Kurt Angle Pitches WWE Return To Officials

Kurt Angle's TNA contract is expiring this September as the Olympic gold medalist has talked about many times, most recently on Jim Ross' podcast. When he spoke to JR, Angle expressed an interest in returning to WWE for one final run before retiring for good. He specifically mentioned he wants to sign one final contract. According to a report in the newest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter by Dave Meltzer, Angle is trying to pitch a deal to WWE officials (no specific names were given) that would lead to Angle returning to the company and working a schedule that was similar to Shawn Michaels in his final years. If you'll recall, Michaels worked Raw most weeks and appeared on most of the PPVs in his last couple of years, but he didn't work house shows much at all while rarely appearing on Smackdown. In other words, the schedule would be about a handful of televised appearances per month. The report by Meltzer notes that WWE hasn't shown much interest in a return for Angle while Vince McMahon has apparently been very negative about the idea of Angle returning to WWE. Meltzer has noted in the past that McMahon was worried that Angle might die when he was in WWE before because of his heavy drug & alcohol use. Angle was fired by WWE because they wanted him to go to rehab, but he refused. After he was let go, he signed with TNA. McMahon was adamant that he wasn't going to have an Olympic gold medalist die while working for him. It was never a question of Angle's talent. It was his out of the ring issues. Angle wrestled in WWE from 1999 to 2006, became a WWE Champion in his first year on the main roster and won a total of five World Titles in WWE. Now that he's 45 years old and TNA is struggling in many ways, he sees it as the right time to go back to the company that made him famous. Even though Angle has slipped a bit because of his age, he's still a very good in-ring performer that can have very good matches with anybody. There could be a number of reasons why WWE has no interest. Perhaps it's because Angle isn't officially a free agent, so maybe they are reluctant to talk about him at this point. After all, Angle has gone through rehab and when he was on Ross' podcast he mentioned he didn't drink any alcohol for a year. If he were to meet WWE officials in person to show them that he was clean and sober it could open up the possibilities of a return. Other reasons for WWE to hesitate could be because of money. Maybe Angle wants too much of it. The schedule is another possible concern because from WWE's perspective they might not want to take on an expensive part time wrestler especially when they're in the midst of some severe budget cuts. This is a story that isn't going away. We'll continue to update on any further developments regarding the potential return of Kurt Angle to WWE.