WWE Rumors: Will Kurt Angle’s Addiction Admission Hurt His Chances of Return?

As the WWE prepares for the return of Kurt Angle, the WWE rumors are beginning to abound about his less-than-savory behavior. And, it seems, that Angle himself is helping to fuel some of the worst rumors about him by confirming them in interviews. The most shocking of all the WWE rumors about him? He was popping more than 65 Vicodin a day at the height of his career!

That’s according to Fox News, who confirmed these latest WWE rumors from none other than Angle himself. Angle first began taking the extra-strength version of the highly-addictive pain killer right before the Atlanta Olympics. He claimed, at the time, that he hurt himself during the National Trials, which made his dependency on the drug that much quicker to adopt… and that much more difficult to get rid of.

“I was on a lot — there was no way I couldn’t get out of it. The only thing I could do was eventually go to rehab and try to fix my life again. But I actually beat it on my own. I stayed in my house for about 10 days and didn’t leave, and I was able to get through the withdrawal.”

And, according to Esquire Magazine, these addiction-based WWE rumors about Kurt Angle were even worse than he initially let on. When he suffered the neck fracture that triggered the Vicodin addiction, he didn’t get any medical attention for the injury. Rather, he had a doctor shoot Novocaine directly into his neck and continued to wrestle in the Atlanta Olympics despite being in excruciating pain. And though Angle ultimately took home a gold medal in wrestling, he did so with a broken neck, intolerable pain, and an addition that drained his bank accounts.

“I was desperate. I was spending a lot of money on medication, and it took control of my life. It was the worst time of my whole entire life—those three years when I was really really deep into it. The only thing I could do was eventually go to rehab and try to fix my life again.”

But that wouldn’t come until 2013, after he was arrested for four DUIs in five years. After taking various combination of pills and alcohol, he checked himself into rehab, and he’s been clean ever since. So does this recent disclosure of his former pecadillos affect his chances of being welcomed back into the fold at WWE?

According to Forbes Magazine, absolutely not. Though Angle admits that he stayed away from wrestling for the longest time because he wanted to stay on the “straight and narrow,” he feels he’s ready to return to wrestling full-time now that he has his addiction issues in check.

“During a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was asked if WWE might reach out to Angle for next year’s 2K game and possibly for a return to the ring if there was enough fan support. Meltzer paused before answering, ‘so the answer to that question is yes.'”

The concern about Angle’s return, of course, is obvious: like Goldberg, who is also in talks to return to the WWE, Angle is 50 years old. Returning to the ring at this advanced age would be absolutely devastating on his already-compromised body. And if he suffers another injury, there’s no telling whether he’d return to the comfort of the pills that he once loved so much… and that, no question, would be a direct violation of the WWE wellness policy, and would cause him to eventually be expelled from the company. Would Kurt Angle really return to the WWE, knowing that he could risk an expulsion and permanent tarnishment of his legacy?

What do you think about these latest WWE rumors? Leave your thoughts about these latest WWE rumors in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]