The Kurt Angle Show - WrestleMania 35 & Retirement [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today’s show is about Kurt Angle’s road to WrestleMania 35 and his retirement at the big show itself. It happened on April 7, 2019 at the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The show was headlined by the first ever women’s main event match in Mania history and a whopping SIXTEEN matches. Far too many, in most fan’s opinions.

(When you hear that there will be 16 matches on the card - and you’ll be going on at number 14 - are you a little bit worried about audience fatigue?)

82,265 fans were reported by the company to be in attendance, which is disputed. The announced gate was $16.9 million, the second largest in pro wrestling history, trailing the $17.3 million for the 2016 show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. 65,000 bought the show on PPV despite it being available on the WWE Network for $9.99.

(Is that the biggest crowd you wrestled in front of? What was that experience like?)

Leading Up To The Event

You’ve been back with the company for a couple years now. The return began on January 16, 2017 when WWE announced Angle would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Raw following that year’s Wrestlemania saw Kurt get named as the new Raw general manager. By May 29, the seeds are being planted for a new storyline where Kurt had an illegitimate child in college. Who ended up becoming a pro wrestler in the WWE. And so, we get the story that Kurt is the father of Jason Jordan.

(I’m sure someday, we will get into this one in deep detail. But, what are your thoughts on the storylines you were given on your return to the WWE? Were you satisfied with them, as far as quality?)

It was announced on October 20 that you would return to the ring to replace Roman Reigns due to medical issues, teaming with Ambrose and Rollins at TLC. you even dressed like the Shield. But from there, Kurt Angle was once again wrestling in the WWE. Just not on a full time basis.

You worked with Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania 34 - a show we will definitely cover someday here. Following that show, your GM tenure would see him clashing with King Corbin. You wrestled here and there matches.

But, there wasn’t really much of an in-ring presence from you during the return.

(Why do you think the company didn’t use you more in a wrestling role?)

You explained in interviews that your retirement from in-ring competition came about earlier than you would have liked due to inactivity in the ring: “Yes, I wish I would have wrestled more when I came back in early 2017.

"I was wrestling really well then. Because of my inactivity of being GM, my body started to get arthritic. I got tighter, more sore, and less flexible than when I was active 2 years ago. In other words, the inactivity of not wrestling consistently led me to retirement a little faster. But, I can’t complain. I loved doing what I did in WWE.”

(Do you think the company wanted to rush you into retirement because you were gone for so long?)

The 2019 Royal Rumble was disappointing, as we saw you enter at number four and quickly get eliminated. Meltzer even commented on how he didn’t like it..

“I don't like when they treat legends like that. No one believes that Kurt is going to win, but at least let him have a longer run in the ring and have him eliminated when the time is right. It's better to make the fans mad because the nostalgia hero's run is over and not because they didn't even get to see it.”

(It really feels like you’re getting the shaft by the company here. Did you feel that way, at all?)

On the March 11 episode of Raw, in your hometown of Pittsburgh, you announced your career was winding down and that you would be embarking on a farewell tour leading to his final match at that year’s Wrestlemania. But you didn’t announce who his opponent would be, just yet. That was saved for the following week.

The following week, you chose Baron Corbin as his final opponent as Corbin had caused you many problems during the latter's tenure as Raw General Manager (2017–2018) and eventually supplanted him, temporarily becoming Acting Raw General Manager.

(When was the decision made, internally, that you would be facing Baron Corbin at Wrestlemania?)

Meltzer said this:

So on Raw on 3/18, he picked Corbin. From a storyline standpoint, this makes sense. The two feuded for months when Angle was General Manager and Corbin was the assistant appointed by Stephanie McMahon, who kept undermining Angle and eventually cost him his job and took over. Still, they had a television match, which Corbin won clean and quickly. One would think at that point that wasn’t the plan, but aside from the top two matches which were scheduled dating back to December, the HHH match which was planned months before that but was dependent upon HHH being ready after a pec tear, and perhaps the Styles vs. Orton match, it doesn’t appear this card was planned out at all. And even Styles vs. Orton had no hints until a few weeks ago, so it probably wasn’t planned too far back.

