10 Shocking WWE Superstar Firings No One Saw Coming

9. Kurt Angle

Arguably one of the greatest WWE superstars of all-time, it's baffling to think that Kurt Angle has been slumming it in TNA since 2006. While he initially emerged as the face of that promotion and helped it become more successful, the fact he's stuck it out there and refused to return to the WWE (given his well-publicised personal problems, you'd think he'd have taken whatever they offered) is genuinely quite surprising. At the time, the Olympic gold medallist's decision to part ways with the WWE appeared to be a mutual one, but it's since become apparent that they had decided to show Angle the door for his own good due to his recurrent injuries and an addiction to painkillers. Throw in talk of Angle's backstage behaviour becoming increasingly erratic and doctors wanting him to retire from in-ring competition altogether for the sake of his longterm health, and this was pretty much a mercy firing on Vince McMahon's part. Rumour has it that Angle was even in tears in WWE's Stamford offices when McMahon broke the news to him. The fact he was fired might explain why, rather than resting up at home and making a triumphant WWE return somewhere down the line, Angle signed up with TNA around a month later. The lighter schedule he had there did wonders for his wrestling career, and while he remains there to this day, it doesn't sound like there's any real bad feeling on Angle's part towards the WWE despite how things ended.