We are currently dawning on WWE WrestleMania weekend and there is a lot to look forward to on the big day. Among the weekend’s festivities, we will see the final in-ring match of one Kurt Angle.
Mind you, not a lot of people are happy with the man chosen as Angle’s final opponent – Baron Corbin – but regardless of who he is facing, all of us are mourning and begrudging the final in-ring match of an Olympic Hero.
At age 50 and just over 20 long years in this business, Angle has led a career that any wrestler would be proud to have. 4-time WWE Champion, WrestleMania headliner, former World Heavyweight Champion, former European Champion, former Intercontinental Champion, former Tag Team Champion, former Hardcore Champion, a King of the Ring winner and to cap it all off, he is a WWE Hall of Famer. Did we mention that he also won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freakin’ neck? Because he totally did that. Not sure if he’s ever mentioned that.
We are going to miss seeing Angle on our television screens putting on a mat classic; which, in many ways, he’s done a couple times previously on Raw; most notably in a November match against Drew McIntyre and more recently in matches for his Farewell Tour. However, the gold medalist has shed enough blood, sweat, tears and broken bones in the middle of that ring that he deserves to rest up comfortably in retirement.
At the very least, we will always have memories and, of course, footage on the WWE Network of both his best moments and best matches. His matches especially were in a league of their own. So we decided to memoralize the best of his in-ring work in the following slideshow.
10. VS “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – SummerSlam 2001
A big reason why Kurt Angle is as over as he is today – apart from the fact that he’s a phenomenal wrestler, of course – is much due to his 2001 story arc with Stone Cold Steve Austin. While he had already won the WWE Championship a year prior, seeing Angle bounce dialogue and chemistry off with Stone Cold is what made him a main eventer for life.
Their comedy skits together was the first time audiences truly caught glimpse of how charismatic the athlete could be and when it came time for him to turn face to feud with the brawler over the WWE Championship, he rose to the occasion in a believable manner. We never thought for a second that it was silly for a doofus in a cowboy hat on a milk truck to feud with The Rattlesnake. Like a switch, Angle was able to flip back and forth from hilarious comedy guy to legitimate, horrifyingly intense wrestling machine.
A perfect example of this was their match at SummerSlam. It felt less like a wrestling match and more like a fight between two dudes who hated each other and were willing to kill each other to get the title standing between them. The match ends on a bummer of a DQ finish, but before the final bell rang, we got one exciting battle before the first bell even began.
Their rematch at Unforgiven a month later may be the more significant of their encounters, especially for Angle as he would go on to win the WWE Championship in his hometown of Pittsburgh. However, me personally, I’m always gonna prefer the SummerSlam match despite its lackluster ending.
9. VS Eddie Guerrero – WrestleMania XX
The final moments between Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero – where Eddie unlaced his boot in time for an Ankle Lock, leading to a victory roll pin after his boot slipped out of Angle’s hand – is by far one of the most creative and memorable finishes to any wrestling matches. It’s often been duplicated – once, for example, by Rey Mysterio in a match against Jack Swagger at Money in the Bank 2010 – but no one can ever beat the real thing that started it all.
While their WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX will always be remembered for that finish, the match itself is a little more special than that. From a storytelling perspective, the story highlighted going into the match was of an underdog in Eddie reaching the promise land, but Angle insinuating that he is a poor excuse for a WWE Champion due to his past crimes. A changed man now that he’s centered into the main event, Eddie had something to prove going up against a man who’s been to the big dance countless times.
The match itself was fantastic because both men complimented each man’s stronger attributes while making up for their weaker ones. While Angle lacked Eddie’s speed and Eddie lacked Angle’s size and strength, both men compensated by highlighting each one’s disadvantage over the other for in-ring storytelling. Whenever Eddie used his speed to get the upper hand, Angle would toss him around. Whenever Angle used his size to press Eddie down, Latino Heat used his speed to wear the Olympian out. In that regard alone, these two had tremendous chemistry.
These two went on to have several great matches afterwards – including a sizzling SummerSlam match months after this – but their Mania match especially was money.
8. VS Edge – Backlash 2002
Angle’s 2002 feud was an important one to remember for a plethora of reasons. The first being that this was Edge’s first big test as a WWE Superstar transitioning into a main event role. The idea clearly being that if he could go toe to toe with an all time pro wrestling great like Kurt Angle, then he would be a natural and a fine fit for the singles main event scene.
