From the WWE Rumor Mill: Kurt Angle teases in-ring return
What's the story?
Kurt Angle is undoubtedly one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and, while a singles return seemed very unlikely just six months ago, an odd turn of events that led to Angle competing in two tag team matches towards the end of last year could indicate that we may just see the Olympic Gold Medallist back in the squared circle sooner rather than later.
Well, the WWE Hall of Famer took to social media earlier to hint at an in-ring return - and even suggested that it could be his incredibly serious Wrestling Machine character.
In case you didn't know...
While Angle had a short spell in ECW before joining WWE, many will remember Angle's ECW run when he had a mouth guard with those three letters emblazoned and very quickly squashed all opponents.
It was during this spell where Angle was nicknamed the 'Wrestling Machine' - a stint where the Gold Medallist's more serious side came out and his technical wrestling ability spoke for itself.
The heart of the matter
Kurt Angle took to Instagram today to reminisce about the Wrestling Machine character and hint that it could one day return.
It may not be the persona most people remember the Hall of Famer for but it all started in May 2006 when Angle was drafted to ECW, where he defeated Randy Orton at One Night Stand after issuing an open challenge.
The run only lasted a matter of months though, as Angle was granted an early release from his WWE contract in August 2006 due to health reasons. The current RAW General Manager later admitted that he asked for his release as he was working with some pretty bad injuries and that he was also WWE's "top talent" at the time - being the highest earner in the company.
Kurt Angle's last match as the 'Wrestling Machine' ended in a no-contest against Sabu.
What's next?
Well, Kurt Angle is still on television every Monday Night as Raw General Manager - more recently having trouble dealing with Braun Strowman's destruction of everything and everyone in sight.
While the role started out as a non-physical role, Roman Reigns' illness last year meant that Kurt Angle made his shocking in-ring return at TLC as an honorary member of The Shield in a five-on-three match.
While Angle only joined The Shield for one night, he also competed at Survivor Series where he captained Team RAW to victory, while himself being eliminated by Shane McMahon.
There's no word yet on a singles return or any other matches, but Angle took his fair share of bumps - including a Running Powerslam through a table from Braun Strowman - so you'd have to think that we'd see him in action again in the future.
Author's take
It's always cool to see wrestlers reminisce about old personas or characters - particularly ones that didn't get a chance to run their course. While I doubt Angle would return to the ring as anything other than his current persona as RAW General Manager, hopefully, his words aren't far off the mark and we do see him return soon.
There's still a story to be told between himself and Triple H after 'The Game' effectively eliminated him from the Survivor Series Match when he Pedigreed his teammate but draped brother-in-law Shane McMahon over Angle. The Jason Jordan story is also far from over, so we'll have to see how this plays out!
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