10 Shocking AEW Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
5. Tony Khan Wants Classic Kurt Angle?!
Khan offered Kurt Angle two different contracts. One was as a wrestler, and the other as an on-air personality. Needing a breather, Kurt turned both down and concentrated on kickstarting his supplement company. Internally, Angle also didn’t think he could wrestle to a high enough standard for AEW pay-per-views.
His final WWE run kinda confirmed that.
It's a bit out there that someone as studious as Khan believed Angle would be able to wrestle to any great extent against his best workers post-WWE retirement in 2019. Of course, that retirement run was a disgrace and ended with a humiliating, quick loss to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35, but Kurt just wasn't capable of much more.
Physically, he was cooked. Drafting him in for bouts vs. Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson (probably) and MJF would've been a tough sell for the legend. Even he knew that, but AEW loved the thought of giving it a go. It's for the best that Angle saw sense.