Kurt Angle Pushes Back On The Idea Vince McMahon Is Actually Retired

You can add Kurt Angle to the list of former WWE Champions who remain skeptical that Vince McMahon has truly ceded control over WWE. 

The narrative that McMahon is still overseeing WWE has been perpetuated by recent comments from the likes of CM Punk, Bobby Lashley, and a host of former wrestlers and conspiracy theorists. Punk outright suggested that McMahon continues to pull the strings from the shadows. Angle echoed a lot of those sentiments on the Cafe de Rene podcast, saying McMahon wouldn't surrender control of WWE until he takes his final breath. 

"I personally don't think he's fully retired," Angle told Rene Dupree, who seemed to agree with his former WWE colleague. "You know Vince, he's gonna be behind-the-scenes [laughs]. Vince is not letting go of that company, he will not let it go until his hands are dead cold and they pry it out of his cold, dead hands. He's not letting go of that company until he dies. And that's just it."

"And you know, I'm not trying to cause any problems for WWE or for Vince McMahon, because I love Vince to death," Angle continued. "But there is no way he is going to let it go. He already set up, you know, Stephanie [McMahon] being in charge and Triple H being in charge of talent relations. He's got everybody in the right positions so that he could continue to run the show."

Over the years, Angle has spoken candidly about his relationship with McMahon, referring to his former boss as a father figure and mentor. Recently, while appearing on the "Busted Open Radio" podcast, the former Olympic Gold Medalist opened up about his falling out with McMahon in 2006, revealing that they didn't speak for over 11 years until Angle returned to WWE in 2017 for his Hall of Fame induction.

Angle also seemed to defend McMahon when the first allegations of McMahon paying hush money to a former WWE paralegal surfaced, telling Bleacher Report in an interview that "We all make mistakes as human beings and Vince is no different, but he's an excellent individual."

Even as Angle and others continue to question McMahon's retirement, several news outlets have reported that McMahon has been removed from both WWE's internal list of performers and the entirety of the company's corporate structure, and hasn't had any company-related communication since his retirement last month. Furthermore, the WWE product on television has given fans reason to believe that the Vince McMahon era is firmly in the rearview mirror.