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Kurt Angle Says A Match With Daniel Bryan Is Still Possible

By Aaron Sass
Published on: 05:37 PST, Oct 31, 2016

Former WWE and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle did a Facebook Q&A on Friday, and the most noteworthy thing coming out of it was that he said a match with the recently-retired Daniel Bryan is still possible.

When asked who his dream opponent is, Angle said that he missed out on a match with Bret Hart because “The Hitman” was forced to retired shortly after he began his pro wrestling career. If there was anyone on the current WWE roster that he’d like to get in the ring with, it’d be Daniel Bryan.

“I knew Bret [Hart] wasn’t possible because of his stroke 15+ years ago, so I’d say [Daniel] Bryan. We could still have it. I’m holding out hope but chances are very slim.”

Of course, Bryan was forced to retire this past February due to concussion issues. His retirement segment on the February 8 edition of Monday Night Raw, which was in his home state of Washington, was widely regarded as one of the best segments in the history of professional wrestling. Following his retirement, he took some time away from WWE, and over the summer, he returned to the company as the general manager of SmackDown.

Bryan suffered what was later to be revealed as a career-ending concussion shortly after he won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 31. He was then forced to relinquish the title several weeks later, making it the second time in two years that he was forced to vacate a title he won at WrestleMania.

As many people know, Bryan tried to get medically cleared to wrestle again for a year before he decided to retire. While almost every doctor he saw was willing to clear him, WWE’s head of medical — Dr. Joseph Maroon — was not. At one point, Bryan tried to get WWE to release him so he could go wrestle somewhere else, but they wouldn’t give it to him.

Over the summer, some WWE fans thought that the company was teasing Bryan’s comeback after The Miz went off on him during an episode of Talking Smack, where the SmackDown general manager said that “if they would let me come back, I’d come back.” Of course, the segment led to nothing, and WWE hasn’t even come close to teasing another Bryan match since.

Unless Bryan can get cleared to wrestle again by WWE’s head of medical, the company will not allow him to get in the ring again. It’s pretty well-known that Bryan does want to wrestle again, and if WWE doesn’t clear him before his current contract comes to an end, he may leave the company so he can wrestle elsewhere.

Someone else who may not be cleared to wrestle by WWE’s head of medical is Kurt Angle, who has been out of the company for a decade. During his time in WWE, Angle suffered multiple neck injuries, and during his time in TNA, he was pretty banged up. Of course, that didn’t stop him from having some of the best matches of his career. However, despite the fact that he’s still one of the best in-ring performers in the world, WWE may not be too keen on the idea of him wrestling again if he’s too banged up.

Angle has expressed his interest in returning to WWE over the last year, and now that he’s not under contract with TNA, he’s free to negotiate with Vince McMahon and Triple H. Will he return to WWE at some point? Probably. Will he wrestle there? Maybe, but a Hall of Fame induction seems more likely. Will he wrestle Daniel Bryan? Probably not, sadly — at least not in WWE. If Bryan leaves the company and agrees to wrestle Angle elsewhere, then the match will happen, but we probably won’t ever see a Kurt Angle vs. Daniel Bryan match.

[Featured image by WWE]

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