Kurt Angle’s body is paying the price for his intense in-ring career that arguably should have ended sooner than it did.
Angle retired from in-ring competition at WrestleMania 35 after dealing with several injuries and surgeries over the years.
While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, the Olympian spoke about the long-term effects of his in-ring career. He said,
“You know what, my quality of life right now Chris isn’t so good. I had my knees replaced about a year ago, I had back surgery about four months ago, I have to have my shoulder replaced, and I still have another neck surgery coming up. That will be my fourth neck surgery. I really paid the price wrestling as long as I did. I wrestled amateur wrestling for 20 years and then pro for 20. And looking back, sometimes I regret maybe I should have retired five years earlier.
“It comes to a point in time in your life where you’re older, and you want to play with your kids. And here I am having these surgeries, I can’t really do anything with them. I can’t pick them up. I can’t play with them. I can’t run with them. So it gets a little disgruntled thing that I’m not able to be the father that I want to be. And what I’m doing now is I’m having knee surgeries to have a better quality of life so I can play with them.”
