Kurt Angle's WWE career ended with more of a whimper than a bang when he was retired by Baron Corbin at WrestleMania in 2019. Of course, we've since learned that WWE tried to bring the Olympic Gold Medallist back into the fold by offering him the chance to manage Matt Riddle.
It's no secret that the WWE Hall of Famer turned the offer down and he's finally shed some light on why while interviewing Riddle on The Kurt Angle Show.
"I wanted to bring it up, Matt, do you remember when they asked me to manage you?" he asked the wrestler who was recently released by WWE. "I wish I would have done it, but you know what, they just ... the money was not really that good. They didn't want to give me that much money and it was like, 'Okay, I would love to manage Matt, but you got to give me a little bit more money than that.'"
Riddle then chimed in to say, "I can't agree with you more because when you're on the road, that schedule is taxing on your body. Even if you're just managing, even if you're just cutting promos. The wrestling is not the hard part - I mean it's wear and tear for sure - but the travel is the most brutal part of wrestling."
These two did share the ring at one point, of course, as Angle ended up being a special guest referee for Riddle's memorable NXT match with Timothy Thatcher. Days later, Angle announced that Riddle would make the leap to SmackDown.
In 2020, Riddle revealed that he would have been moved to the blue brand sooner had COVID-19 not happened (which resulted in his tag team partner Pete Dunne being stuck in the UK. He'd go on to say that, upon learning Angle would serve as the referee in his "Cage Fight" with Timothy Thatcher, he pitched a storyline between the two.
"You know what crossed my mind originally [with Kurt Angle]? There’s the management thing, but then like in my head – and maybe this is just greedy me – in my head, when I see Kurt Angle, even if I like him and I’m friendly with him, I know the money is in beating up Kurt Angle," Riddle explained.
"I was really hoping he was going to cost me the cage match and then the Bro was going to snap and beat up Kurt Angle! Some deadlift Germans to an Olympic gold medallist from the Stallion?" Riddle added. "You telling me everybody at home wouldn’t be like ‘No he didn’t just dump him on his head!’ – because that’s what I do! It would have been crazy."
Yeah, that's probably not the best idea for a retired wrestler with a history of broken freakin' necks. Even so, it's hard not to wish Angle hadn't agreed to manage Riddle as it could have made for a fun dynamic.