Another thing that makes this feud so vital is a little more obvious: this was the feud that made him bald. Their Hair vs Hair match would happen at Judgement Day, but a month earlier, the two shared the ring for the first time at Backlash. The extent of their feud was not too much beyond Angle getting tired of Edge pulling juvenile pranks on him, including kickstarting the “You Suck!” chants that would define Angle’s entire wrestling career for the next 17 years.
Somehow, both men managed to turn that kind of storyline into an absolute slobberknocker as if the stakes were higher than they actually were. This early into his singles career, (he had only just broke away from Christian the previous Fall of 2001), this served as the closest thing Edge had to a masterpiece of a one-on-one match and gave us a nice glimpse at how he’d take residence in the main event scene in the following years to come.
7. & Chris Benoit VS Edge & Rey Mysterio – Two Out of Three Falls – SmackDown Nov. 7, 2002
As much as Edge and Kurt Angle had some phenomenal one-on-one matches, their tag team work against each other as members of the illustrious SmackDown Six especially was out of this world.
Weeks after putting on a tag team wrestling clinic at No Mercy for the inaugural WWE Tag Team Championships, these two teams were faced with the task of trying to duplicate that same success for a rematch and not just any rematch either. These four men locked up on the Nov. 7 episode of SmackDown in a Two Out of Three Falls Match.
What would follow would be some of the most exciting in-ring tag team action to ever take place in a WWE ring. Despite whatever heinous actions any one of these men committed outside of the ring, all four men were still some of the most skilled singles competitors to ever lace up a pair of boots.
Their first match at the last pay-per-view was well told – which saw the four men introduce typical storytelling that started off with a feeling out process right up until the thrilling final moments – but this rematch was all thrills from bell to bell.
From beginning to end, the match gave us nothing but uber exciting high octane action with one unreal tag team move after the next. In the end, it would take a Spear from Edge and an accidental Diving Headbutt from Benoit to Angle that would give us WWE’s first example of the WWE Tag Team Championship changing hands.
6. & Ronda Rousey VS Triple H & Stephanie McMahon – WrestleMania 34
A year after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2017, Kurt Angle would have his first in-ring WrestleMania match in over 10 years. His return to the Grandest Stage of Them All would also serve as the debut for Ronda Rousey as she entered WWE from her nearly undefeated streak of UFC.
It may be too early to call this one an all time classic, but a year after it aired, this one still holds up spectacularly. Every participant held up their end of the bargain. While Angle made his in-ring wrestling return to a WWE ring some months earlier, he proved on this night that he still had what it takes to bring the best out of himself when the lights were on bright.
Meanwhile, with no in-ring matches under her belt, Rousey pulled off a startling impressive showing. With not much experience of her own, Stephanie McMahon compensated by putting in her best character work today; absolutely relishing in every heel tactic she committed. And Triple H? Well, he was Triple H. Dude never lost it. Everyone involved played their roles to perfection and displayed some amazing chemistry.
All of these combatants in the ring gave us the best match of the night and a match that surprisingly holds up well among Angle’s all time best matches.
5. VS Brock Lesnar – Iron Man – SmackDown Sept. 18, 2003
There was something about the in-ring chemistry between Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle that made them such perfect rivals. A legitimate argument can be made for why they could have been in-ring equals destined to wrestle each other in the same vein as Rock and Austin or Lita and Trish. Such an argument can be made based solely on their initial trilogy of one-on-one matches.
Their first pay-per-view contest saw them headline WrestleMania XX in a main event for the WWE Championship. While the match is best remembered for Brock’s fatal Shooting Star Press where he lands straight onto his neck, the match itself is spectacular on its own merits. Lesnar came out on top to establish himself as The Next Big Thing. Next up, there was a rematch at SummerSlam that somehow surpassed the Mania match.
Both men would round out their trilogy and wrap up their tie-breaker the only way that two heavyweight mat masters knew how: a 60-minute Iron Man match. On free television no less! Both men certainly did everything in their power to not only give us a match that was better than their previous two matches – spoiler alert: they succeeded – but they tried to deliver a pay-per-view quality contest in one of the longest matches in SmackDown history. Again, they succeeded.
4. VS Chris Benoit – Royal Rumble 2003
Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle always had some special encounters with each other. Ever since their first encounter at WrestleMania X-7, it was as if they always produced magic whenever they stared each other down in the middle of the ring. That match was preceded by an Ultimate Submission match and a Two Out of Three Falls Match with each being better than the last. Benoit and Angle always managed to bring the best out of each other and they especially did so at Royal Rumble with the WWE Championship on the line.
What came after the bell rang was a technical masterclass if there ever was one. Two of the very best pure mat-based technicians to ever lace up a pair of boots going at it and demanding the crowd’s undivided attention. For the majority of the match, the crowd is on their feet and when it’s all over, they give both men a standing ovation.
