10 Best Kurt Angle Matches Since He Left WWE

5. Angle Vs. A.J. Styles - Hard Justice 2008

A.J. Styles and Kurt Angle are two of the best wrestlers of the past few decades. TNA was wise to put them together on a number of occassions, and they rarely disappointed in the ring. Perhaps their best match against each other was at Hard Justice 2008 in a Last Man Standing Match.

Unlike most Last Standing Man matches, this one didn’t revolve around two guys bashing each other with weapons, or contain some sort of gimmick ending (like, for example, duct taping an opponent to the ring post). While there was a fair amount of brawling outside the ring, highlighted with a suplex off the stage, and followed by one of Angle’s beautiful diving somesersaults, most of the action was in the ring. Submissions, suplexes and high-flying offense was on full-display as two of the elites in the business matched each other move-for-move.

A top rope DDT that looked like it legitimately injured Angle ended the contest, and the two left the ring (Angle on a stretcher) by putting on a show that was impossible to top.

It was a hell of a way for Angle to put Styles over by taking the clean loss, and showed that even as Kurt was about to enter his 40s, and had taken a ridiculous amount of punishment to his body, he was still one of the best wrestlers in the world.