WWE News: Does Vince McMahon Want To Bring Kurt Angle Back To The WWE?

Now that names like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Shinsuka Nakamura, and others have signed with the WWE, one name that continually comes up as the biggest in wrestling not affiliated with the sports entertainment giant is Kurt Angle. This August will mark exactly ten years since Angle has appeared in a WWE ring, and not a year went by that WWE fans speculated about a potential return to the company he debuted with in 1999.

The speculation amped up considerably after Kurt Angle announced his Farewell Tour with TNA Wrestling earlier this year. His final match working for Dixie Carter came this past March against another former WWE heavyweight, Lashley. Many have thought that it was only a matter of time before Angle returned to the WWE in some capacity, whether that be as a full or part-time performer, or a WWE Hall of Fame inductee and future ambassador.

None of that has come to fruition yet, but the 2016 Hall of Fame class had already been set by the time he left TNA, and it’s understandable that both sides may have wanted to take their time before coming to any kind of agreement due to Angle’s age and their history. But some recent light was shed on the idea of a reunion between the two sides during the mailbag portion of the latest Wrestling Observer Radio episode. Things had been relatively quiet on the Kurt Angle front recently, but Dave Meltzer’s comments on the former Olympic gold medalist got the IWC buzzing once again.

When asked by a reader if WWE is considering bringing Kurt Angle back, Meltzer revealed that Vince McMahon is adamantly opposed to the idea, and has been for quite some time. Angle’s wrestling career has been tarnished with drug, alcohol, and domestic abuse that has been low-lighted by multiple DUI’s. His injury history has been well-documented, and Vince doesn’t want him to suffer the one that ultimately ends his career on WWE’s watch. Apparently, Vince has held this stance since Kurt left in 2006. It might take some serious convincing from Triple H (who has plenty of history with Angle to begin with) to bring the Pittsburgh hero back to the WWE.

Kurt Angle was very candid during an interview with The World According to Wrestling(as transcribed by WrestleZone), feeling very adamant about a future reunion. The time will come, but he also fully realized why there were reservations from the other side.

“Well, for one, I don’t want to go back right now. Two, between 2008 and 2013, I got four DUIs. As a publicly traded company, it doesn’t matter if you’re Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Undertaker, when you get involved in that kind of trouble consistently, that’s the last thing they need. So when I did try and go back a year and a half ago, I think they were thinking “Let’s see how he pans out, let’s see if he can stay clean, let’s see if he got his shit together” so I think that’s part of it. I don’t blame them for that. I actually knew ahead of time that they were most likely going to say no. And I knew it was because of my own actions. But being clean now for three years and abiding by what I have to, I know that there will come a time where I will go back.”

Part of Vince’s hesitations regarding Kurt Angle tie into those injury issues in that Vince doesn’t believe Angle could handle the heavy workload/schedule that WWE demands. Angle, himself, realized that also, and was conjuring up a reincarnation of Team Angle during that same interview, with his two new proteges (rumored to be the NXT tag team American Alpha) doing most of the work, while Angle would save his wrestling for the bigger events.

The feeling is that Angle would be able to handle an Undertaker-like schedule, but it’s up to Vince and Kurt to determine the appropriate schedule that would benefit both parties. Whether Vince has even considered that though remains a mystery.

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