Obligatory Kurt Angle Post

As I sit here writing/composing this, I am watching Monday Night Raw. The first Monday Night Raw of the post-Kurt Angle era. Angle's release has been the talk of the wrestling community since it was announced on Friday, and rightfully so. This is big news, and deserves attention. So I thought I would take advantage of my little piece of the Internet to offer my thoughts on the whole thing.

I knew Angle had been having problems, from reading the various reports on the Internet, as well as simply by looking at his body. I remember a number of years ago, a couple of friends and I went to the Skydome to see a WCW event. To give you an idea of how long ago this was, Steve Austin was there with Brian Pillman doing the Hollywood Blondes gimmick. Also on the card was Paul Orndorff. I remember my one friend commenting on Orndorff's arms, one of which was decidedly smaller than the other. We later discovered this was due to Orndorff's arm injury and subsequent surgery.

The reason I mention this is because Angle's arms were starting to take on a disturbingly Orndorff appearance. Of course, this was a physical manifestation of the damage that had been done to Angle's body, as his muscles had started atrophying due to his damaged neck and spine. That isn't good. He had already had one neck surgery, and was obviously in need of further surgery.

Angle had also been suspended twice under the WWE's Wellness Policy, implemented after the tragic loss of Eddie Guerrero almost a year ago. It turns out that he was relying on painkillers to make it through the day, a tale that wrestling fans have heard too many times already. So its obviously in the best interests of Kurt's health that he take the time he needs to let himself heal, physically and psychologically.

The big question, as I see it, is why Kurt was released? When Shawn Michaels suffered a not-quite career ending injury, WWE kept him on the payroll. Michaels was eventually able to return when the departures of bigger stars Steve Austin and The Rock coincided with his back healing. Other WWE independent contractors like Joey Mercury and Chris Masters were sent to rehab to deal with their personal problems, and were not released. One would think that the WWE could do the same with Angle, forcing him to get healthy, and not using him on their programming until he is.

I should note at this point that I am not badmouthing WWE by asking this question. I'm simply trying to figure out the situation. Its interesting because recent WWE returnee Jeff Hardy was also released because of his addictions. I remember listening to an MP3 rip of his RFVideo shoot interview, where Hardy claimed that he refused rehab because he didn't believe he had a problem. So has Angle refused rehab? Or is there something else going on here?

The other question to be raised here is whether Angle is done wrestling. I posted a comment on Todd's entry about Angle's firing, inquiring as to what sort of no-compete clause has been imposed on Angle as a result of this release. After I posted it, I realized it could be misconstrued as wishful thinking on my part, hoping that Angle will appear in a different promotion soon. Scott Williams has an article about this line of thinking up on the Observer website.

And I'll admit it. When I heard about Angle's release, I started envisioning the kind of dream matches that this release could provide. Angle vs. Danielson in a 60 minute ROH classic. Angle vs Samoa Joe. Vs. Kobashi. Vs. Muta. Vs. Ken Shamrock. The options were almost limitless. To my credit, I quicky tossed out these thoughts, and instead started envisioning things like Kurt Angle seeing 40, 50, 60. I put aside the selfish desires of the wrestling fan, and started thinking about the toll that Angle's desire to entertain had taken on his body, and the problems he was now facing as a result. As much as the wrestling fan in me would love to see those matches take place, I would much rather see Kurt Angle get healthy and never wrestle again.

But will others do the same? If Kurt Angle calls up ROH and asks for a shot, will they give it to him? Would the ROH fans greet Angle as a hero, or will they give him the Jeff Hardy treatment? Would Angle go to TNA in an attempt to prove he's still the best? Would TNA take him?

From what I understand, one reason why Kurt has allowed the problem to get this bad is because he has refused to admit he has a problem, and instead has insisted that he can go out and do what he does best. Wrestle. But is this release going to get him to admit that he isn't well? Or is he going to try to prove himself in a different ring.

I hope Kurt Angle takes full advantage of this opportunity. He hasn't burned any bridges with WWE, and as his stint as Smackdown GM proved, he can continue to contribue in a non-wrestling capacity. Heck, if he wants to really contribute, I think Angle would be one hell of a trainer down in OVW. Maybe Lance Storm can get Angle up to Calgary to show his students how things are done. If you're going to learn, you might as well learn from the best.

Heck, just thinking about Lance Storm and Kurt Angle gives me an angle idea that could result in a Wrestlemania dream match.

I know there is no way Kurt Angle reads this, but I'm hoping that in some metaphysical way, my simple act of typing these words will somehow influence the direction of the universe.

Dear Kurt,
Thank you for everything you did in wrestling. You were funny, you were intense, you were a wrestling machine. And as a fan, I am asking you. Please don't do it anymore. Go home, rest up, and never wrestle again. You've done enough. Hell, you've probably done too much already. You have nothing to prove, and nobody to impress. The most inspiring thing you could do now is to admit your limitations, and overcome your problems. Because I would much rather watch footage of you not wrestling tomorrow, than of you wrestling yesterday.