Veteran wants WWE to bring Kurt Angle back soon; special role is ready for him (Exclusive)

A veteran wants WWE to bring back Kurt Angle in a special new role designed for him.

Dutch Mantell is the latest to compare Alpha Academy's Chad Gable to Kurt Angle. Gable is one of the more athletic WWE Superstars at the moment. He also has an amateur wrestling background. Comparisons have been drawn between Gable and Angle over the years. The 38-year-old even uses the ankle lock as his submission and is freakishly strong in the ring.

Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda's SmackTalk, Dutch Mantell stated that WWE should bring back Angle to serve as a mentor to Chad Gable.

“That was the first thing I thought when I saw Chad Gable and the amateur background. I said, that's Kurt Angle all over again. And now you can even and Kurt doesn't want to work, but he still has a part of just giving advice to Chad which now we're going back to people, you know, I will buy that. I will buy into that because Kurt is tremendous on an interview. He's about stupid enough, but he makes sense at the same time. And little Chad can follow along in his footsteps.” [5:19 - 6:05]

Watch the full video below:

Kurt Angle explains why he suddenly decided to retire

When Kurt Angle returned to WWE for his second run, fans were ecstatic to see the Olympic gold medalist. However, Angle's glory days were far behind him. He wrestled a lot slower and was unable to deliver the calibre of matches he had done before. Despite being a popular guy on the roster, Angle decided to retire at WrestleMania 35 against Baron Corbin.

During a recent interview with Wrestling Life, Angle mentioned that he chose to retire even though WWE had plans for him because his body kept making him much slower in the ring.

"A lot of fans could tell that I was not the same wrestler when I went to WWE the second time than what I was last time in WWE or TNA. I looked older, I wrestled like I was older. I felt like I was looking like an old man and I didn't like what I saw. So that's when I told Vince I need to retire at WrestleMania (35). He's like I've plans for you wrestling after that. I said I can't do it. I'm too old, I'm too banged up and I don't want the fans remembering me as the person that's wrestling right now. I want them to remember me from a long time ago (...) That's why I retired spontaneously because I didn't like what I saw." [From 10:25 to 11:40]