Examining Kurt Angle's Last 5 Major WWE Matches

5. Vs. Randy Orton (One Night Stand 2006)

Technically, this was only Kurt Angle's penultimate WWE pay-per-view match before departing to TNA later in the year; the final one - also against Orton - would come a couple of weeks later at Vengeance (but that was a rematch, and about five minutes shorter in length).

What's remarkable is that, while many of his fellow WWE cast were jeered, Angle somehow managed to get the New York crowd on his side. Orton, by contrast, was cast in the role of an uber-heel, nearly coming to blows with one fan who had the temerity to slap him on the arm as he made his entrance.

Though the Olympic Gold Medalist had the support of the audience, the match perhaps suffered from its lack of violence at the foot of a card - featuring Mick Foley and Terry Funk in the same match - that promised pretty much nothing but violence. Angle and Orton, true to form, shared a pure wrestling match, broken up by the occasional move from the top turnbuckle.

The finish also seemed a little abrupt, with Angle suddenly going for the Ankle Lock (after looking, for some reason, as though he was going to make use of Ric Flair's Figure Four Leg Lock) just as the match began to kick into fourth gear. In the end, it was solid, but not spectacular.