Kurt Angle Recalls the Time When the Lack of a “Clean Finish” Denied His Bout With Deceased WWE Legend “Match of the Year” Status

There is little to no question about the wrestling ability that Kurt Angle showed during his WWE run in the 2000s. From Shawn Michaels to Brock Lesnar to Triple H, there was no one who didn’t have a classic match with the Olympian. He out-worked everyone in the locker room at the time and Vince McMahon aptly rewarded him by keeping him in the championship scene.

But what happens when two WWE legends meet in the ring, at the height of their career? Angle and this late legend put on an absolute classic, but there was still one flaw that Angle wanted to rectify.

Kurt Angle looks back at his TV classic with late WWE legend

During round one for the contender for the WWE Championship, he had a match with Eddie Guerrero. Both the legends had a 25-minute classic filled with false finishes and close calls. But the match ended when Rey Mysterio saved Guerrero from being hit by Angle with a steel chair. With a lot of shenanigans, the match ended when Angle pinned the Latino Heat after a chair shot.

On his podcast, The Kurt Angle Show, the co-host Paul Bromwell read the review of the match. He mentioned how the critics felt it was a match-of-the-year contender. But, on the contrary, Angle said, “I hear it all the time… The whole 25 minutes was incredible. I remember this match, the finish, with the chair and the ref bump, but if it was a clean finish, that would’ve been the match of the year.”

READ MORE: “He Wasn’t Listening”- Kurt Angle Details an Intense Backstage Altercation With Eddie Guerrero

Despite this SmackDown match, Angle still won the Match of the Year match that year. Fans still consider his match at WrestleMania 21 with Shawn Michaels, the one which won the Match of the Year award, as one of the best matches on the WrestleMania stage.

Kurt Angle’s exceptional career in the 2000s wrestling landscape

After signing with WWE in 1998, Angle joined the main roster in just a year. Then, just after two years in the pro wrestling business, Angle won his first WWE Championship in 2000. Since the turn of the century, Angle made sure to put on a classic every year he was in the company.

In 2000, he put The Rock down and won his first WWE title. At WrestleMania X-7, Angle put on a classic with Chris Benoit in 2001. Then he even won the tag titles with Benoit in 2002. 2003 saw Angle wrestling against Brock Lesnar, in The Beast’s most athletic match. Eddie Guerrero and Angle wrestled for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XX in 2004 in an acclaimed match.

2005 was the year when Angle won his Match of the Year award from Wrestling Observer. But then Angle left WWE in the latter half of the 2000s to join the budding TNA promotion. Even in the opposing promotion, Angle worked with young stars like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe and put on some of the best matches of his career.

WATCH THIS STORY: 50 Years of The Rock: Dwayne Johnson’s Greatest Achievements in WWE

Tell us what you think about Angle’s comments about his own match in the comments below.