Kurt Angle Says Former TNA Rival Will Eventually “Be WWE Champion”

On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist spoke about his match with Bobby Roode at Bound for Glory 2006, which was Roode's first chance at the TNA World Championship. Although Angle ended up leaving the night with the championship, it was widely expected that the night was supposed to be the coronation of Bobby Roode as TNA's next big star to close out their biggest pay per view. The WWE Hall of Famer mentioned the misstep by TNA, and revealed another reason why he wanted to drop the title that night to Roode.

"I was expected to drop the title to Bobby," Angle said. "They were doing all these vignettes with Bobby and his family, how hard of a worker he was, what a great family man he was, and it was all set up to drop the title to him. And I don't know what happened, it wasn't me. I'm going to be the first one to admit, I did not ask to keep the title. As a matter of fact, I was severely injured. I had a torn hamstring, not a pulled hamstring, but torn.

"It was almost torn all the way in half, my leg was black all the way down to the heel in my foot. I didn't even know if I could wrestle at Bound for Glory. They didn't tell me till the day of the show at Bound for Glory that I was going to retain the title, and I was a little pissed off because I didn't want to carry the title any longer because of my injury. I wanted to rest up, and heal up, and come back in perfect form. Unfortunately, they decided against Bobby getting the title, which was kind of a downer for the pay per view, especially us being on last. It was a real flat finish."

After their match, Angle faced James Storm the next night on television and lost the belt in 10 seconds, making a mockery out of the whole situation. Making Angle hold the title for an extra night on the biggest TNA pay per view of the year only to lose it the next in an unplanned title match was one of the biggest mistakes in company history. Angle tried to make sense of the situation by stating the company's reasoning for not putting the title on Bobby at that time.

"I think what the reason was and why they went against that was because they wanted Bobby Roode to have a moment, a World Championship moment," Angle said. "I think they felt that I couldn't have the match I was expecting because of my injury. I think that's why everything changed. Because of my injury, they felt that Bobby Roode wouldn't have the moment that he deserved.

"He would be able to earn it against James Storm later on down the line, and James Storm beat me the next day for 10 seconds with a Super Kick and that's all I had to do in that match, which is the quickest match I've ever been in. I think it might be the quickest match in the history of wrestling. I knew that Bobby Roode should've won the match at the pay per view, that's how I felt."

Since his time in TNA, Roode has been in WWE and spent time as the NXT Champion and United States Champion, but mostly has been an afterthought. Angle spoke about Roode's character having it all, and why he ultimately believes one day Roode will be able to achieve the ultimate level of success in WWE.

"He had everything it took," Angle said. "From his looks, to in-ring ability, to promo skills, relating to a character that he wanted to do, Bobby was one of the best. I knew that he would have a lot of promise and have a lot of success anywhere he went, WWE, TNA, AEW, it wouldn't have mattered. Bobby Roode was going to be successful.

"I think that the company is so wrapped up in making sure they're producing their stars, sometimes they overlook other guys, and it's unfortunate. But eventually, Bobby will get his chance. I know he's gotten a lot of chances that didn't last very long, but I think that he will eventually get his chance, and he will be WWE Champion, eventually."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.