10 Incredible WWE Moments Nobody Ever Talks About

9. Kurt Angle: Even Better Than You Thought

Steve Austin Terry Funk
WWE Network

Was there anything Kurt Angle couldn't do?

Not only was he wrestling's best ever Swiss army knife - a technical wrestling machine, stand-up comic, able to play heel and babyface superbly - he also had the sharpest blades. Referring to him as an all-rounder does him a disservice because that would suggest he was merely good at everything. It should be impossible to be as good at as many things as Angle was.

If there's one thing for which he wasn't known, and that's because he ascended to the main event so rapidly that he barely had the chance, it was the squash match.

Except, as part of the Gold Medal Invitational series in 2005, he murdered a young Roderick Strong so brutally it would have horrified the Steiner Brothers.

Strong opened proceedings by slapping Angle in the face. This was not a sensible idea; Angle, after catching Strong, Angle trapped him and repeatedly slapped him full-force in the face. In an electrifying moment, Strong escaped his murderer and rolled Angle up for a 2.9, at which point Angle's red mist broke the Muta scale. He pinned back Strong's arms, repeatedly butted the back of his skull and chewed the crown of his head before driving what was left of it to the canvas with a sick German. If there were a bloody stump remaining, Angle lopped it off with a killer lariat.

Annihilation. Massacre. Those words don't do justice to what be the most brutal match promoted under the WWE banner.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!