The Kurt Angle 2019 WWE Farewell Tour

[The Rick Jericho]

Remember when he entered the Royal Rumble in 2019?

Then on his farewell tour he got to work matches with:

Chad Gable
Samoa Joe
AJ Styles
Apollo Crews

To name a few. It had so much potential. A shame the matches were all cut short.

[DZ: WF Legacy]

It was really fun to see Kurt wrestle a bunch of guys 1-on-1 in that 2019 farewell tour. I wish they paired him with a few more dream opponents, but he did get to at least work with a few of them in some limited capacity. He wasn't the wrestler he once was, but seeing who was wrestling him each week was intriguing. Chad Gable coming out with his Olympian look again and actually having a solid match with him was the highlight to me. The Corbin final match was such a lame choice, but Kurt busting out the moonsault at the end was cool.

As for his whole 2nd run, his brief encounter with Daniel Bryan at The Greatest Royal Rumble reminded me so much of his brief encounter with Mr. Perfect at the 2002 Rumble; mere previews of what could've been. That, the Chad Gable match in Chicago on Raw, and maybe the Ziggler match in that tournament at Crown Jewel 2018 were my favorite matches he had overall in his run. He really should have gone over Ziggler and faced Seth in a losing effort, but I imagine working 2 matches at the state he was in physically would be asking a lot.

[Celexa Bliss]

And then his final match was a loss to Baron f***ing Corbin.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

If I recall correctly Adam over at partsFUNknown did a video on "how I would have booked Kurt's Illegitimate son" where he booked up to Kurt's retirement and it was really good.

Spoiler: It doesn't end with him losing to Boring Corbin.

[Andew9001]

I was at mania 35 with my mate who is a lifelong Kurt Angle fan. He even went to Mania 33 just because Angle was going into the Hall of Fame. As soon as the Angle/Corbin match was over he turned to me and said, "Thank god that's over."

We both knew how rough the match was. Kurt just had nothing in the tank left by 2019. He's looking good these days but back then he was shell of his former self.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

I know it won't happen but I just kinda wish they put Kurt Angle in a Trios or an Eight Man where he could just like do an Ankle Lock and submit a guy so his last match wasn't against Corbin. That shit has aged so terrible in these last few years...

[4real]

He was very broken down at the end wasn’t he? Very slow and I remember the matches with Joe & Styles being very not good at all.

But with all he had been through and he was 50 at the time (or pushing 50) it’s hardly surprising. I do wonder if things would have been different if he had taken more time off to heal his neck like Austin & Edge did.

[Jindrak Mark]

Kurt's last few matches were sad to watch. He was in no condition to still be wrestling.

I guess it was a tag so he didn't have to carry the whole match but just a year earlier too he was in an amazing match at Wrestlemania with that mixed tag. In hindsight that would have been a better final match for him.

[asuka007]

I still believe that that match he had with Drew on Raw would have been a FAR better retirement match, than his actual retirement match.

[Nosnorb]

Jun 18, 2023 11:22:24 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Kurt's last few matches were sad to watch. He was in no condition to still be wrestling.

That was true of his final matches in TNA too.

[chazraps]

I remember on one of the Raw they advertised a final Angle vs Mysterio match heavy for the local audience and then on the show itself it didn't happen.

[Alice Syndrome]

Jun 18, 2023 17:18:03 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

Jun 18, 2023 11:22:24 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Kurt's last few matches were sad to watch. He was in no condition to still be wrestling.

That was true of his final matches in TNA too.

Yeah I think it was around 2015 he had 2 more surgeries on his neck, and then when he came back he was REALLY broken down.

[Instant Classic]

I just thought I was surreal seeing angle vs Joe and AJ in WWE tv.

[mj0mn0m]

It was stupid to not include American Dragon. 10 minutes would gave been nuff.

[Banjo Is Broken]

I fantasy booked his last match at WM against John Cena. I'd like to think I made a better choice than the actual booking team did.

[Nosnorb]

Jun 17, 2023 20:20:49 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

 It had so much potential.

It didn't. Kurt Angle was running on empty and could barely move. His neck and knees were absolutely shot, and apart from putting him in a match with Jinder Mahal and not having his send off being against Big Match John, WWE did the best with a dude that should have retired at least 5 years earlier. To be honest, it was astonishing that WWE even cleared him to wrestle in the first place.

[Famous Rocking Chimes]

Yeah Kurt just looked like he was trying to move through water at that point.

I was at an Inside the Ropes show last year and Kurt was pretty honest in saying that the time he took off wrestling to do the GM role pretty much ended his career as his body was no longer used to bumping regularly as it had been.

Still though, he deserved a better send off than losing to Baron Corbin in five mins in a throwaway match.