Former WWE Champion, Kurt Angle, has admitted that he had hoped his final run in WWE would have been a Goldberg-esque return leading to a legendary send-off.
When ‘The Olympic Gold Medallist’ returned to the company that helped put him on the map on 2017, he did so with his sights set on what Goldberg had done to Brock Lesnar months prior at the 2016 Survivor Series.
Still able to compete between the ropes and with machinations on a final top-tier run to cap off a legendary career, Angle arrived back in the promotion to find that he was destined for a role as Raw General Manager and a storyline in which former American Alpha, Jason Jordan, would be revealed as his offspring.
When Angle was permitted a return to action, it was as a replacement for Roman Reigns in a Shield reunion at WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2017, captaining Team Raw at Survivor Series and partnering Ronda Rousey in her debut bout at WrestleMania 34 against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Taking to his Kurt Angle Show podcast, the submission machine talked about how his return failed to match what he had in mind and how his body was partly to blame:
“It’s disappointing because I wanted to perform at that level. I came back to WWE with the mindset that I was going to kickass and take names and win world titles, you know, a good example is Goldberg. He comes back and, you know, wins world titles and is in the main event at WrestleMania. I was hoping that the same would be for me. But, it just didn’t happen. So, unfortunately, because my body was shutting down because of the inactivity of not wrestling, it was just really difficult for me to perform at that level anymore.”
Just over two years after stepping back inside the squared circle, Angle bowed out of the industry at WrestleMania 35 on April 7, 2019, in a loss to Baron Corbin. The following night, he was sent on his way by a Lars Sullivan attack and has only appeared in sporadic non-active roles on WWE television since.
Credit for the interview: The Kurt Angle Show
h/t for the transcription: Sportskeeda