WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle could have returned to the ring in All Elite Wrestling, but he turned the opportunity down.
Angle had his retirement match against Baron Corbin at WWE WrestleMania 35 in 2019, and he hasn’t wrestled since. The Olympic gold medalist has previously stated that AEW reached out to him and offered him a deal, and he recently reiterated why he chose not to take them up on it.
In an interview with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston , Angle described how AEW wanted him to wrestle, and the company also offered him a non-wrestling role, but he didn’t take the deal because he didn’t want to leave his supplement company. He also emphasized that when it comes to wrestling, he “just can’t do it” anymore.
“They actually wanted me to wrestle in particular,” said Angle. “Tony Khan gave me a call and wanted me to wrestle. They offered me a pretty good deal, but I just can’t do it anymore. I wish I could, but it’s just not possible. They did offer me two different times, and they did want me to do on-camera personality as well, or a non-wrestling role. I actually turned that down as well. I just wanted to start up my supplement company. I wanted to put more time into that, so I didn’t want to leave the company at this particular time. So I decided not to do it.”
When asked how the company would have wanted to use him, the Hall of Famer noted that AEW wanted to book him in special matches, and he was offered a ten-match deal.
“They wanted me to have big, special matches,” said Angle. “They gave me a contract for ten matches. They didn’t say how long it would be. So it might not have just been for a year, it might have been for three years, and I would have wrestled three matches a year. But I decided not to do it because of my supplement company, and the fact that I’m not the same as I used to be. If I’m gonna go in there and wrestle, I wanna be the old Kurt Angle, and I know I can’t be that anymore.”
Angle recently had a double knee replacement surgery.
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