Kurt Angle has a mysterious conversation with Corey Graves on ‘Raw.’ (WWE.com)
UPDATE: Since the original publication of this post, there has been a key update. On the July 10th episode of Monday Night Raw, there was a backstage segment in which Kurt Angle said that his career might be destroyed by the damaging information that has come out about him. He also said he was concerned about his family leaving him when it comes to light. Angle said that he was going to go public with all of this on the July 17th episode of Raw. Later, he had a phone call with a mysterious person who he said should come to Raw next week, adding, “I love you.” Very little else has been revealed, but for what it’s worth, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer has been reporting that the conclusion of the Angle storyline will almost certainly involve Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Read about some of the theories on who Angle was talking to on the phone, and on what the scandalous secret is, here.
On Monday Night Raw tonight, a storyline involving Kurt Angle and Corey Graves was once again teased, with Big Cass suggesting that Corey Graves has some dirt on Kurt Angle. So what dirt might Graves have on Angle? What do we know about this storyline?
This is a part of a very ambiguous storyline that has been developing for a few weeks now. Right now, nobody really knows where this is going, although there are plenty of convincing theories out there, most of which involve Stephanie McMahon.
To summarize what has happened up until this point, this storyline started on the May 29th episode of Monday Night Raw. In a segment on that show, Corey Graves received some information on his phone, which he took right to Kurt Angle. Angle then read a message saying that he is a horrible general manger and that he “besmirched his status as an olympic gold medalist.” Angle then said, “If this is true, it could ruin me.” The implication was that Corey Graves was tipped off to some scandalous information about Angle, and the WWE later promoted this segment on Twitter by saying that Graves “seems to have found some scandalous information about” Kurt Angle.
They also later wrote on WWE.com, “With Raw General Manager Kurt Angle preoccupied with the WWE Extreme Rules aftermath and the ongoing mystery behind the attacks on Enzo Amore, there’s still the lingering issue of the troubling information Corey Graves shared with The Olympic Hero last Monday night. What did Graves receive that could be damaging to the WWE Hall of Famer’s reputation? Will this controversy affect Angle’s judgment in the lead-up to WWE Great Balls of Fire on July 9?”
During that original segment, Kurt Angle said that the dirt would ruin him if it were true, suggesting it’s something that he himself would not be sure about the veracity of at first.
A week later, the storyline continued. On the June 5th episode of Raw, Kurt Angle was seen looking at his phone and saying, “This is driving me nuts.” Later, he pulled Corey Graves off of commentary, and the two had a private conversation that was not broadcast. Angle soon left the building entirely, saying that he had to attend to a private matter.
Not much happened on the June 9th episode, although The Miz did make reference to Kurt Angle’s “personal problems.” A very defensive Kurt Angle then said, “What do you know about my personal problems?”
The following week, Corey Graves told Kurt Angle that he’s sorry Angle didn’t have a good Father’s Day, suggesting that this was because of some mysterious text.
Those are pretty much all of the hints we have at this point, and barely any information has been revealed. But among WWE fans, everyone’s pretty sure that this is leading to the return of Stephanie McMahon, possibly also leading to a match between Kurt Angle and Triple H at SummerSlam. It has long been rumored that Angle would have a match at SummerSlam, and given that Stephanie McMahon is expected to return to Raw sometime soon, the timing is fairly perfect.
Some fans also believe this is leading to some sort of storyline in which Kurt Angle is replaced as general manager by Corey Graves. After all, Graves has already exercised some leadership skills recently when he figured out the Enzo and Cass mystery before Angle did.
As far as what the actual dirt is, the WWE has really provided no clues about this at all, so it’s really anyone’s guess, although some have theorized that it’s going to be a revelation that Angle did not actually have a broken neck when he won his Olympic medal.
We’ll find out more about this Kurt Angle storyline in the coming weeks, although it’s likely that is building up to SummerSlam and not Great Balls of Fire.