Kurt Angle is now the general manager of RAW and made a grand return to WWE programming after WrestleMania 33. Over that weekend, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame before the event as a part of the festivities leading up to the Ultimate Thrill Ride.

Fans of the Atittude and Ruthless Aggression Eras of programming have been thrilled by his return and the possibility that he could enter a WWE ring again pending clearance from company doctors.There had been hope that he would play some small role in the festivities in Orlando.

That was not to be however and Angle will just be doing his managerial duties for the foreseeable future. He has already booked a couple of great matches in his time with the red brand including Braun Strowman and the Big Show on this week’s show.

Part of his strength as a manager comes from his extensive history wrestling with the WWE and other promotions. He has literally seen every match in the book and was with the company while they were experimenting more with the on-camera formats back in the early 2000s.

It comes as no surprise that he has something special planned for Strowman and Roman Reigns’ match at Payback. There will be some sort of stipulation in place that will provide intrigue for viewers and build on the carnage that The Monster Among Men has been causing lately.

The Olympic hero recently sat down with Chris Jericho on his podcast to speak about one of the stranger matches that he ever had, a shoot fight with Brock Lesnar. He says that there was one reason that he was able to beat The Beast Incarnate that day.

Angle explained: “It was close. It really was. He had 90 lbs. On me, but I probably took him down into the ropes a good seven or eight times, but he used the ropes to [say], ‘hey, we’re out of bounds’ and that’s okay, but I did take him down once he didn’t take me down at all, and it was really close.

“Brock never really came close to taking me down that day because I knew what I had to do. I knew how to create angles on him and I had to make sure my hips were low and I had to make sure that my hands were in front of me, so he couldn’t wrap his strong-a** arms around my legs.”

RAW’s general manager goes on to praise the unbelievable athleticism of Lesnar and points out that with proper Olympic training, he could have been successful there too. Being ready for situations with experience is a valuable skill and not too many have more experience than Angle.