The Kurt Angle WWE Mystery

He was a major player during the Attitude/Ruthless Aggression Eras, had some of the best in-ring matches of the time, and a character that was always entertaining, but Kurt Angle seems to have been forgotten by the WWE family. In fact you might not realize that he’s actually been with TNA longer than he was ever with the number one.

In a recent interview with the Huffington Post the Olympic Gold Medalist says he’s come to terms with the idea that he might not get the Hall of Fame treatment or another run:

I know who I am and I know what I was and I know the impact I made on wrestling. I don’t need a WWE Hall of Fame to tell me what that is. It’s not that important to me. What’s important to me is I’m in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for Olympic wrestling and that’s my legacy. But it’s always nice to be recognised as a Hall of Famer. TNA Hall of Fame was great. WWE Hall of Fame would be great but if they decide not to, its not going to kill me. That’s their option.

Of course he’s unlikely to be inducted while he’s still with TNA, but Vince and co had the opportunity to bring Angle home the last time his contract was up and they decided against it. Angle has stated that the company wanted him to work full time and he rejected the idea, however that doesn’t seem to explain the full picture. WWE are well aware of Angle’s injuries, his age, and limitations. He was struggling before he left in 2006, with Angle claiming he quit because they wouldn’t give him time off, and rumors out of the WWE camp that he was refusing to go to rehab. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle – he was in pain so was self-medicating.

The point is, there’s no reason to expect Kurt Angle to wrestle the full WWE schedule and looking at talent like RVD and Chris Jericho there’s no policy that would force a veteran to do that anyway.

If WWE did offer him a full time deal, it’s probable that they did so because they knew he would turn it down. In other words they let him down lightly instead of saying “we don’t trust you because of your ‘demons’.”

I can tell you nobody made as much noise as I did, the six years I spent in WWE. Nobody did that in that short a period of time like I did. That legacy will be set in stone forever. I will tell you I had a better career in TNA than in WWE and that’s scary. Im very grateful for that and at the same time it kind of sucks because the hardcore WWE fans that only watch that, won’t see my best matches. They think they saw my best matches in WWE but they haven’t seen TNA. I’m hoping more of them will turn on to it.

Sadly in reality TNA is floundering on Destination America and Kurt risks fading in to obscurity.

Perhaps if he continues to stay sober until his current deal expires WWE will at least consider a part time deal or “one last match/ Hall of Fame” gig. For the lack of a better analogy, if Koko B. Ware can get in, there’s no reason why a 6 time Champion who worked with all of the top stars can’t.

Matt Hardy Discusses Destination America

On the Destination America front Matt Hardy has a new video blog up discussing how he feels TNA and ROH should move forward: