Both fans and pro wrestling veterans continue to comment on Kurt Angle’s retirement match at WrestleMania 35. Angle revealed that his final matchup would be against Baron Corbin, of all people.
In the run-up to ‘Mania, Angle has been having a farewell tour of sorts, wrestling high calibre athletes on both RAW and SmackDown before his match with Corbin on April 7th.
Now Jim Ross has commented further on the announcement via his podcast, The Jim Ross Report.
“Underwhelmed”
Ross would preface that he has “no issues” with Baron Corbin, admitting that he believes he has a lot of potential and a “significant and visible upside” before stating that “He’s just not there yet.”
Extrapolating on his initial tweet, in which he shared he (like most) was “underwhelmed” by Kurt’s opponent, Ross explains that his comment had “nothing to do with ability, the work ethic, the passion of performing of Baron Corbin. Nothing! Not even the same time zone. It has everything to do with how you honor Kurt Angle going out.”
He would go on to say that “[…] I thought WWE might have done a better job of selecting somebody else — and they still might! Who knows? Hell, I don’t know. That’s not an unfathomable idea. But let’s say it’s going to be Corbin and Kurt,” he continued, “do everything you can to make it special, but it could have been made more special if it was somebody that was more tenured and was perceived by the audience as more ‘over.’ I just think Angle deserves everything that he can be provided to make his retirement match meaningful and memorable. He deserves that. I don’t know if you can get there with Kurt Angle versus Baron Corbin.”
Rumor up until Angle’s announcement had revolved around John Cena coming back, providing Kurt with a retirement match deeply rooted to their first ever encounter when Cena debuted in 2002.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
