He's just not the same, why haven't we discussed this?
 

Kurt Angle has made a return to the ring and I can't understand why our internet community seems to be okay with it. I've never been one to loudly complain about wrestlers putting themselves in harms way but my lord, Kurt does not belong in the ring anymore. He looks shell shocked, gasses out in seconds, and seems to have completely "lost it". His neck and head are bolted unmovable to his shoulders and his body looks like Teddy long took a DDP Yoga seminar and it took him three times as long to drop three rolling german's than it used to.

I'm being harsh and slightly comical but seriously I think they need to scrap his in ring return, he's just slightly better than Bret when he faced Vince at WM.

Looked good in the six man, and awful at Survivor Series. Him and Hunter could get ugly if they go a long time.

The fans in attendance and the pop from the live crowds don't seem to care. Everyone knows he's not going to be the same in the ring as he once was, but neither was The Undertaker and he kept going on for ages and getting massive pops....

His entrance could be a little better than throwing his hands up and acting lost. It's sad.

No no no no, BIG difference. The crowd was SILENT when Hunter and Angle locked up. Why? Because it looked like practice! Taker worked hard until he was done, he did his best and that was enough for the moment at the time. Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, they look BAD, in the ring.

Angle was protected enough at TLC to hide this, but still look into his eyes and you don't see the best wrestler in the world, that guy is gone, he drank him away.

I thought he looked very out of it at SS as well, there were a couple of instances where he just sort of stood waiting around to take a hit, and he had a "deer in the headlights" kind of look on him for most of the match.

Yes it is sad. I hope you guys don't think I am disrespecting Kurt, I really just don't think this is what he would have wanted to look like in the ring, ever.

Yeah, like he's in a WWE video game controlled by the CPU and just ..... waiting.

Meh he is broken. I appreciate the effort.

It's a huge disappointment. When a guy like that makes a return you want to see those flashes of the glory days but that isn't realistic when we are talking about three broken necks and painkiller/alcohol addiction and recovery.

The thing that tripped me up was his lack of size against Triple H. He used to be very comparable to him in body mass and my lord it's like watching Teddy Long (because the intense tan).

Nope, not at all. It didn't start with him getting in the ring for the 6 man, something felt off when they reintroduced him into WWE. Just thought we'd get the 3 I's and the rest of that gimmick we all know and love. I'm a big fan of HHH and Angle, but have no interest in seeing them do battle. The energy it takes to fake excitement is not there this season.

I feel sure that they will push through and go for a one on one with Triple H with something to do with controlling Raw on the line or whatever B/S "high stakes" they can come up with to try and gain interest. That and they will end up going No D/Q so that Angle doesn't have to actually work much... eh man I'm having flash backs of him taking bumps at SS.... I cringed every single time. His head is so locked onto his shoulders it made me nervous to think of him taking a jolt. It was impressive seeing Nakamaura just push him through the motions though.

I've noticed Angle can't stand up straight...his knees are always really bent and his neck is always 'pushing forward'. His facial expressions usually seem awkward af...don't remember them being that way before.

Also, he has to do the same thing Batman does in movies where he doesn't turn his neck to look/talk to someone, he has to turn his entire body.

No. No. Absolutely no. They went silent because they dont want to See H v Angle. They were into Angle v anyone of the young guys.

Thats a shooterrs stance and he's done it his whole career

Witht hat said he is very over the hill.

But guess who does want to see HHH V Angle?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WHhQtaRxP...0/Triple-H.gif

No offense to THE GAME but I don't really want to see Angle vs HHH...I think Angle is better in the ring than Sting was when he returned, but not by much. A Triple H/Angle match won't be able to add DX/nWo shenanigans to help it along either. Angle is not a two-move wrecking ball like Goldberg so you can't book him in short matches.

I kind of want to see HHH vs Braun at WM now and maybe just Angle 'have a moment' where he puts the ankle lock on a evil anti-USA heel, like Rusev used to be.

Yes. Braun can act as a champion of Angle after Triple H once again commits a serious crime and attempts murder with the sledgehammer. This is the answer. Braun and Triple H in a brawl could be very fun, and I can see it getting the WM crowd hot to the see Triple H's head on a pike.

