Kurt Angle appeared on the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet to discuss various aspects of his illustrious career, including his reflections on its conclusion. Angle candidly admitted that, in hindsight, his career should have ended a decade earlier than it did.
After leaving WWE in 2006, Angle joined TNA Wrestling, where he delivered some of the best matches of his career and often speaks highly of his time there. In 2017, he returned to WWE, where he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and served as the Raw General Manager. Despite his significant contributions to wrestling, Angle’s later years were marked by physical struggles due to the toll his career had taken on his body.
Angle continued to wrestle select matches after his Hall of Fame induction but eventually decided to retire, knowing he could no longer perform at the elite level fans had come to expect. His farewell match came at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, where he lost to Baron Corbin at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
Angle shared his thoughts on the match and his decision to step away from the ring:
“You know what I wish I would have? I think I wish I would have finished my career in WWE, 10 years shorter. WWE and TNA. So, in other words, instead of 20 years, I think 10 would have been enough, and I think I would have been okay, but I pushed myself further and, you know, got into my 40s and kept working at a high pace. The reason why I retired is because I was losing a step, and I could see it when I watched me on film. I didn’t like what I saw, and I didn’t want the fans to remember me as a broken-down Kurt Angle. I wanted them to remember me when I was in my prime, and that occurred when I went back to the WWE for the second time, and that was in 2017. When I came back, I ended up they wanted to induct me into Hall of Fame. And I was like, Vince, I’m not done wrestling. He’s like, ‘Well, we’ll get to the wrestling.’ And then he said that that night after the Hall of Fame, he said, ‘I want you to be a general manager of Raw.’ I was like, ‘Vince, I want to wrestle.’ He said, ‘It’s coming.’ So he made me the general manager of Raw for nine months, and during those nine months, I was inactive. I never got in the ring. I was so busy doing general manager stuff I couldn’t get in the ring. And by the time they had me wrestle, I looked like an old man. Taking those nine months off, especially at my age, close to 50. I shut down. My body shut down, and my knees were bent full time like I couldn’t [straighten] my knees out. I had to have knee replacements. Now, my knee is straight. I had a rough time in that ring.”
The legendary wrestler’s comments reflect the challenges of balancing passion for the industry with the physical demands of a long and grueling career. Fans continue to celebrate Angle’s legacy as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, both in WWE and TNA.
When asked whether there was a chance to go back to WWE in 2009.
“No, I was happy in TNA. I was literally moving along nicely. And I love being there. The great thing about it is, you know, you got to be creative yourself. They would give you an idea, a promo, and you would write the promo and do it. And you know, when you wrestled, usually you have agents that will structure the matches for you. We did it ourselves for the most part.”
You can check out the interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
