Kurt Angle Says Crowdless Shows Are Why WWE Ratings Have Fallen

Kurt Angle was interviewed this week on Instinct Culture by Denise Salcedo. During the interview Angle discussed the current state of WWE in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Angle said that the lack of fans in the building is hurting the overall product currently.

"I think that crowds are going to make a huge difference (regarding ratings)," Angle said. "It just sucks that right now all these companies are waiting for that (live audiences) to return. It's been very frustrating and I know first hand because I worked as a producer in WWE and being in the meetings it just really sucks to not have the fans there."

Angle said the ongoing pandemic is playing a significant role in why the ratings are down but he believes that business will rebound strong once crowds start to return.

"There's a lot of things we have to do that are different now so it's going to take a while," Angle explained. "I know we have to wait for this (vaccine) to come through, but it's gonna take some time. I really think the business will boom afterward. I know the ratings have gone down to an extent but that's because there's no fans."

Angle said despite shows having low ratings currently, WWE has a lot of talent he enjoys watching including current WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre.

"I love Drew McIntyre, Aleister Black, Andrade," Angle said. "Some of the talents coming up through NXT; Matt Riddle, he is going to do an excellent job. There are a lot of young talents right now. Angel Garza. There are a lot of them who are gonna step up and really produce."

Angle also said that NXT has plenty of young talent that will be assets to the main roster once they get the callup.

"I think that the company is in really good hands, there are so many great talents in NXT right now and I don't wanna name all of them but they're all gonna come through up to Raw and Smackdown," Angle said. "The company is well prepared for the next ten years. They have the best talent in the world and they're gonna continue to train that talent to be the best talent in the world."

Angle was recently featured on NXT as he was the special guest referee for the cage fight between Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher.