Kurt Angle Reveals Bret Hart Turned Down WrestleMania 20 Match

Kurt Angle had a memorable WrestleMania 20 bout against Eddie Guerrero. But he went searching for a dream match against Bret Hart.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Angle was asked about the rumored WrestleMania 20 bout against Hart. Bret hadn’t wrestled since retiring in 2000 and had suffered a stroke in 2002. He had not appeared on WWE television since the infamous Montreal Screwjob in 1997.

Despite all this, Kurt still asked Bret for the match.

“I was trying to get that done,” Kurt said about the potential match. “I understood why Bret wasn’t trying to do it. Me being, at 51 now, and looking back. If a young Bret Hart came to me right now and was like, ‘lets do our dream match.’ I’d be like, ‘it’s not going to be the dream match that I’d like it to be. I probably don’t want to get in that.’ I understood why Bret didn’t want to do it because he had the stroke. He had a lot of bad luck. Some things that were, medically, difficult for him to be able to comeback at his very best. I understand why. He wanted to be the Bret Hart that everybody adored. And so did I. I even told him ‘you don’t have to bump. I’ll do all the bumping.’ He’s like, ‘Nah, it won’t be the Bret Hart match that I want it to be. I can’t do that.'”

Bret would eventually return to WWE in 2005 and stepped foot in the ring again at WrestleMania 26 when he faced Vince McMahon. Bret would wrestle a handful of matches throughout 2010 before wrestling one final match in 2011, teaming with John Cena to defeat Alberto Del Rio & Ricardo Rodriguez.

Elsewhere during the interview, Kurt recalled the time Vince McMahon wanted to beat his ass. You can view his full comments by clicking here.

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