Posted in: Mr. Tito
TOP 5 - The Top 5 Best Kurt Angle WWE Matches
By Mr. Tito
Jan 7, 2012 - 10:03:51 PM

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Earlier in the week, we read the New York Post article where Kurt Angle suggested that many fans considered him an All Time Great and how he didn't have enough time in the business to be considered that. I disagree, as Angle has had a fantastic in-ring career from the moment he officially started with the WWE in late 1999.

I know him better from his WWE career, obviously, and I can probably name 20 matches or feuds off the top of my head that I can go on and on about. Many great matches with Edge, Triple H, Rock, etc. that I could list here. Just a random Smackdown match with Kurt Angle always gave you something, such as Kurt Angle taking on the DEBUTING John Cena in 2002. By the way, if anyone wants to see a roadmap on how to make a star, watch Angle making Cena look like a star in his first match!

I'm going to condense this into a Top 5 just because I could be typing this all evening and I have things to do! I will also say that I'm excluding the 2nd Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels match from 2005 (Vengeance), as that match is every bit as good as the Wrestlemania 21 match, in my opinion. I will strike that from my top 5.

Away we go...

Top 5 WWE Kurt Angle Matches

#5 - Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit vs. Edge/Rey Mysterio - No Mercy 2002 - Go review 2002-2003 Smackdown... AWESOME tag team wrestling between Angle/Benoit, Guerreros, Rey Mysterio/Edge, and later, the World's Greatest Tag Team (Benjamin/Haas). This was the finals of the newly established Smackdown Tag Team Titles and it was a BATTLE for the ages. Nearly a perfect tag team match and in fact, won the 2002 "Match of the Year" award from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. I believe these teams did a 2 out of 3 falls match on Smackdown that is equally good.

#4 - Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin - SummerSlam 2001 - Summer of 2001 was a weird one... Steve Austin turned heel after Wrestlemania 17 and eventually joined forces with Vince McMahon. Kurt Angle, too, was trying to get Vince McMahon's favor as well. This gave us some incredibly bizarre backstage segments all while leading up to the WCW/ECW Invasions. I'm forgetting the trigger point of this match, whether or if Austin had joined the Alliance yet or not... But this match was FANTASTIC. Steve Austin had his best in-ring year with 2001 and it was a shame to see issues occur during 2002 to slow his in-ring momentum down. Angle and Austin worked perfectly together in this match and I think Angle's influence from Chris Benoit helped him figure out how to work with Austin well, provided Benoit's successful run of matches with Austin earlier in the year.

#3 - Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar - Ironman Match - Many will like the Wrestlemania 19, but Brock's Shooting Star Press botch hurts the match. They filled an entire hour for Smackdown with an Iron Man match and like Rock/Triple H in 2000, Brock and Angle made sure to use multiple pinfalls within the 60 minute match. Brock acted great as a heel in the match, as he sacrificed falls via DQ to punish Angle with a chair. A very fun match that was paced well for an hour match.

#2 - Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - Royal Rumble 2003 - Epic match that probably convinced WWE management that Chris Benoit was worthy of a World Title reign in the future. Angle and Benoit have had great matches before, so it thus gave them plenty of experience of working together. Royal Rumble 2003 was one of those matches were everything clicked perfectly for the two, but most of all, Angle made fans believe that Chris Benoit had a chance at defeating him for the WWE Title. After the match, the fans gave Chris Benoit a standing ovation for the losing effort. Angle did his job as a pro wrestler great that night.

#1 - Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 21 - The BEST Wrestlemania match of all time. This was a Dream Match in 2005 that the WWE knew had to happen and they made it happen. And it delivered HUGE. Both Angle and Michaels, by 2005, proved that they could work with anybody and make the match look great but the expectations were very high for this match to see if they'd work well together or not. Better yet, Shawn Michaels put Angle over 100% clean from tapping out to the Anklelock. It's one of the best matches of ALL time and the two would go on to make another classic for Vengeance 2005.

There you have it... Kurt Angle had a GREAT WWE career and it's a complete shame that Kurt Angle put so much effort into his career that it destroyed him physically. He refused to take time off, so instead of getting fixing his neck via surgery, he was always looking for a medical shortcut to keep going.

Hopefully, cooler heads can prevail in the future so that the WWE and Kurt Angle can do business again and the WWE could honor Angle for the incredible effort he gave from 1999 to 2006. Damn straight that Kurt Angle is an ALL TIME GREAT!

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