how WWE handled Angle's return?