However, if you watched Raw, with the announcers openly stating that the audience doesn’t like this match, it made you think they were doing a storyline, like many in recent months, where they announce something and change it. The only thing we know is that when the announcement was made, this match was on the lineup unlike so many in recent months where they announce a match that they don’t have actually planned to run and were doing an angle to get out of it. As late as 3/19, it still was on the books.

(It almost felt like there was left in the possibility for the angle to change. Why did the company tease that? Was there still a question about Cena?)

As Corbin recalled during an interview, he did not know about the match until he was watching you make the announcement in the ring on Raw. Corbin felt it was a really cool moment that he did not see coming.

(Was it a last minute decision? How is it that he found out by watching on TV?)

In interviews, you seemed lukewarm to the idea of facing Corbin.

"Many people believe that I should have had a different opponent. Maybe. Maybe not. But my argument as to why it should have been Corbin is pretty strong. As a HOFer and Legend in WWE, I came to my final match last Sunday. It was my retirement match. As a legend or HOFer or- whatever you want to call me, my job is to leave the WWE by doing the honours for a younger talent. I did that.”

(Did you try to put on a happy face here for an idea that you did not like?)

After several interviews, we got a clearer picture of what you had hoped for. Angle vs. John Cena.

“I told Vince I wanted to wrestle John Cena because I started his career and I wanted him to end mine - it just made sense to me. He told me no and that I was getting Baron Corbin. He said that if wanted Cena, I’d have to wait until next year, but I didn’t want to go another year. Baron is a great athlete and a great worker, but where he was at the time might not be at the level where Hall Of Famers would feel totally comfortable with. He was great to work with; I didn’t have a problem with that. I had a little bit of a problem retiring with him. I don’t want to put him down because he’s good, but I wanted to go with John Cena because it just made sense. I don’t want to say I had the worst retirement match, but wrestling Baron wasn’t exactly my dream match. Back then, he just wasn’t there.”

In another interview, you told the story like this: "I said, ‘Vince, I want to retire. Baron's a great talent but he's an upcoming talent, how about John Cena?'

"[McMahon] said, 'If you want John Cena you got it. But this year you got Baron'. I said, 'Vince, I'm not going next year. I'm done, this is it'. And he said, 'Well, you’re stuck with this'."

(John Cena vs. Kurt Angle for a Wrestlemania retirement match would have been an epic showdown. Was Cena just unavailable? Would it have been a dual babyface match, like HBK/Flair? And, did you have any ideas in mind for a cool finish?)

But in the weeks leading up to the show, it was clear that John Cena would appear at Wrestlemania - but there were still big questions about his role. As Meltzer said...Cena is on the show. Unless this changes over the next few days, he’s got nothing to do with the Kurt Angle/Baron Corbin situation. That could change, given the crowd is willing that to happen. The Cena plan has been kept secret, and not only hasn’t been teased, but there has been no hint on WWE television of Cena even being on the show.

As it would come to be, Cena came out in his Dr. of Thuganomics gimmick and rapped with Elias before the Undertaker appeared and hit the Tombstone on Elias. Because we needed another segment, dammit!

(Fans were clamouring for your match to be changed to a Cena match even until the day of the event. When you found out that Cena was going to be at the show after all, did you try to lobby for a change? What was Vince’s reason for not giving you the match you wanted?)

You gave an interview to WrestleTalk where you said pretty openly that you had wanted another title run before your retirement. You also said you had wanted to wrestle more when you returned. But neither of those happened.

“It didn’t go the way I wanted it to. Vince McMahon had an idea for me, I think he was looking at me as a liability, someone that was addicted to painkillers, someone that broke his neck 5 times. So, I think Vince didn’t have the same idea I did.”

(Do you think Vince looked at you as a liability? Or do you think he held a grudge over you going to TNA? Or both, maybe?)

Even though Baron Corbin wasn’t the first choice of anyone to retire Kurt Angle, Corbin said he loved getting the gig. It just added to his heel persona.

