10 Best WWE Rookie Years

Kurt Angle took to professional wrestling like... well, like an accomplished amateur wrestler with an Olympic Gold medal. The Pittsburgh-native made his WWE bow in late 1999, claiming the WWE Championship less than twelve months later against The Rock at No Mercy, after winning the Intercontinental and European straps, as well as the King of the Ring tournament, earlier in the year.

It was less the quantity of accolades than it was the quality of his matches that was truly impressive, though. Angle - despite being fast-tracked through training - managed to have genuinely great bouts with the likes of Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Triple H, and The Rock inside his year as a professional. It was to the surprise of few that, within just a couple of years, he was already one of the industry's most respected veterans.