Kurt Angle announced late last year that he’d be taking a break from wrestling when his latest run with TNA was done, effectively retiring from the sport. The conversation went where most pro wrestling retirement announcements go — is he actually taking a break and stepping away, or did he just want to be done wherever he was working so he could go work somewhere else? Even Daniel Bryan’s recent retirement had people wondering if he just wanted to be out of his contract so he could be cleared to compete somewhere else.
Angle looked to clarify what he’s doing in an interview with ESPN UK, and even that’s not clear. He’s retiring, but he’s not saying he’s retiring, and he’s definitely leaving TNA for good, although he won’t rule out a TNA comeback. Wrestling!
“I’m not gonna say I’m gonna retire. I am pretty much done with TNA. Not sure, maybe down the road, maybe I might come back, but most likely I probably won’t, because there’s a chance that I might not wrestle again. I just wanna get a feeler this year and see what I wanna do and see where I wanna go.”
If you’re wondering if the break is due to injuries, remember: this is Kurt Angle, the man who won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freakin’ neck. He tore his quad this morning and it’s fine now!
“I feel it now [the injuries] … and I don’t regret anything I’ve done, in amateur wrestling or pro wrestling,” he says. “I’m 47 years old and I have my pains and aches just like anybody else but the thing is, I can still go in that ring. I’m as good as anybody if not better.
“Even at 47, I’m at the top of my game, so the only thing I need is a little bit more time to recuperate, but other than that I can put on the five-star matches. So I’m not really concerned about my performance, I’m more concerned about how I’m gonna feel for the next 30, 40 years.”
I guess all we can say is that we’ll miss Angle’s presence in TNA, and look forward to … seeing Angle in TNA?
