WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle spoke about his 2005 Iron Man matchup with Shawn Michaels on the latest edition of his Kurt Angle show podcast, where the Olympic Hero breaks down the psychology both men had going into the match and why they were disappointed with the time-limit draw finish. Highlights are below.
Discusses his Iron Man match with Shawn Michaels in 2005:
“You’ve gotta be patient. In an Iron Man Match, you can’t get overexcited over one finish because we’re gonna continue on until the end. There could be multiple finishes. A regular wrestling match having one finish is a lot more exciting, but the Iron Man Match, this is the next level of wrestling. This is what you want when you have a third match – a rubber match. Usually, you go to gimmicks – tables, ladders, chairs. Shawn and I were thoroughbred wrestlers. It only made sense to have the Iron Man Match third for the rubber match because that’s what we did best.”
How important improvisation is during an iron man match:
“The psychology is different. We laid out the finishes and know which time you want the finish done. So, you want the finish maybe at eight minutes, then the next at 14, then you have the time running out. You have to plan the finishes, but you have so much to remember in those finishes and your false finishes, that you have to call the rest of the match. You just have to feel it because you’re going 30 minutes. There are gonna be four finishes, but those four minutes only take up about two minutes of the 30. You have to be able to improvise quite a bit in an Iron Man Match.”
Says he and Michaels were disappointed with the draw finish:
“I think Shawn and I were both disappointed, but we agreed to do it because it wouldn’t hurt either one of us. It did affect the match, and that was the hardest part because any time you wrestle Shawn Michaels, you know it’s gonna be a classic. Unfortunately, this match with a crappy finish because we tied and there was no decisive winner, it took away from the match a little bit. There’s no doubt about that. This match is really good, but it wasn’t our best match and that’s because we tied.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)