“No one wanted it to happen, and that was the best part,” said Corbin with a full grin on his face. “Everyone wanted John Cena, but that’s not who they got. It’s the same thing with the King of the Ring—I’m the last person you want to see win. That only adds to my fire. And that match with Kurt Angle is something I’ll hold dear forever.

(What do you think the win did for Baron Corbin and have you watched him much since? What do you think of his direction?)

But before we could get to Wrestlemania and all sixty five matches on the show that night, let’s talk for a little bit about the Farewell Tour.

Here's what Dave said on Wrestling Observer Radio: "The deal is that Kurt actually is legitimately able to ask for his final opponents, but even though the gimmick was that he asked for his final opponent, that was the one that he couldn’t ask for and that’s what he got (Corbin).”

“The rest of these are actually matches that he’s asking for so they gave him that on the way out so that’s why we have Samoa Joe on Raw and why we have Rey Mysterio on Raw next week."

(So let’s talk about that for a second. Did Vince give you carte blanche to pick your opponents in the weeks leading up to Mania? Any reason for that? Perhaps because he wouldn’t let you pick your Mania opponent??)

On March 11, in front of PIttsburgh, you defeated Apollo Crews in 3:01.

(What made you select Apollo Crews? What do you think of him? And, are you in too much pain at this point to go much longer?)

On March 18, you defeated Chad Gable by submission in 12:16.

(A super fun match. Why did you want to wrestle Chad Gable? What do you think about the Shorty G gimmick….)

On March 25’s Raw, we get a fun TNA rematch: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe, which ends in 8:55 with Angle getting the pin.

(How fun was it to get to go back in time, sort of, with Samoa Joe here? What is it you like most about working with him?)

The next day on Smackdown live, we get one more throwback to the TNA days: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle. AJ won that by DQ

(What made you select AJ to be part of your farewell tour? Why was the the only one who didn’t put you over?)

(Were there any others you would have liked to have performed with on the farewell tour that you didn’t get to? Current roster folks)

The Event Itself

Most fans of the Observer, 44 percent, gave the show a thumbs in the middle while 37.3% gave it thumbs up. The women’s tag title match was the worst on the card, fans voted, but just below that match...Baron Corbin vs. Kurt Angle.

One of the reasons for that has to be that the match was less than 6 minutes long.

(That couldn’t have been the original plan, right? A 5:51 retirement match?)

It was the fourteenth card on the show that night. Not a typo. The match followed Triple H and Batista going 24.43, which seems long, by comparison. Maybe that’s why yours was short?

Although it wasn’t advertised, that was also the retirement match for Batista.

(Did you have any mixed feelings about Hunter and Dave going so long and leaving you with 6 minutes?)

14. Baron Corbin pinned Kurt Angle in 5:51. Angle used three German suplexes and went for the Angle slam, but Corbin kicked him off. Corbin used the Deep Six but Angle kicked out. Corbin kicked out of an angle slam. Angle went for the ankle lock, but Corbin kicked him off into the turnbuckles. That looked badly timed. Angle did three more German suplexes, but missed a moonsault and Corbin hit the End of Days. Angle did look better than he had in the last few weeks. The usual protocol is that the guy who is retiring loses but if he was going to lose his last match, it should have been with someone that people wanted to see him against. The crowd did pick up thanking Angle after he lost. Angle said that for the last 20 years, I’ve had the time of my life, in addition to tonight, and wanted to thank everyone. He asked fans to chant “You suck” at him for the last time, although he did that again the next night. They chanted it loudly. *

And just like that, it’s over.

(Give us your thoughts on the match.)

(Walk us through the planning stages for the match. Was this always the planned match? Did you rehearse any spots here? Did you have to cut stuff out?)

(What does Vince say to you when you walk to the back?)

(What’s your overall opinion of your Wrestlemania 35 match?)

The Follow Up

It’s the legendary Raw after Wrestlemania, April 8, 2019 live from Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center.

Mid-way through the first hour, ring announcer Mike Rome gave Baron Corbin a big introduction that included referring to him as Brooklyn’s favorite son. Corbin boasted about beating Kurt Angle. Fans responded with a “shut the f— up” chant.

“Real classy, New York, real classy,” Corbin said. “I would expect nothing less from a bunch of New Yorkers.”

