10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2006 Facts
8. Kurt Angle Lobbied To Get Into The ECW Title Match
On Sunday, August 13, 2006, Angle lost a house show match to Rob Van Dam in White Plains, NY. During the course of the match, Angle suffered a groin injury that necessitated replacing him on ECW's event the next night. That loss to Van Dam would end up being Angle's final WWE match to date.
Prior to Angle's unconditional release on August 25 (out of concerns for his deteriorating health), he apparently tried to convince officials to put him in the ECW Championship match at SummerSlam. Seeing as split-PPVs were still a thing, it made sense that Angle would not want to miss out on pay-per-view dollars, as his only options then were the Big Four, plus ECW's two annual shows (WWE would scrap the split events in early-2007).
Angle's hyper-competitive spirit likely also made it hard for him to sit on the sidelines for lengths of time, as well.