Will Kurt Angle return to face Rusev?

Kurt Angle has been keen to return to the WWE

It was quite cool to see Mark Henry’s music interrupt Rusev and Lana’s moment on raw following the Bulgarian Brute’s victory over Jack Swagger. Not only did Mark Henry make his presence felt in this segment, he already had a good match with the Wyatt Family earlier on in Raw. Henry went to give the World’s Strongest Slam to Rusev and with that move he set up a feud with yet another America versus Russia storyline to it. It helps that Henry looks like a mammoth in front of Rusev, who has been talked on and on about his strength and agility. He’s being built to be a force to be reckoned with and it seems Henry is going to eventually succumb to the Russian’s fervor.

But the thought that eventually came to my mind the moment their interaction kicked off wasn’t about what’s going to happen in this feud.

There have been reports circulating that Kurt Angle is interested in returning to the WWE and he reportedly even pitched an idea for his return. With the WWE continuing to put emphasis on Rusev as a foreign heel and having an umpteenth storyline of Americans showing up time and again to conquer this Russian force, I just imagined how it would be if Angle was to return to be another American to test this challenge.

Pros

Imagine Lana and Rusev having another celebration, another promo by Lana. And this leads to another one of her promos getting interrupted and reaching a halt. That interruption is precisely made by Angle’s theme song to which the audience very famously or infamously add their own contribution being the ‘You Suck’ or ‘You Rock’ lyrics.

I mean, he won a gold medal at the Olympics with a broken neck for America. He has actually been an American hero. Having Angle return after almost 8 years to face Rusev will be a much talked about feud and this will give Rusev more attention, Also, it will be a great challenge with some amount of unpredictability. Will Angle suffer a loss immediately after returning in his very first match?

Certainly Angle is not going to be easily defeated as the other superstars have to Rusev.

Cons

But there are many problems that might accompany this imaginary booking. Angle is a legend in the business. He is a great wrestler. But he is also 45 years old. He’ll probably be a veteran in the ring like Jericho and RVD. He might just make appearances every week till his contract expires. He might not make counted appearances like Lesnar or worse like the Rock. But this will be another instance where the veterans are getting the time and opportunities which should be occupied by the present generation.

The reason why the Attitude Era was celebrated was because it had all these new people coming to the fore and taking the spotlight. Superstars like Triple H, Jericho, Angle, Rock, Stone Cold etc. were in their prime. The only veteran was the Undertaker. Kane was also introduced in the Attitude Era. Every division, be it the tag division or the divas division had new faces which thrived in this era. They were a refreshing change. A new Era brought a new range of talent and attitude. This Reality Era is still stuck with nostalgia or trying to get stuck with nostalgia.

It won’t be a surprise if Angle works better matches than the present generation. He definitely has a strong screen presence. But if we get down to thinking then when the feud with Rusev is over, then what? Will he be the next addition to ‘Creative has Nothing For You’ syndrome?

Well, let’s not imagine things now. Let’s see what the Henry- Rusev feud has in store.