Corbin said he’s used to people doubting him even with his long list of accomplishments. He said he proved that he is better than an Olympic gold medalist. Corbin said he feels like he deserves a gold medal of his own.

You make your entrance dressed in regular clothing. Fans chanted “thank you, Kurt.” You thanked the fans and said that Corbin was the better man the night before and his career is officially over, while Corbin’s is just getting started. You wished Corbin all the luck in the world and then gave him a left-handed handshake. “Bad luck,” you said before pulling in Corbin and giving him an Olympic Slam. You put Corbin in the ankle lock, which he released once Corbin was under the ropes.

(Is this putting a bow on your feud with Corbin?)

But the segment was not over…

Lars Sullivan’s entrance music played and he walked to the ring while you looked shocked. Cole said they’d been hearing about Sullivan for months. Sullivan entered the ring and glared at you, but you stepped forward and sized him up while Sullivan jawed. Sullivan picked you up and slammed you to the mat. Sullivan slammed his chest. Fans chanted “asshole.” Sullivan went up top and performed a diving headbutt. Sullivan’s music played and he left the ring.

Just a few days ago in 2021, Lars Sullivan revealed he had been released from the company and said he planned to retire from pro wrestling, citing his personal mental health struggles with anxiety.

(What did you think of working with Lars? Did you hope for there to be some type of program or retribution angle, no pun intended, after?)

You said in an interview that losing to Corbin and then getting laid out by Lars the next night on Raw may have felt wrong, but it was the right thing to do.

(Why is that?)

Nothing else came from the Lars angle.

Instead, Kurt transitioned into the backstage role of a producer.

(Talk to us about that for a minute. What was your day like as a WWE producer? What job duties did you have?)

On July 22, you appeared on Raw Reunion and raised a toast alongside Triple H, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and various other fellow legends and hall of farmers.

All of whom you’ve made tap out, by the way.

On the August 5 episode of Raw in his hometown of Pittsburgh, you made an appearance as the special guest referee for a match between Drew McIntyre and Cedric Alexander. However, McIntyre and Alexander took out each other before the match began and Angle was then attacked by "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.

(What did you think of the Fiend character? Big fan?)

That’s the last we would hear of you on WWE TV for some time

On April 15, 2020, you were released from his WWE contract as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

(How did you find out about this? Who called you? Was that just your producer deal or the legends contract, too?)

In May, you returned to Smackdown to announce the arrival of Matt Riddle to the brand. In an interview, you even said WWE offered him a new deal to come back under the role of Matt Riddle’s manager - but he turned it down.

(What kind of deal did they offer you? Why did you turn it down? And what do you think about Matt Riddle? Seems like a cool partnership, if not a bit odd in terms of personalities…)

Questions

Nick asks...Was Kurt hands on with the creative of his retirement match or was it pretty much dictated as is? #AskKurt

Rajiv asks...Knowing this would be the last Wrestlemania you would wrestle at, what was going through your mind walking down that long ramp?

Rajiv asks..As a performer, how different was going from arena Wrestlemania’s to stadium Wrestlemania’s?

Tyler asks...Why was there never a match with Daniel Bryan on the retirement tour leading up to Wrestlemania?

Garrett asks...other then Cena, who else would have liked to be your final opponent?

Cameraguygimmick asks...what made you start wearing the grap gloves

Rory asks..Do you feel WWE have somewhat wasted the rub given to Baron Corbin in your retirement match? He hasn't exactly climbed up the card since the match?

Adam has a cool hypothetical question...Hypothetically speaking if your retirement match had been at WM 36 and not 35 would you have still gone through with it or waited until fans could be in attendance again?

Jason asks...In retrospect is Kurt glad he got to retire in front of a stadium full of fans? Since as we all know, 11 months after this, we'd be in the covid era

Zack asks...What's the inspiration for your gear here? The half black was a little odd to see. 

Instagram a Wrestling Historian asks...Who would you have preferred retiring you: John Cena or Daniel Bryan?

Brandon asks...How does it make you feel to see a guy like Goldberg, come back and get multiple world title runs and you were subjected to this lackluster retirement?