Kurt Angle's potential WWE return came to an end when he re-signed with TNA later last year, but the reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion is a bit disappointed that he didn't get to wrestle Daniel Bryan.
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Angle spoke with Sports Illustrated's Extra Mustard blog recently and said he would have had a great match with Bryan when talking about potential bouts he could have had if he re-signed with the WWE.
"The best match of the year would have been between myself and Daniel Bryan," Angle told the blog. "Rusev would have made sense, and Brock [Lesnar] and I could have went at it again. There were just so many places to go. I don't know if they just thought I was too old, but obviously they're not watching our product. Triple H is the same age as me. It was hard, but at the end of the day, I'm really happy. Will I ever go back? I really don't care. I'm happy to be here in TNA."
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Angle said Triple H was in charge of the negotiations instead of Vince McMahon and he added that "The Game" didn't seem interested in re-signing him.
"I haven't spoke openly about this, but I opened up my options and was going to decide between TNA and WWE," Angle said. "I wasn't going to leave TNA unless WWE was offering a fair deal. Paul [Levesque a.k.a. Triple H] is in charge. I found that out when I contacted Vince. I've always had a good relationship with Paul, so I didn't consider that a problem. But he decided they had enough talent. For the Vince McMahon who I knew, enough was never enough. He always wanted more. I don't know what was going on over there, but they even canceled our meeting. I never went to see them. They didn't even sit me down and talk to me."
Angle, who won a gold medal as an amateur wrestler in 1996 and started out in WWE in 1999 before jumping to TNA in 2006, said he was shocked the WWE didn't have interest in bringing him back.
"It blew my mind. It was as if I was a nobody, that I wasn't Kurt Angle," he said. "From a wrestling standpoint, they just weren't interested. But TNA not only stepped up, they gave me everything I wanted - the dates, the money, and it's no secret that I've went to rehab in the past, and they gave me time off. You talk about a company that's loyal to you, and you want to be loyal back. So I didn't pursue the WWE any further. When it comes down to it, you've got to stick with the people who want to take care of you. And [TNA president] Dixie Carter took care of me. But I'm going to be straight with you. The WWE would have made more money this year if they would have signed me. That's no secret."
Angle also compared working for McMahon to working under Carter.
"They're completely different. If I wasn't feeling good, Dixie would tell me to take the night off - and she wouldn't dock my pay. I can't say that ever happened in WWE. Vince is great at what he does, but so is Dixie - and I know my body is going to hold up in TNA."
Angle, 46, is a six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and five-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
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