WWE: Kurt Angle Needs to Find a New Role on RAW
Kurt Angle is one of the most decorated athletes to step into a wrestling ring. He’s the current General Manager of RAW, though it doesn’t feel like the right fit for the Olympic Champion.
When it was announced that Kurt Angle would be returning to the WWE and entering the Hall of Fame, fans began wondering what his role would be. Angle had been working the independents all over the world since he left Impact and seemed in great shape. The WWE Universe would soon begin to fantasy book Kurt in any and every storyline possible. But, lingering in the back of everyone’s mind was the status of Kurt internally.
Angle broke his neck during his amateur wrestling career, and as all wrestling fans know, he “won a gold medal with a broken freakin’ neck.” The neck would later become a major issue for Kurt and even after multiple surgeries, the injury remained. So possibly out of respect for Kurt’s career and his body, the WWE made him the General Manager of RAW.
Angle returns to run RAW
At first, it seemed like a great idea as he delivered his Hall of Fame speech without an issue. As time has gone by with Kurt speaking every week on RAW, there appears to be something off. Along with the physical damage his body has taken, it is well-known Angle had a drug addiction during his last WWE run. Thankfully, Kurt has been able to tackle his addiction and has rebounded wonderfully.
The something that seems off is when Kurt speaks on television weekly. When I see him with a microphone and trying to work through his script it truly saddens me. Such a great performer both in and out of the ring shouldn’t be shackled to a script. He was of the generation that worked off of bullet points and told their own story. So when I see him fumble his lines my first thought is maybe they’re just feeding him too much. We all know that public speaking isn’t always easy, let alone when you have to read words that aren’t genuine.
The dark side of head trauma
My second thought when I see Kurt slur his words or completely seem to lose himself is the scary consequences of concussions. Wrestlers will always talk about how easy it is to get a concussion while wrestling as the mat isn’t a trampoline. When Daniel Bryan retired, he admitted that he had multiple concussions within his first six months of wrestling. So every week I cringe when I see Angle with a microphone, not out of dislike, but that it seems like CTE come to life.
Now, I don’t want Kurt off of television as he’s got bills to pay and a family to take care of. I would much rather see him in a role of a manager that can also get in the ring and mix it up. He could reprise his role of the leader of Team Angle, taking young talent and coaching them to success. Having Kurt back in the ring could also be an option for his future. I know I just spoke about some of the negative outcomes, but used sparingly, it may not be as dramatic.
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My ideal role would be the one I mentioned above, use his legacy to build younger talent. They tried to do that with Jason Jordon, but the storyline of an illegitimate son is idiotic. If they simply told a story of Kurt taking Jason and even his old partner Gable under his wing, it would’ve been a money idea. I’ve always been a huge fan of Kurt Angle everywhere he has worked, I don’t want him off of television, but want him in a position to best suit his talents.