“I wish I could have,” Hall of Famer reveals why he didn’t appear at Draft 2023, even when requested by WWE

A former champion and WWE Hall of Famer had to reject the offer to be present at the WWE Draft. The 2023 Draft took place on SmackDown on April 28th and on Raw on May 1st.

Several legends and former WWE Superstars returned to Raw and SmackDown to draft the current roster of WWE Superstars into the two brands. The fans well-received this, as the WWE Draft in the last couple of years was not very popular because of the monotonous and predictable draft picks. Moreover, former superstars featuring on current programming have always been good for viewership.

Triple H announced the first pick of the 2023 Draft. Legends like Rob Van Dam, Michael P. Hayes, Teddy Long, JBL, Eric Bischoff, and Molly Holly, to name a few, followed the trend. Almost all the former superstars received a loud reaction from the fans. Several more Hall of Famers showed up on both nights of the Draft on Raw as well as SmackDown.

However, one particular Hall of Famer had to reject the offer to attend the Draft. Former Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle revealed that WWE had offered him a role to announce the drafts, but he, unfortunately, could not attend because of other commitments. Speaking on his podcast, The Kurt Angle Show, he said, “I was asked to do it and I couldn’t unfortunately. I wish I could have… love to be there and announce a draft pick, but unfortunately, I didn’t. I was busy that day and I couldn’t do it. They offered me [to do it] and I had to turn it down, unfortunately.”

Fans would have loved to see Angle show up for the Draft as the submission specialist has had a very successful career in WWE. Kurt Angle was last seen on WWE in a DX Reunion segment on the 30th Anniversary Episode of Raw in January 2023.

Related: After RAW more superstars drafted at WWE Draft 2023

How Kurt Angle should have really retired

Kurt Angle had a successful career in WWE and TNA. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017 and returned to the company as the General Manager of Raw.

When Angle decided to hang up his boots in 2019, there was a lot of debate about who should be the one to retire him. Names like John Cena, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe were all on the list. Up-and-comers like Chad Gable were also considered at some point, as the Alpha Academy member shared a lot of the qualities that Kurt Angle had.

Any of these feuds would have been a more fitting farewell for the Olympic icon. But in the end, WWE chose Baron Corbin to defeat and retire Kurt Angle. As there was no compelling justification for the decision as to why Baron Corbin was chosen. While Angle is content with his retirement match and does not have any plans to compete again, he has admitted that the move was incorrect.

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