11 Wrestling Stars We Never Thought Vince McMahon Would Make Up With 

#9. Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle looked gone for good when he signed with Impact Wrestling.

Kurt Angle soared to success in WWE, capturing every title available to him during his first full year on the main roster, and growing into one of the most complete performers in the company incredibly fast. Unfortunately, with the meteoric rise came a brutal collapse.

By 2006, Angle has openly admitted in interviews that he was not only suffering from nagging injuries but had a real problem with substance abuse. The story goes that WWE management saw he was in trouble and said he would need to take time off to get his life in order. Angle refused and wound up jumping to Impact Wrestling instead.

That Angle would become a wrestler in danger of seriously hurting if not killing himself made WWE wary of him. That he would be a key player in legitimizing Impact to the extent it would become a competitor to WWE only made matters worse.

However, a little over a decade later, with Angle cleaned up and a free agent, WWE did welcome him back into the fold for a Hall of Fame induction, only for it to give way to him becoming the kayfabe GM of Raw and returning to the ring as needed.