“My body is so beat up and run down, I can’t even think straight,” Kurt Angle tells WWE.com in an exclusive interview Saturday concerning his early release from his contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Angle and WWE officials mutually agreed to end Angle’s relationship with the company on Friday.

Angle says seven years of non-stop wrestling has taken a major toll on his body, his mind and his family. “I need my body to reheal and rehab, I have done this for too long without a break. I haven’t been able to really enjoy my life. I haven’t seen my family, I’ve had problems with medication – I’m just fried physically and mentally.”

Angle’s business manager David Hawk claims, “Kurt’s in a tremendous amount of pain, he’s used prescription medication to deal with it. Kurt has come to the conclusion that unless he can get in the ring without the use of pain medication then he doesn’t need to be in there. He realizes he was just endangering himself and his opponents.”

The last straw for Angle seems to have occurred on August 13th, 2006, at an ECW live event in White Plains, New York. Angle was wrestling Rob Van Dam in a match where both competitors were fueled by the passionate ECW fans. “The crowd was wild,” Angle says. “Early on in the match, I pulled my groin, but I kept going, feeding off the crowd. Then I pulled my abdominal muscle off the pelvic bone, but I kept going as the crowd grew more wild. Finally, I blew out my hamstring, but we finished the match. The crowd stood and applauded – a standing ovation and that meant so much to me.”

Ironically that would be Angle’s last match.

WWE.com asked Angle if he would ever return to competition in WWE. Angle says “I can’t tell you that right now, I need to heal up mentally and physically. Until then, I can’t even think about returning.”

But Angle says WWE Chairman Vince McMahon told him the door is always open. “Vince says when I’m ready, if I’m ever ready, to come back just sign on the dotted line. I’ll tell you if I do return I’m going back to my roots, training on the mat like my amateur days. Longevity is the key.”

Hawk seems confident Angle will be in the ring again someday.

Angle has a final message to his legion of WWE and ECW fans. “Don’t be concerned, this move was for the best. It was a privilege to be able to compete for all of you. I’d like to say thank you.”

WWE.com will continue to follow up on Kurt Angle over the next several weeks.

As noted yesterday, Kurt Angle was released by WWE. Although we do not have all the full details just yet, we do know that Kurt Angle had backstage heat in the ECW locker room. Angle rubbed a lot of workers the wrong way with his attitude and comments. He had the mind set that unless ECW was going to be built around him he didn’t want to be there.

Angle is also going through a divorce from his wife Karen. In addition, Karen is pregnant with the couple’s first son. The couple also has a young daughter. The couple had broken up, gotten back together, but now are going through a divorce.

This apparently had been brewing for some time and came to a head yesterday when Angle’s agent met with WWE officials.

As everyone who reads this site knows by now, Kurt Angle was released from his WWE contract on Friday. Several people who worked in WWE closely with Angle have said the decision to let him go may have actually saved his life.

Kurt has been more and more dependent on prescription medication because of the numerous injuries he has suffered over the last few months and was “a shell of a man” according to one of his co-workers. “It was just sad to see him that way” said one source.

According to other sources, Kurt was suspended for 30 days recently and came back normal and like the old Kurt again. With the new injuries though, the pain killers once again got to him and he took another turn for the worse.

According to other sources within WWE, there is a major part to this story that is still missing. Kurt had a $1 million per year guaranteed contract that always pays wrestlers while healing up including drug rehab. So the major question is – why would he opt out of a contract that was guaranteed pay whether he had injuries or needed rehab. There are family issues right now, but there is more to this story and it will likely come out over the next week or so. Stay tuned.