WWE News: Kurt Angle Says A WWE Return Is Possible, Wants His Last Match To Be At ‘WrestleMania’
While Kurt Angle became famous in the wrestling world during his time in WWE, the Olympic gold medalist has spent the majority of his professional wrestling career in TNA. During his time there, he’s probably had the best matches of his entire career.
Angle requested to be released from his WWE contract in 2006, which was a request that was granted, and he signed with TNA shortly thereafter.
Ever since his WWE departure, the world’s number one sports entertainment organization hasn’t been too interested in bringing Angle back. Every time his TNA contract has come to an end, Angle has sent out feelers to WWE, and each time there was almost no interest.
Towards the end of last year, Angle became a free agent, and he made an attempt at a WWE comeback. However, the meeting he had set up with WWE was cancelled, and he ended up re-signing with TNA.
Now, with TNA’s obvious issues, Angle is set to leave the company after their tour of the United Kingdom, which is billed as the “Kurt Angle retirement tour.”
In previous interviews, Angle has said that, after his final tour with TNA, he plans to take at least a year off from wrestling. During that year, he’ll make an attempt to transition into acting, and then after that, he may get back into the ring if he feels up to it.
During an interview with Ring Rust Radio, Angle spoke about the possibility of returning to WWE after he leaves TNA, and he said that there’s a possibility that he may return to WWE if he could set up a meeting with them, and if they offered him the right deal. He also suggested that he would like for his final match to happen at WrestleMania.
“I don’t know [if I’ll return to WWE] to be honest. It all depends on how I feel about the situation. Is there a possibility that there will be a meeting in the future? Yes, I’m not counting it out. I think anybody in pro wrestling wouldn’t mind their last match being at WrestleMania.”
Kurt Angle last appeared at a WrestleMania event in 2006, where he defended and lost his World Heavyweight Championship in a triple-threat match against Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. So, if he were to take one year off from wrestling and return to WWE in early 2017, it would mark 11 years since his last WrestleMania appearance, which is quite the gap between appearances.
There was some chatter about Angle possibly returning to WWE via wrestling for NXT as a player/coach. Former TNA stars such as Samoa Joe and James Storm have ended up in NXT, but Angle says that while NXT is filled with talent, he has no desire to wrestle there. If he were to return to WWE, he would want to be on the main roster.
As for who Angle would want to wrestle if he returned to WWE, he has named guys like Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, and even Triple H. Angle has had great matches in the past with both Triple H and Lesnar, so if he were to return and get in the ring with either of those two men, they would likely put on a classic match.
Angle has, on the other hand, never been in the ring with either Daniel Bryan or Seth Rollins. But, much like if he were to wrestle Lesnar or Triple H again, a match between Angle and Bryan or Angle and Rollins would be nothing short of classic.
[Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images]
