WWE: Ranking the five best double champions in history

4. Kurt Angle

Fun fact: Kurt Angle won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freaking neck. Did you know that? I didn’t think so. Just remember that you read it here first.

Wrestling Machine Kurt Angle.

Kurt Angle is one of the greatest pro-wrestlers of all time. Everything about him screams greatness.

He’s one of those guys who was good at everything. He was great as a heel and as a babyface. He had good comedic timing but could also be deadly serious when needed to be. He had integrity, intensity, and intelligence.

He had a great look, he’s one of the most legit tough guys ever with his wrestling background, he was great on the mic, one of the funniest wrestlers ever, and he’s one of the best in-ring performers of all time on top of that.

So it’s only fitting that he had one of the greatest debut years in pro-wrestling history.

I know how we all like to criticize Vince’s booking and be marks, but let’s just thank him for not going the obvious route of making Angle an Olympic hero babyface. Instead, he made him a pompous, deluded heel who thought he was a hero even though the crowd booed him constantly, it was brilliant.

In his first three months in WWE, Angle defeated Val Venis for the European title and Chris Jericho for the IC title, and thus began his run as the Eurocontinental champion.

There have been Eurocontinental champions before, like D’Lo Brown, but none are as synonymous with the moniker as Kurt Angle.

The advantage of calling yourself a “Eurocontinental Champion” is that you’re acknowledging both the titles at the same time and none of them is relegated to the secondary status. Both titles feel important.

Angle was a great annoying and obnoxious heel as he carried the belts into Mania, only to lose both of them in one of the most unique matches in WWE history. In a two-falls triple threat against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, Angle lost both belts without even getting pinned, as both Benoit and Jericho pinned each other for one fall each. The match stole the show.

And I know this doesn’t count as it was after the reign had ended, but watching Angle whine and complain about the match after Mania was heel comedy at its best. WWE realized what they had in Angle and a World title would come soon after.