5-Time WWE Champion reveals unfulfilled desire to win Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania as a babyface
Only a few WWE stars have had the prestigious honor of winning the Royal Rumble, and Kurt Angle's name is surprisingly not on the list. The Olympic gold medalist admitted on his podcast this week that being the last survivor of the Royal Rumble was the only thing that "got away from him" in WWE.
Kurt Angle was one of WWE's best talents during the early 2000s. The former amateur wrestler captured multiple world titles and was featured in most of the top storylines.
Angle entered the Royal Rumble match for the first time in 2002 and racked up two eliminations before getting dumped out by eventual winner Triple H. In total, Kurt has competed in four Royal Rumble matches, with his last appearance happening in the 2019 edition.
The Hall of Famer has also had a few singles matches at the Rumble over the years, with his 2003 match against Chris Benoit ranking among the best in history.
Kurt Angle never got the chance to win a Royal Rumble, and the 54-year-old recently revealed that he would have loved to have walked into WrestleMania's world title match as a babyface.
He stated the following on the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show:
"One thing that got away from me, and I'm not sure if the company felt that I was worthy of it or if they didn't feel like it, could've been because I had numerous injuries, and there were years when I couldn't wrestle at the Royal Rumble, but I would have loved to be Royal Rumble champion. I would have loved to have won the Royal Rumble, go to WrestleMania, and main event, as, most likely, the babyface. That's who usually wins the Royal Rumble." [23:30 - 23:57]
In case you missed it, you can check out the SmackDown results here.
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Kurt Angle highlights an interesting fact about his WWE WrestleMania matches
WrestleManias from the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras had star-studded match cards featuring some of the greatest superstars of all time. While most talents get the chance to compete at 'Mania, only a handful are pushed to headline the mega show. Kurt Angle was one of the lucky superstars to have main-evented WrestleMania on more than one occasion.
While Angle richly deserved to be a marquee name for WWE, he was always a heel heading into WrestleMania, which might have been one of the biggest reasons he never won the Royal Rumble.
Kurt could still have fulfilled his dream had he not left WWE in 2006 and spent nearly 11 years away from the promotion:
"That would have been a lot of fun for me because I wrestled at WrestleMania all three years that I main evented as a heel. I didn't get to wrestle as a babyface. So that, unfortunately, I would have loved to have done," Angle added. [23:58 - 24:13]
Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania 21
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ (10/10)
Note: Two of the best wrestlers of all time putting on an absolute classic. Easily the best match on the card. Top 10 match in WM history we being honest https://t.co/kczW1GHDPi
Should Kurt Angle have won a Royal Rumble during his illustrious career? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit The Kurt Angle Show and H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription.