The offer of a former WWE Hall of Famer and champion to attend the WWE Draft had to be rejected. The WWE Draft 2023 took place on SmackDown April 28th, and Raw May 1st.
The current WWE Superstars were drafted into Raw and SmackDown by several legends and former WWE Superstars. This was well received by the fans, since the WWE Draft of the past couple of years wasn’t very popular due to the repetitive and predictable picks. Former superstars appearing in current programming has always increased viewership.
Triple-H has announced the first selection of the Draft 2023. The trend was followed by legends such as Rob Van Dam and Michael P. Hayes. Teddy Long, JBL Eric Bischoff and Molly Holly are just a few. Fans reacted loudly to almost all of the former superstars. On both Raw and SmackDown, several more Hall of Famer appeared.
One Hall of Famer, however, had to decline the invitation to the Draft. Kurt Angle , a former Olympic gold medalist, revealed that WWE offered him a position to announce the Drafts. However, he was unable to attend due other commitments. Kurt Angle said on his podcast The Kurt Angle show, “I was offered the role and unfortunately, I could not.” I would have loved to announce the draft picks, but I couldn’t. I was too busy to do it that day. Unfortunately, I turned down their offer to do the job. .”
Angle would have been a great choice for the Draft, as the WWE submission specialist had an incredibly successful career. Kurt Angle last appeared on WWE on Raw’s 30th Anniversary Episode in January 2023 in a DX Reunion Segment.
Kurt Angle’s retirement should have been a lot earlier
Kurt Angle enjoyed a successful wrestling career with WWE and TNA. In 2017, he was inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame. He returned to the company in the role of Raw General Manager.
There was much debate when Angle announced that he would retire in 2019. John Cena was on the list, as were AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. At some point, Chad Gable was also considered as the Alpha Academy member had many of the same qualities as Kurt Angle.
All of these feuds could have been the perfect farewell to this Olympic icon. WWE decided to choose Baron Corbin as the final opponent for Kurt Angle. There was no convincing reason why Baron Corbin should have been chosen. Angle admits that he is happy with his retirement match, and has no plans to compete in the future.