It’s hard not to get invested in this one. Even when you go into it knowing full well who wins, it’s hard not to re-live it as if you’re watching this in the year 2003 for the first time. There comes a point where after the second Angle Slam kick out, it feels like an uncertainty that the Olympic Hero could retain. Hell, there was a point after a dangerously close near fall from a Flying Headbutt that I couldn’t help myself but rewind to make sure that wasn’t a three count.
For obvious reasons, I would understand if you can’t stomach watching this match in light of the real life crimes of Angle’s opponent. That’s perfectly fine if that’s the case. However, if you are someone who finds it possible to separate the artist from their art (in other words, recognize that Benoit was a true P.O.S. who happened to have great matches under his belt), then you’ll find something truly special.
3. VS Rey Mysterio – SummerSlam 2002
Let’s wind the clocks back to July 25. 2002. Rey Mysterio has just made his WWE debut and in this context, audiences are not very familiar with the masked luchador. Die hard fans of WWE have probably never seen the Leader of the 619 ever wrestle before, while fans coming over from WCW watched Mysterio take Ls from the nWo for years on a regular basis. WWE needed a way to warm up new fans to the new fans without immediately putting him in the box of a “little guy wrestler.”
Enter Kurt Angle.
A month after his SmackDown debut, Mysterio had his PPV debut against Angle in what is still fondly remembered as a tremendous clash of styles.
Angle had always been a great guy to put in the ring with to put someone else over – his previously mentioned bouts with Edge were a great example – but he had his work cut out for him with this match. At this point, Angle wasn’t accustomed to battling smaller athletes on a regular basis. If anything, the only smaller wrestlers he wrestled might’ve been jobbers meant to put him over. Now, he was being tasked with making a new star out of a 5’6 170-pounder.
It was a challenged indeed, but it’s safe to say that the mission was accomplished. Even in defeat, Mysterio looked like a million bucks; quickly evading Angle’s offense either with swift dodges or lucha-rific counters.
This match, in many ways, would set the stage for Mysterio eventually being considered for a main event run and a few World Heavyweight Title reigns some years down the line. His match with Kurt Angle proved that even an underdog can hang with the big dogs.
2. VS Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania 21
When this match first came to fruition, it was promoted as the ultimate dream match. Add to the fact that it all started when Angle got pissed when Shawn Michaels eliminated him from the Royal Rumble earlier that year. WWE could have kept things simple with the build right there, but they decided to add some complex layers to intensify the story. The layers being that Angle was looking for payback for hogging his spotlight in 1996. As Angle explained, nobody was coming up to him congratulating him on his gold medal win. They were asking him if he saw HBK win the WWE Title.
The oddly and pretty surprisingly compelling build-up to the storyline made for one incredible inter-brand match-up. The story added an extra spice to the match, but the match itself was a wrestling clinic that stands on its own. Intense and nail biting moments galore from beginning to end.
These two would continue to tussle throughout 2005. They would meet again at the Vengeance PPV, as well as at Raw Homecoming in a 30-minute Iron Man Match. Both are well recommended contests, but their WrestleMania bout will always be fondly remembered as an absolute barn burner.
1. VS Undertaker – No Way Out 2002
Fun Fact: This was supposed to happen at WrestleMania 22.
In fact, in hopes of finally having a great WrestleMania match (he believed he never had one before this year), The Undertaker wanted Kurt Angle to end his streak during the match. Unfortunately for The Deadman, plans changed as soon as plans were in place for Rey Mysterio to take the title from Angle in honor of Eddie Guerrero’s memory. By the tricks of the trade, Angle got both Mysterio and Randy Orton as Mania opponents while Taker found a dance partner in Mark Henry.
Instead of scrapping the match entirely, the match which Undertaker and Angle planned to have at Mania was pushed up a month early right before Mania as the main event of No Way Out. What followed was a truly excellent match that every fan of either man needs to witness.
Second after second, we saw a counter after counter. Such jaw dropping counters included an apron leg drop turned into an Ankle Lock. Also, a Chokelsam into a victory roll transition into an Ankle Lock. And in a climactic, thunderous finish, Angle uses his last breath to reverse a Triangle Choke into a roll-up, passing out right after the 3-count. These two had wrestled each other countless times beforehand and it showed. This match felt like watching two well versed veterans knowing each other all too well and itching to pull out new tricks to throw off their opponent.
It’s one of the most exciting, heart pulsing matches of either man’s career. In fact, an argument can be made for this being the best match of both man’s careers.