Vince McMahon continues to be the unchallenged shot-caller in WWE at 75 years old, and it's a known fact that talents need to impress the boss to succeed in the company.
While a handful of wrestlers have forged excellent relationships with Vince McMahon over the years, some superstars have had their fair share of problems with the WWE Chairman.
During the latest edition of 'The Kurt Angle Show' on AdFreeShows.com, Kurt Angle spoke about his dwindling relationship with Vince McMahon in 2006 and how he ultimately left WWE that year.
Angle's body was banged up from wrestling continuously for years, and he suffered multiple injuries in 2006. The Olympic gold medalist was hurting, and his frustrations kept mounting with each passing day.
Angle was unhappy with WWE, and he even ended up sending threats to Vince McMahon.
"I was in bad shape. I had a lot of injuries. At one particular time, I had the neck injury, the shoulder, the abdominal; I had a torn abdominal muscle, a groin muscle, a hamstring. This is all at the same time. I was in really bad shape. And the painkiller problem wasn't getting any better. So, I was in a state of turmoil, and even my relationship with Vince started dwindling, and it was getting more erratic. I was, you know, calling him, leaving him messages with threats. Just, I felt out of control. I was at a bad point in my life," recalled Angle.
"I just couldn't keep myself together. I mean, that's the main reason I left WWE in 2006. I just couldn't keep my body together. My hamstring, my groin, my abdominal, shoulder, neck, everything was just; I was falling apart," added Angle.
Kurt Angle on how his first WWE stint ended
Kurt Angle claimed Vince McMahon ignored him, which compounded his anger towards WWE.
Angle left threatening messages on Mr. McMahon's answering machine, and the explosive scenario all came down to a production meeting in which the former WWE Champion confronted the boss.
"I said it before; I started lashing out at Vince, and Vince was ignoring me, which made me even more angrier. I would leave him threatening messages on his answer machine, on his cell phone. It just got so far out of control, you know, eventually, I had to go to Vince and say, listen, we need to have a talk," Angle said.
Kurt Angle walked into a production meeting at an event and pulled his pants down to show Vince McMahon the seriousness of his injuries. Angle needed some time off, and he asked for an exclusive meeting with Vince McMahon at the WWE Headquarters.
Kurt Angle revealed that he had decided to leave WWE during that time and was eventually granted his release in August 2006.
"And you know, we had a talk, and it was probably in June or July in 2006. I told him, you know, I just came from an event, and I went to a meeting, and I pulled my pants down; it was a production meeting, Vince was in the front, and everybody else was in the back. And I walked in between them, and I pulled my pants down to my ankles, and I showed Vince my groin, and it was all black and blue. I mean, my penis, everything was black, from the injury. It was an abdominal tear and a groin tear, and a hamstring tear, all three at the same time, and all the blood just rushed to my legs and my groin, and I said, 'We need to talk.' And he said, 'Well, let's go to my office.' I said, 'No, I need to meet you up at the headquarters this week. So, I want you to set me up a flight and bring me up because we need to have a personal discussion of what's going on. And so that's when I decided that I'm most likely going to leave the company," Angle stated.
Kurt Angle spent several years rebuilding his career and reputation, and his good work compelled WWE to get him back in 2017 for a well-deserved Hall of Fame induction and one final TV run.