Is a Kurt Angle WWE Return a Good Idea?

Another day, another Kurt Angle return rumour. I honestly didn’t realise that it was “Kurt Angle WWE Return Imminent?” season already, as annual chatter about the Olympic Hero stepping foot in WWE again is as regular as clockwork these days. It’s perfectly understandable why there are many who are clamouring to see Angle come back, the man is one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots.

He possessesĀ a laundry list of accolades and I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to see him retire with the top company in the business. His achievements speak for themselves and he deserves to go out on top. I would be fine with a simple Hall of Fame induction and possible Royal Rumble cameo serving as Angle’s swansong, but that won’t satisfy the masses. The fact of the matter is this: the people want one last run to cement an already impressive legacy. But is it a wise decision? I can understand the line of thinking, yet at the same time there are a lot of variables to consider in regards to a final Kurt Angle WWE run.

First of all, we have to address the elephant in the room, Kurt Angle is an insurance nightmare. We’re taking about a 47 year-old man who has more or less been wrestling full-time since 1999 and has picked up so many injuries over the years that he’s practically held together with duct tape at this point. I am in no way exaggerating when I say that there is a genuine risk of Kurt Angle dying in the ring, especially when you take into account the insanely high workrate that modern day WWE asks of its wrestlers.

Yes, Kurt can still get it done in the ring and yes, he is sobered up and in great shape, but just picture how exhausted someone like, say, The Undertaker looked after WrestleMania this year. That’s a man who has effectively wrestled a handful of times a year since 2011, now try and imagine a man of a similar age and with similar physical ailments who still regularly works independent shows as if he were in his twenties. That is Kurt Angle, not a pretty image, is it?

Which brings us to the next issue of where on Earth Angle would fit in. Undertaker has always been a constant presence, and his WrestleMania legacy allows him to come back and have it make sense. Kurt Angle hasn’t been seen in WWE for over a decade now, a lot of the people who were on the main roster back in 2006 have either retired or left the company by now.

How do you utilise a man that doesn’t have any real beef with the talent? Yes, he can be paired with Rusev, but do you really think a man of Angle’s stature should spend his last run feuding with an upper midcard heel? It doesn’t exactly spell box office. He sure did have a stellar trilogy of title matches with Brock Lesnar back in the day, but what happens if Brock delivers one suplex too many and poor old Kurt ends up with a broken freaking neck? I personally love the idea of Angle being brought in to manage American Alpha or even briefly reboot Team Angle with them for a main event run. If he comes back, then it’s got to be within the context of pushing the New Era towards success, not reliving former glories for the sake of nostalgia. We can’t have our cake and eat it too, complaining about WWE’s product being old and repetitive in one breath and begging for Angle to return for a big run in another is a double standard.

However, there is always the tried and tested dream match route. Yes, Daniel Bryan is retired so that will always be a match in our dreams, but what if Angle came back purely on a part-time basis to have say, four matches with guys he never got to lock up with in WWE? That’s a narrative I can get behind, the old guard returning to have a final series of exhibition bouts with the best technicians the company has to offer. Picture high profile matches with the likes of AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, or even a revisit to the greatest feud TNA ever produced in Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe. If Angle has to come back, he should never wrestle on TV, he should strictly be a PPV attraction. He can even go into the Hall of Fame and have that one big retirement match at WrestleMania the next night. If WWE even do bring him back, a possibility that I’m only around 30% convinced of, that is how it needs to be done.

I’m not against Kurt Angle coming back to the WWE. If done correctly, it can spell big money for all parties involved and we’d get some outstanding matches to boot. But he must be used sparingly and if he can’t pass WWE’s physical, then we have to respect the fact that the man’s health is far more important than our entertainment. Even if we never see him wrestle again for Vince McMahon’s promotion, I have no doubt he’ll appear on WWE programming in some capacity in the near future. Oh, it’s true, it’s damn true.

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