Kurt Angle Says He Turned Down Offer To Manage Matt Riddle On WWE SmackDown

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently spoke with Tim Adams of CBR and revealed that he turned down an offer to manage new WWE SmackDown Superstar Matt Riddle.

Last week's WWE NXT main event saw Angle act as the special referee to Riddle's blow-off to his run on that brand, which was the Cage Fight loss to Timothy Thatcher. Two nights later on SmackDown, Angle introduced Riddle as the newest face of WWE and revealed the first pre-recorded teaser vignette for Riddle's official debut on the blue brand.

Angle praised Riddle to CBR and said he turned down an offer to manage Riddle due to a few different reasons.

"I think that Matt Riddle is going to be one of the faces of the [WWE], he has all the ability. His personality is great. At first, it's a little odd. But once you get to know him, he's very likable," Angle said. "And that's what he's going to get from the fans. They're going to love this kid. And he proves it in the ring. He's phenomenal in the ring. There's no doubt about that. But his whole bro gimmick thing works really well. And he's going to do extremely well.

"WWE has offered me a job to manage him. Unfortunately, I turned it down due to a few different reasons, but I would have loved to manage him. It just wasn't the right time."

Angle was asked about the possibility of reuniting with Riddle in the future on WWE TV. He laughed and responded, "You never know."