Kurt Angle "Never Heard Back" After WWE Reached Out For PC Role
Like Shawn Michaels and other wrestlers-turned-coaches, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle took to his podcast, The Kurt Angle Show, and discussed Triple H contacting him in the past several months for a job with NXT.
The former Olympic Gold Medalist revealed on a recent podcast that Triple H and WWE approached him for several roles with the company after he retired in April of 2019. The job offer included a role as a coach in NXT, a run as the manager of now-RAW Superstar Matt Riddle and also a WWE Legends contract, which Angle ultimately turned down. Angle discussed the offers, noting since that day, he's never heard anything back from Triple H or WWE about hiring him to work in NXT.
"Triple H, he contacted me about seven months ago and wanted me to help out down in NXT," Angle said. "Wanted me to be a trainer and he only said 'Hey, all I need you to do is go over stuff with talent. You can do it from home on your computer, you can do a zoom call, just go through the tapes with them in their match and tell what they did right and wrong.' I said I'd be interested and I never heard back from him. Long story short, they were interested but at the last second they must have backed out, which is okay with me."
Angle also discussed Matt Bloom, formerly known as A-Train or Lord Tensai, who is currently the head coach of NXT developmental. He praised Bloom for the success he's had, admitting that he's done a better job as a coach than he did during his wrestling career.
"Matt Bloom is an incredible coach," Angle said. "He has done an incredible job with the talent done in NXT, which stood out to me when Matt Bloom first started. He was amazing, the guy for a big guy he sold everything, his mouth, his back, he was very particular about what he did and that showed me that he would become a great coach. I think he's going to become a better coach than he was a wrestler because of the way he went about things. He learned the business top to bottom and he was very successful at being the coach of NXT. He's done an amazing job so far and he will continue to do it."
Speaking about talent who've done more during their time outside of the ring than in it, Angle added Billy Kidman to the conversation, who is currently working with WWE as a lead producer backstage. Being a multiple time World Champion with WWE, Angle said he agrees with the idea that sometimes the most successful talent aren't the best coaches or producers, and believes that's why Kidman and Bloom have been successful in their current roles.
"There's that rumor that the most talented minds don't really have the minds to teach," Angle said. "There's a lot of rumors going around about that, would I be a good coach? I don't think I would be a good coach or as good as Matt Bloom or as good of a producer as Billy Kidman. These guys are so passionate about the business, I think they're still hungry because they didn't get the success that I got and I think that's what makes them continue in the business and want to excel at a different category in the business in another job, a different category of the business. I think that's why they're so successful because they continue to stay hungry."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.