Kurt Angle upset The Rock at No Mercy 2000 to become WWE Champion less than a year after his debut. Still, for all of his talent, Angle was booked as an undeserving champion who cheated and backdoored his way into victory after victory. He used his brother as a look-alike to beat The Undertaker at Survivor Series, pinned The Rock after Steve Austin hit a Stunner in a multi-man Hell in a Cell at Armageddon, and capitalized on another Stunner to beat Triple H at the Royal Rumble. With Austin having won the Rumble, he was set for a showdown with Angle at WrestleMania X-Seven. Still, Angle would have to defend his title at No Way Out before reaching WrestleMania, and his opponent would be The Rock. Heading into the match with The Rock, Angle began to show a more serious, aggressive side of his persona. He was offended that fans and wrestlers alike were looking at Rock-Austin as an inevitable main event, and he vowed that he'd beat Rock, then Austin en route to proving his dominance. In the end, though, Angle wasn't able to stop The Rock from becoming a WrestleMania spoiler. After a great match, The Rock pinned Angle, winning the WWE Championship and a slot in WrestleMania X-Seven's main event.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
