Kurt Angle On Talk With Bret Hart In 2003 About A Match, How Bret Hurt His Feelings "A Little Bit"
Recently on The Statement Show, 2017 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductee Kurt Angle talked about his all-time favorite professional wrestlers, wanting to wrestle Bret Hart in 2003 or 2004, and whether he will make a return to the squared circle for WWE.
According to Angle, Bret 'Hitman' Hart and 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair are his favorite professional wrestlers of all time.
"Bret was my favorite too, him and Ric Flair. I got a lot out of watching them. I didn't start watching [professional] wrestling until I signed with WWE in 1999, so I had a lot of work cut out for me. I loved the way Ric Flair was able to entertain and not just a great wrestler, but a great entertainer. I don't put him and Bret hart in the same category. Bret was more of an incredible wrestler. When he got in that ring, he did it better than anybody else, but all around, I thought that Ric Flair was the most versatile wrestler I've ever seen."
Angle divulged that he called Hart in 2003 or 2004 to ask him for a match, but 'The Excellence Of Execution' declined. In Angle's estimation, Hart declined because he could not perform to his own standard at that point. Angle said it hurt his feelings that 'The Hitman' would wrestle Vince McMahon a couple of years later.
"I called him in 2003 or [2004] and I said, 'listen, you don't have to take a bump. Let me do whole match. I'll do the bumping and feeding. You just stay in there and lets have a great match.' He didn't want to do it and I understand now. After he had that stroke and he got kicked by Goldberg or whatever happened – he had a brain injury – he knew he couldn't have the Bret Hart/Kurt Angle match he wanted, so he wasn't willing to do it. And I get it because me, at 50, I can still go. But 10 years from now, if Seth Rollins came to me and said, 'hey, lets do this match. I'll do all the bumping. Don't worry about it.' And I'm thinking it's not going to be that good because I can't stay with him. So I understood how Bret felt at the time. And it hurt my feelings a little bit because two years later, he wrestled Vince."
During the interview, Angle admitted that he had not heard anything about wrestling for WWE. Moreover, 'The Most Celebrated Real Athlete In WWE History' indicated that he reached out to WWE for the fans.
"I don't know if I'm going to return, but I've had a great career and I'm happy with it. I only wanted to do this, the only reason I reached out to WWE to even have my career end there is for the fans. I'm not doing it for me. I have the money I want. I had the career I wanted. I just wanted to say 'thank you', especially to the WWE Universe, the fans, a lot of whom don't watch the other companies. The last 11 years, they haven't seen me wrestle."
Angle stated that he can still perform and he is still one of the top five best professional wrestlers today.
"Can I still go? Yeah. I can still put myself in there as one of the top five best today at 48 years old. And that's not a stretch. I can still go. AJ [Styles], boy, would I love to go one more round with him. We had a lot of fun."
Listen to the interview here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Statement Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Statement Show