"I probably should have done that" - Kurt Angle says he should have faced WWE Veteran instead of retiring
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle said he should have faced John Cena at WrestleMania 36 instead of declining it.
Kurt Angle received a warm welcome when he entered the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. However, he didn't go back to wrestling as he instead became the RAW General Manager. Eventually, he made his in-ring return and helped The Shield.
Angle spent months feuding with Baron Corbin but wanted to face John Cena. Vince McMahon gave the Olympic Gold Medalist the option to face Cena at next year's WrestleMania. Unfortunately, he declined it. Speaking on the Cafe de Rene podcast, he revealed that he should have taken a break and faced Cena in his final match:
“He did give me the option to go another year and wrestle Cena, and I probably should have done that looking back. I probably could have laid back and not wrestled for a good 6 or 7 or 8 months and started to get myself ready. I gained a lot of weight at this particular time, and I could go away from the product, lost the weight and got in better shape and come back and wrestle John Cena.” [H/T - ITR]
Fans wanted Angle to end his career by facing Cena at WrestleMania. It would have been interesting to see Angle and Cena for the final time.
Kurt Angle says WWE saw him as a liability when he returned
Kurt Angle is one of the most gifted in-ring talents produced by WWE. Unfortunately, Angle was addicted to pain killers and suffered multiple injuries throughout his career which led to him leaving the company in 2006.
After returning to WWE, Angle felt the company saw him as a liability, which is why he didn't wrestle immediately and laced up the boots after a few months. Speaking on the same episode, he talks about how he became a liability in the eyes of WWE:
“It was unfortunate, and I’m not gonna blame the WWE for my performances, but they brought me back and I told them I wanted to wrestle because I was wrestling really well at that particular time in 2017...I think the reason was that they saw me as a liability. They saw the painkiller addiction, they saw me breaking my neck 4 times, I think they wanted to ease me into the product and to save me from myself. If I went out, I would go until I killed myself. I would go all out more than I could actually go.” [H/T - ITR]
Unfortunately, Angle retired at WrestleMania 35 after losing to Baron Corbin. It would have been fascinating to see what Angle could have done in his second run if he was in much better health.
Do you think Kurt Angle should have retired against John Cena? Sound off in the comments section.