The BEST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2026)

21. 2006 | The Samoa Joe Vs. Kurt Angle Confrontation

In the mid-2000s, two developments unfolded in parallel. 

Wrestling got lame. Ruthless Aggression was a witless and desperate continuation of the Attitude Era. TNA, then the #2 promotion, was also a witless and desperate continuation of the Attitude Era. 

Meanwhile, mixed martial-arts was more wrestling than wrestling. In an era of the dirt-worst scripted crap you’ve ever heard, the UFC lads promoted their fights in infinitely more entertaining ways. A lot of Monday Night Wars era fans made the jump to the real stuff because mainstream U.S. wrestling was too wacky and lame. Many of the fans that remained longed for wrestling to shift into a slightly more MMA-influenced direction. It was a bit naive, in that there was already MMA for that, but sports entertainment had peaked. The incredible first confrontation between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle was the closest we ever got to this vision. 

Two ultra-credible badasses crossed paths. One, Samoa Joe, was an undefeated monster, the man who embodied the concept of aura before that word lost all meaning. The other, Kurt Angle, was one of the most legitimate tough guys ever - and he’d just made the jump as the biggest ex-WWE name it was remotely feasible for TNA to sign. 

They were destined to fight. Neither could lose, but that was the real fight-themed appeal. It’s all or nothing in real sports, and somehow, TNA of all promotions grasped that glorious idea. 

That first angle, holy sh*t. They stared each other down. Joe was stoic. Angle was so jazzed that he could not stop gurning. 

Angle burst Joe’s face with a headbutt and celebrated like he’d just downed some testosterone solution. But Joe, in a scene with horror movie cinematography, rose up behind him, his face a mess, and blasted him with a kick before the pull-apart.

Watch this without turning into a starving wild animal. Try. It’s impossible.