Kurt Angle Was Disappointed John Cena Wasn't His WWE Retirement Match

Kurt Angle is one of the greatest in-ring talents in pro wrestling history, but he wasn't entirely thrilled with how his final WWE run unfolded.

Angle recently spoke with Great Offshore Sportsbooks via SportingTalk, and went into detail about how he initially intended for his last in-ring run to unfold.

“When I came back to the WWE in 2017, I was in really good shape. I was ready to wrestle. I trained for a year, where I took time off and I did some independent shows and kept myself in shape," Angle said.

"When I went to the WWE, they wanted to induct me into Hall of Fame first. And I said, 'Listen, I’m not done wrestling. Why don’t we do the induction after I’m done wrestling?' They said, 'Let’s do it first. And then we’ll have you wrestle after that.' So I get inducted into Hall of Fame. And then that night, Vince McMahon comes to me and says, 'Hey, I want you to be the GM of RAW.' And I was like, 'Vince, I want to wrestle.' He said, ‘We’ll get to that. Don’t worry about it.’"

Angle noted he believed it was his track record that caused hesitance in McMahon to allow him to step into the squared circle at first.

"I think the reason they did this is because they thought I was a liability, because of my painkiller problem before," the WWE Hall of Famer said. "So, I understand why they brought me in safely. But by the time they had me wrestle, I was general manager for nine months. And I wasn’t training anymore in the ring. So when I got in the ring after nine months, I looked like an old man wrestling. I saw a big difference. I didn’t want people to remember me like this."

The former Olympian would have his final match against Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35 in a losing effort. If he had his way, it would have been against a 16-time world champion instead.

"So I told Vince that I wanted to retire at the upcoming WrestleMania," Angle said. "He asked me what I was thinking. I wanted to have John Cena in my final match since I was his first match. And he said, ‘Well, you have a program with Baron Corbin. You got to stick with it. Do you want Cena? You have to wait a year’ and I didn’t want to wait another year because I knew my body was just not reacting the right way. So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll take Baron Corbin and I’ll retire.’ So that was my retirement match. I didn’t mind it was Baron. He’s a great athlete, great wrestler, and a good guy. I love him. But, I did want John Cena to be my last match. And unfortunately it wasn’t."

Angle also noted recently he believed Chris Benoit was his greatest in-ring rival. Cena, meanwhile, is rumored to face Cody Rhodes in his final WrestleMania match.

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