"All they were gonna do was job me out" - WWE legend explains why he rejected Vince McMahon's offer to wrestle another year
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has explained why he was not keen to wrestle in the company for another year after his match with Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35.
Angle's last outing came at The Show of Shows in 2019. The Olympic gold medalist was eager to face John Cena in his final WWE match, as he felt it would complete a great story between him and the Cenation Leader.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen as Vince McMahon wanted to push Corbin and put him in a match with Angle.
In a recent interaction with Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Angle revealed that he asked McMahon about wanting to face Cena. However, the WWE Chairman told him that he could face the 16-time World Champion the following year.
The Hall of Famer, though, didn't want to continue wrestling for another year, especially in WWE, as he dreaded getting jobbed out in matches.
"Well Vince [McMahon] said, ‘Well Kurt, you can do that next year.’ I was like, ‘Vince, I’m retiring this year.’ He said, ‘Well if you wait another year, I could do that for you.’ I said, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it this year’ because there was no way in hell I was gonna wrestle another year especially in WWE because all they were gonna do was job me out for the whole year so, I knew — I could see the writing on the wall and I didn’t know if I wanted to be a part of that," said Kurt Angle. (H/T Post Wrestling)
It's @RealKurtAngle's #FarewellMatch, but @BaronCorbinWWE wants to be the one who's remembered at #WrestleMania 35! https://t.co/EGa9SYdhw9
Angle lost his final outing in WWE to Corbin in a six-minute match at The Show of Shows.
Baron Corbin understands why Kurt Angle wanted John Cena in his final WWE match
On this day 18 years ago @JohnCena made his official WWE debut on SmackDown, where he channeled his inner #RuthlessAggression by answering @RealKurtAngle’s open challenge! #TBT https://t.co/aIXn7MadyC
Fans weren't too pleased to see Kurt Angle bow out against Baron Corbin as they were hoping to see the Olympic Gold Medallist square off with John Cena.
The current WWE SmackDown star said he realized why Angle was keen on facing Cena rather than him at WrestleMania.
"He had history, he was Cena’s first match in WWE and I understand that completely. Who wouldn’t want to go out wrestling John Cena as their last match?" said Corbin.
Cena's WWE television debut happened in 2002 when he accepted Angle's open challenge on SmackDown and put on a good showing. It kicked off what would be an incredible, Hall of Fame-worthy career.
After hanging up his boots at WrestleMania 35, Kurt Angle worked as a backstage producer for WWE until he was released by the company as a part of the COVID-19 budget cuts in 2020.
Do you think Kurt Angle and John Cena should have squared off at WrestleMania 35? Sound off in the comments section!