10 Best Wrestling Rivalries That Kept It All In The Ring
7. Kurt Angle Vs. Brock Lesnar
The roots of Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle’s WWE feud were planted at Armageddon 2002, when Brock interfered in a WWE Championship match between the ‘Olympic Hero’ and the Big Show. Angle went back on a promise to give Lesnar a title shot after helping him to victory, and they feuded in the run up to WrestleMania XIX. This particular contest is best known for Brock’s botched Shooting Star Press, but was a great bout nonetheless.
'The Next Big Thing' turned his attention to John Cena afterwards, but further collisions with the gold medallist were inevitable. Kurt pinned Brock in a Triple Threat match at Vengeance 2003, and they wrestled another great bout at SummerSlam, with Angle tapping his opponent out with an Ankle Lock.
Their finest hour came on a September episode of SmackDown, when they met in perhaps the best Iron Man match in WWE history. It started with a desperate Lesnar going all out to gain the advantage, having been unable to out-wrestle Kurt in the first few matches, but Kurt answered with trademark intensity. Kurt obliterated Lesnar’s legs throughout, but Brock survived, winning the contest 5-4, and effectively concluding the most compelling in-ring rivalry of his career.