Kurt Angle is one of WWE's greatest ever legends, but his retirement match at WrestleMania 35 wasn't exactly a classic. 

'The American Hero' put over Baron Corbin during his final in-ring appearance in 2019, losing in a bout that lasted just six minutes. 

But things could have been very different if the Olympic gold medallist got his parting wish. 

Angle has revealed that he asked Vince McMahon to face John Cena in his 'Farewell Match' at WrestleMania but was denied the opportunity - unless he was willing to wait 12 months. 

But, the boss did have a valid reason for refusing the match in 2019. 

"Vince McMahon told me I had a program with Baron Corbin and I told him I wanted to retire at WrestleMania," the Hall of Famer told Instinct Culture in November.

"And he said, 'Well, you're gonna wrestle Baron Corbin 'cause you've had a program with him for the last several months.' 

Angle had a match with Corbin at WrestleMania 35

"I said, ‘Vince, I want to retire. Baron's a great talent but he's an upcoming talent, how about John Cena?'

"[McMahon] said, 'If you want John Cena you got it. But this year you got Baron'. I said, 'Vince, I'm not going next year. I'm done, this is it'. And he said, 'Well, you’re stuck with this'."

Even though he was refused a dream retirement match, Angle says he respected Vince's decision and explained why he didn't want to wait another year for Cena. 

Cena and Angle could have met at WrestleMania 35

"So I respected [the decision], I understood why because they spent a lot of time building up Baron Corbin and we had to have a match.

"If I wanted to continue another year I could've had Cena. But I didn’t wanna go a whole another year. I knew I was done." 

Angle retired from WWE at WrestleMania 35

Most WWE fans will feel that Angle deserved a bigger final opponent that Corbin and we now know the man himself was hoping to face Cena. What could have been...