Kurt Angle On Why He Left WWE: ‘I Felt I Was A Liability To Vince McMahon’
New WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle was interviewed by Forbes Magazine and spoke about how he felt when he left WWE, and how he feels about competing there again, now that he's back in the fold.
When Angle asked for and was gratned his release in 2006, he was battling nagging injuries and over-self-medicating with prescription painkillers. He knew he had to get out. “When I left, we didn’t leave on bad terms, but I was getting injured so much and I had a problem with painkillers, and I felt like I was a liability to Vince McMahon. Back then, it was pretty tough. 300 days a year, so I just asked if I could leave the company because I still had five and a half years left on my contract. I think Vince McMahon and I—we didn’t want the outcome that came—but we were both okay with it.”
Currently there are no plans in place for him to wrestle for WWE, but he just defeated former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio at a WCPW event in England over the weekend, so he doesn't exactly have a lot of ring rust. He thinks there's definitely a possibility of something materializing in the future. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I do a few more matches somewhere down the line, but they haven’t talked about it so it’s not official. This Hall of Fame thing is just the beginning, so let’s see how it goes and we’ll go from there.”
As far as who he'd like to lock up with, well, he's got a couple old buddies from his TNA days that he wouldn't mind facing off with again on a much bigger stage.
“I’ve had my best matches with AJ [Styles] and [Samoa] Joe, so it’d be nice to do it on a bigger platform in the WWE so we’ll see what happens.”
Angle will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31st in Orlando, Flordia.
