Why Doesn’t Vince McMahon Want To Bring Kurt Angle Back To WWE?

Kurt Angle

It’s been nearly a decade since Kurt Angle was last seen inside a WWE ring and it doesn’t look like fans will be seeing the Olympic gold medalist return to the company that helped make him a star anytime soon.

WWE is planning to do another brand extension this coming summer, and because of that, they’re rumored to be looking to hire talent from around the world to help staff both SmackDown and Raw with wrestlers who are ready for the main roster. Angle, a former WWE Champion, isn’t on their radar.

Dave Meltzer said Thursday on Wrestling Observer Radio that Vince McMahon is adamant about not bringing Angle back to WWE due to the possibility of bad publicity in case something bad were to happen to him.

Vince is really strong on not hiring Kurt Angle. He’s got his reasons why. He feels that if something bad happens to Kurt Angle, it could really hurt the company bad, since of his status as a gold medalist, a real sports figure. And people would start asking questions, and you know, the sponsor issue.

But if they never have Kurt, and he’s not on their watch and something happens, then they’re ok. So Vince has been very adamant for 10 years, to the point of not doing anything with Kurt. I don’t wanna say never because it’s Vince, but this one sounds like a real tough one. And even-so, you gotta understand where Kurt is at.

Could Kurt come back and have a great match at WrestleMania? I think so. But Kurt’s on his last legs when it comes to being an active wrestler. It may be in his best interest to not wrestle anymore, because he was getting hurt a lot at the end, — his knees and everything like that. […] He couldn’t do the schedule. There’s not even a chance he could do the schedule. So, as far as coming in as an Undertaker-like character, who does the one big match a year, yeah I’m sure he could do that and be great at that.

But I don’t think they want that risk. At least Vince perceives it as a bad risk of whatever it is. They don’t want guys arrested — Kurt hasn’t been arrested in a while, thanks God. But he has been. He’s had a couple of these several issues while he was in TNA.