10 Crippling Times WWE Worked Themselves Into A Shoot

3. Daniel Puder Nearly Breaks Angle

It doesn't matter how tough you are, legit fighting always gives your opponent a "puncher's chance" to win the encounter. That goes even more so when the guy you're trying to intimidate in a shoot fight has legit experience as a trained MMA fighter.

This was the case of Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder on Season four of Tough Enough. MTV was no longer interested in the reality show, so much like NXT later became, a bunch of rookies would go out and compete in silly competitions to impress other wrestlers. It was more humiliating than entertaining, and nothing of note happened during the season - except for Angle nearly having his arm effectively destroyed. Yeah, that was pretty noteworthy.

After winning a squat thrust competition, Puder was given the opportunity to wrestle the Olympic Gold Medalist. Not in a wrestling match, though, but a shoot contest. WWE absolutely worked themselves into this one and only have themselves to blame with how it played out.

Within moments, an overly confident Angle was taken to the ground and had a Kimura Lock cinched in. The refs panicked, not knowing what the hell to do, and ended up counting a pinfall on Puder so the WWE superstar could save some face. Had it gone on a few moments longer, Angle would have either had to tap out (which is unlikely due to his pride) or he could have ended up with some serious long-term damage to his arm.

Despite that built-in storyline, we never did get a big singles match between Puder and Angle. Let that be a lesson for anyone really trying to grab that brass ring!