Kurt Angle Should Be Undertaker’s ‘WrestleMania 32’ Mystery Opponent

It was reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer that Undertaker’s opponent at WrestleMania 32 wouldn’t be Braun Strowman, John Cena, or Kevin Owens, as WWE is planning on having someone who is not a member of the current roster face “The Deadman” at AT&T Stadium this April.

When the Observer noted that a non-full-time guy would be facing Undertaker this spring, the one name that kept popping up as an opponent for “The Phenom” was Sting, who is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania 32.

Sting was badly injured back at September’s Night of Champions pay-per-view in a match against Seth Rollins. It was later reported that Sting was suffering from spinal stenosis, which is the same injury that ended the careers of both Edge and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. So, because of the severity of the injury, and due to the fact that “The Icon” still needs neck surgery, it’s unlikely that he’ll end up facing Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. But, you never know.

Goldberg has also been named as a possible opponent for Undertaker, but that’ll come down to whether or not WWE, mainly Vince McMahon, who isn’t fond of the former WCW Champ, wants to pay a good amount of money to get him. So, while it’s possible that Undertaker vs. Goldberg happens, it doesn’t seem likely, especially because Goldberg will probably want to win the match.

So, who else is out there? Well, there is one name that no one has brought up, and that’s former WWE Champion Kurt Angle, who left the company in 2006.

Angle has been wrestling in TNA for nearly a decade, but he’s made it clear that he wants to return to WWE before his in-ring career is over.

Late last year, Angle announced that he was planning on leaving TNA after his contract expired. Well, it’s expired, and Angle is a free agent.

Kurt Angle is scheduled to face Rey Mysterio at a UR Fight event, which will take place on March 20. But there are many who believe that the event won’t actually end up taking place for various reasons. Of course, if Angle were to return for a match with Undertaker, he’d have to return to WWE television several weeks before that date.

There are really only a few guys that the fans would be excited to see Undertaker face, and Angle is definitely one of them.

Why it should happen

Angle has been away from WWE for almost a decade, so the fans would definitely be excited to see him back, even if it was just for one match.

It’s clear that he’s cleaned up his life over the last couple of years, which is something they’ve ended up rewarding guys like Road Dogg, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and Scott Hall for. So, why not Angle?

Why it won’t happen

The reason is plain and simple, and Road Dogg explained it best during his appearance on WWE Network’s Legends with JBL by saying that, when Triple H went to Vince McMahon and asked him to re-hire Road Dogg, Vince responded by saying, “he’s a known drug-addict. Why would I hire a known drug-addict?”

Road Dogg had been clean for a while at that point, but Vince just wasn’t buying it. Eventually though, Triple H was able to convince McMahon to re-hire Road Dogg, and he’s now one of the top producers for WWE.

It took a lot of convincing by Triple H for Vince McMahon to bring Road Dogg back, and unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like “The Game” will go to bat for Angle like he did for Road Dogg. So, if McMahon still thinks of Angle as a “known drug-addict,” then we won’t be seeing our Olympic Hero in WWE anytime soon.

Why it will happen

Angle is done with TNA, and he’s probably not going back. He has no commitments other than the Mysterio match, which may or may not happen, leading up to WrestleMania 32.

As previously noted, Angle has cleaned up his life, which WWE has rewarded other WWE legends for.

Also, before Angle left WWE, they wanted to do Angle vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania. In an interview following his WWE release, Angle said that Undertaker approached him and said that he wanted him to break his WrestleMania undefeated streak, but Vince McMahon nixed the idea.

“I was champion in 2006 and Undertaker approached me and said he wanted to face me at WrestleMania. Until then, Undertaker didn’t have a WrestleMania moment with a five-star match. He thought he could have that with me, and he was considering possibly losing as long as he had that moment he wanted, and I don’t blame him. Vince said no way, and I agreed with Vince.”

Angle is also widely considered to be one of the best in-ring performers in the world, which both Sting and Goldberg are not. At this point in his career, Undertaker needs to be in the ring with someone who can carry him to a great match, and Angle can certainly be that guy.

Of course, WWE has probably already decided who Undertaker’s opponent will be at WrestleMania 32, and if it ends up being Angle, we’ll probably know sooner rather than later.

[Featured image via WWE]