Kurt Angle Didn’t Feel Appreciated During Second WWE Run, Thinks It Was Payback For Going to TNA

In an interview with NotSam Wrestling (via F4WOnline), Kurt Angle spoke about his second run in WWE from 2017 to 2019 and noted that he didn’t feel appreciated during that time. Angle was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and wrestled sporadically, finally losing a retirement match to Baron Corbin at Wrestlemania 35. Here are highlights:

On having his last match against Baron Corbin: “I wanted John [Cena] to be my retirement match, I don’t know if you knew that, but I requested that to Vince. He said, ‘You’re going to have to wait until next year because you have a program with Baron Corbin.’ So I was like, ‘Ok, but I don’t think I can go another year, Vince.’ He said, ‘Well, then, it is what it is.’

On his second run in the company: “I love Baron Corbin, but I just felt that my second time in WWE — I wasn’t so much appreciated. I think it has a lot to do with me leaving the company high and dry in 2006 and going straight to TNA. See, I was supposed to go back to WWE in six months. Vince wanted me to take six months off and come back. So, literally when I left his office and I quit, I called [TNA] and got a contract that day. I didn’t wait a second. I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. And I think they were like, ‘Ok, well, if he comes back, we’re going to teach him a little lesson.’ You know? [laughs] Which is fine, I understood.”

On wrestling Cena during Cena’s retirement tour: “Listen, I’m sure if I made a call I could make it happen, but there’s no way I can [physically] do it. Unfortunately. But I would have loved to be one of John Cena’s retirement matches. I mean, I’m the one that had his first match.”