10 Wrestlers Who Went Through Hell To Win (And Lost Anyway)

10. Kurt Angle Is Knocked Out Cold Early On (WWE SummerSlam 2000)

In a rather cruel instance of life suddenly opting to imitate the art that was set to go down, Kurt Angle swiftly found himself being legitimate knocked unconscious rather early into his attempt to become WWE Champion at SummerSlam 2000.

The plan heading into the triple-threat which would see The Rock trying keep Triple H and The Olympic Hero from taking his belt away from him involved Angle selling The Game's announce desk Pedigree as though he'd just been knocked silly. And this would have then forced Kurt out of the bout for a spell before returning later on in the contest.

Refusing to allow a serious head injury to take his chance to become the top champ in the company for the very first time, however, Angle foolishly powered through the legit concussion and proceeded to fulfil his part in the chaos.

Angle has since confessed to having absolutely no memory of the disturbing contest which saw him regularly being aided through spots by his opponents and the ref. The former World Champion would also class this unsettling injury as one of the two worst injuries he's ever had in pro-wrestling, with the other being that time Brock Lesnar broke his neck with a chair shot.

And after such a hellacious evening, Angle still didn't get his hands on Rocky's title.