Kurt Angle turned down offer to manage Matt Riddle in WWE

While he was the person to announce Matt Riddle’s call-up to SmackDown, it looks like Kurt Angle could have played a bigger role in Riddle’s main roster career.

Angle revealed in an interview with Comic Book Resources that WWE offered him a job to be Riddle’s manager. Angle said he would have loved to manage Riddle, but he turned the offer down for a few different reasons and it just wasn’t the right time.

“I think that Matt Riddle is going to be one of the faces of the [WWE], he has all the ability. His personality is great. At first, it’s a little odd. But once you get to know him, he’s very likable,” Angle said. “And that’s what he’s going to get from the fans. They’re going to love this kid. And he proves it in the ring. He’s phenomenal in the ring. There’s no doubt about that. But his whole bro gimmick thing works really well. And he’s going to do extremely well. WWE has offered me a job to manage him. Unfortunately, I turned it down due to a few different reasons, but I would have loved to manage him. It just wasn’t the right time.”

“You never know [laughs],” Angle said when CBR brought up the possibility of him and Riddle reuniting in the future.

Angle appeared in a backstage segment on SmackDown last week and officially announced that Riddle is joining the show’s roster. A hype video for Riddle then aired following Angle’s announcement.

Angle was also the special guest referee for Riddle’s fight pit match against Timothy Thatcher on NXT last week. Thatcher defeated Riddle in what was Riddle’s final match in NXT.

Angle, who had been working in a behind-the-scenes role with WWE since the end of his in-ring career, was part of April’s WWE releases.