Oh and also when Triple H hit Angle with the Pedigree, I thought it was lights out for real. That shit was scary the way he took it, it was like he'd never taken it before. His neck is just shot, please please don't do anymore matches.

Yeah I have to agree. Angle reminds me of when Ric Flair was wrestling at the end. It just made me cringe because I didnt want him to die in the ring, and I dont think thats the level of involvement from fans WWE is looking for in a match. I like him as the GM. Im glad hes still involved in wrestling. I just dont want him in the ring.

Yep.

It's just surreal that they brought him back.

You really think the same people who are terrified to put Daniel Bryan back in the ring are just letting Angle wander around in there one bad move away from death? Given Angle's history of injuries, personal issues, and the way he left WWE in the first plsce it'd look WAY worse if he suffered a castastrophic injury.

Would you be really surprised if the WWE picks and chooses which cases they choose to be liberal on, and which they choose to be more stringent on?

Noone is talking about it because he is beloved. He is one of the greatest of all time and is if that wasn't enough, he left when he still had so much to give. TNA wasn't the same people lament the fact that we missed out on 6-7 years at least of great Angle WWE matches.

It is similar to Jericho in some ways. Although he was great personality wise in his last run, his matches weren't great, but not many wanted to admit it. I have seen people openly question younger guys like Cody hang with Japanese stars, but there weren't too many questioning whether Jericho can go toe to toe with one of the best in the world come January

People want to believe he is back and they will see great things and taking note of how bad he looks puts a real damper on things.

Easier to ignore and hope he improves

I know. Its just a feeling. Ive watched Stings career end in the ring and Im just anxious watching Kurt now.

Thats the other thing Kurt has this stare and its so....blank like he's saying the words but he is somewhere else entirely

I had to go check out some old Angle stuff to see if he always looked that way.

I'm usually semi okay with older guys getting one more go but Angle man his body just isn't built for his style any more I get legit scared when he suplexs or Angle Slams some one

The Angle/Jericho comparison is kind of apt, because like Jericho, Angle is perceived as someone that can go. Regardless of whether or not he is still good, or he puts the effort in, or he works smarter, people are going to take a fair bit of time to not getting Angle/Benoit from the Rumble '03 anymore.

Yeah, I mentioned Jericho to compare that part of it, but Jericho at least could put on a comfortable 3 star match and get by.

Angle has looked dangerous a few times and it's honestly looking irresponsible to have put him in the ring again.

Angle looked injuryed at SS. But yes he looked bad. Angle is my GOAT but I never want to see him wrestle again.

I did enjoy him in the 5v3 match with the Shield.

I'll give him til Mania to decide. I don't think he was prepared for an in ring return when they called for it, it just happened. He's still getting in shape.

Thats valid. Roman getting herpes or whatever didnt leave a lot of time to prepare

Inclined to agree with this. Guy is probably just not in ring shape. You can train at the gym all you want, it won't matter. You can still gas out in seconds if your body isn't used to it. That's true of all athletic endeavors. And Angle hasn't wrestled since before Mania, and even then, his performances were sparse at that point.

Maybe he can do more in ring training before mainia, to get his cardio where it needs to be, but like Theo, after all the people like Bryan, Christian, and Graves, that they forced into retirement, I doubt that they'd ever even let him near a ring if there was any actual danger.

I think part of it too is his GM character and his penchant for staring at people or his phone like he is utterly lost/transfixed.

We are getting used to him looking confused/befuddled at his phone, so we see that more in his face while in the ring too.

He definitely wasn't the Kurt of old but he looked miles better than Taker has the last few years.

Having him involved in multi-man matches was a good way to hide some of his ring rust but he's like Rock and Goldberg in regards to their lack of conditioning becoming obvious after a bit.

Like others mentioned, he will improve to a degree once he gets more conditioning and training done assuming no more sudden matches for him till Mania.

He should do conditioning with Lesnar, the man who turns red and sweats a flood out after 2 minutes.

You can’t understand why the IWC isn’t critical of a guy in his late 40’s, that works part-time to help the company despite his injuries, and was widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time in his prime?

Cmon son.

Lol I remember Angle getting let go because they "didn't want him to die under WWE contract". That's how bad Kurt was. They actually hired a handler to travel with Kurt and keep him somewhat together.