WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle recently opened up about the severe physical toll his professional wrestling career has taken on his body, definitively stating why he cannot return to the ring for one more match. Speaking on Ken Anderson’s “Mic Check” podcast, Angle provided a detailed and frank assessment of his health, connecting his current condition to his in-ring style, his final run with WWE, and his past struggles with addiction.
When asked if he would be tempted to wrestle one final match against John Cena, Angle was unequivocal in his response. “I wish I could, man, I can’t,” he stated. “That would be very tempting, but there’s just no way possible.” He then listed the extent of his injuries and surgical history as the primary reason. “I have to have my shoulders replaced. I have five neck surgeries, two back surgeries. My body just is really banged up. There’s really nothing I can do.”
Angle explained that his physical decline was accelerated during his final run with WWE, which began in 2017. Upon his return, he was made the General Manager of Raw, a non-physical role he held for nine months. “I don’t have any time to train in the ring. And I’m pushing 49-50 years old, and my body starts getting arthritic because I’m doing nothing, no activity,” Angle said. “My knees are tightening up… and I couldn’t straighten them out, and my neck and my back were all messed up.”
As a result, when he did return to in-ring competition, he felt he was unable to perform at the high standard he had set for himself. “I looked like an old man when I’m wrestling,” he said of that time. “I wasn’t having the matches I wanted to have.” He also noted that he was booked to lose most of his matches, culminating in his retirement match against Baron Corbin at WrestleMania, rather than his preferred opponent, John Cena. “I had to suck it up and… bend over and take it up the tailpipe, is what I did,” Angle said of his final run.
He traced many of his long-term issues back to his struggles with painkiller addiction, which began after he broke his neck for the second time in WWE. When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Angle said, “I’d tell him to stay away from the painkillers no matter how painful my injuries were.” He described being introduced to them by a doctor and immediately loving the euphoric feeling they provided.
That initial prescription led to a severe and dangerous addiction as his tolerance grew. “I was literally taking 65 extra strength Vicodin a day when I was at my biggest,” Angle revealed. To feed his addiction, he devised a system to obtain a massive supply of pills each month. “I had 12 different doctors write me 12 different scripts, and I’d go to 12 different pharmacies… I was also buying them illegally from Mexico,” he said.
He stated this out-of-control addiction was the primary reason he had to leave WWE in 2006. “I knew that I need to get better and… that’s what I did,” he said. “But don’t get me wrong, what I did is I got my painkiller problem out of control in TNA, then I started drinking alcohol excessively… that’s when I made all those horrible decisions, drinking and driving.”
Host Ken Anderson suggested that Angle’s physical state was a direct result of his intensity in the ring, noting that he “never at any point did you ever just go in there and phone it in.” Angle agreed, accepting it as a consequence of his work ethic. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in my work, and I’ve always put 110% in every single time I went in that ring,” he said.
The full interview with Kurt Angle can be heard on the “Mic Check with Mr. Anderson” podcast.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Mic Check with Mr. Anderson with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
