Kurt Angle Details Why Dream Match With Bret Hart Never Happened
Kurt Angle and Bret Hart each faced countless wrestling legends during their respective Hall of Fame careers, but the two men never once squared off in the middle of the ring.
In fact, WWE placed it No. 4 on their list of the "top 10 fantasy matches that never happened." Angle, an Olympic gold medalist, joined WWE in 1998 - one year after Hart had departed for the rival WCW promotion.
Concussion problems forced Hart to retire from professional wrestling in 2000. And by the time he returned to WWE in 2010 -- which saw Hart compete in a handful of matches -- Angle was in the midst of an illustrious tenure with TNA.
Timing simply never allowed these two world-class athletes to face off in the squared circle. But Angle didn't go without trying. He pushed for the dream match to happen, but Hart turned it down due to worries about a possible letdown of an in-ring performance.
Angle explained in an interview with Chris Van Vliet (h/t Ringside News).
"I was trying to get it done. I understand why Bret didn’t want to do it now me being 51 and looking back and if a young Bret Hart went to me right now and said ‘Let’s do our dream match’ I’d say ‘it’s not gonna be the dream match I’d like it to be. I probably don’t wanna get in that ring.'”
I understand why Bret didn’t want to do it. He had that stroke. He had a lot of bad luck so things that were medically, you know difficult for him to come back and be at his very best.
I understand that he wanted to be the Bret Hart and everyone adored. I told him you don’t have to bump at all I’ll do all the bumping. He said ‘Naw it won’t be the Bret Hart match that I wanted it to be.'"
Related: Kurt Angle Reveals Original WrestleMania 35 Plans & Opponent
Hart's final match saw him work with John Cena on the Sept. 12, 2011 edition of Monday Night Raw, where they defeated Ricardo Rodriguez and Alberto Del Rio in a tag team match. Angle retired after losing to Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35, and he has since transitioned to a backstage producer role in WWE.
The Opportunity Was Never There
There are plenty of "what ifs" here in regards to a Hart-Angle match. What if The Hitman had stayed with WWE, rather than leave for WCW? What if a concussion didn't force him to retire? What if Angle and WWE didn't have a bitter split in 2006? Unfortunately, these events deprived every wrestling fan of a dream match that would have gone down in history as an all-time classic.
Simply put, the chance for an Angle-Hart dream match just wasn't there, since they were competing in rival promotions for a long period before the latter retired in 2000. As such, we're left wondering what could have been.
