Here's a shoot for a change, rather than a storyline. A Tough Enough contestant in 2004 with some mixed martial arts and pro wrestling experience under his belt, Daniel Puder was well aware that there would be an element of hazing to his time on the competition, and WWE lived down to his expectations when, on the October 28th Smackdown, the Big Show was told to legitimately shove him hard into a locker backstage for alleged disrespect. It was on the following weeks Smackdown that things got out of hand. The Tough Enough kids were ringside as Kurt Angle, one of the toughest men to ever win a gold medal for amateur wrestling at the Olympics, continued the harsh hazing, putting them through a squat thrust competition, which Puder won. The prize? A shoot, against Angle himself, right there and then. However, Puders fellow contestant Chris Nawrocki was mistakenly identified as the winner, and was quickly taken down and submitted with a neck crank. Three of his ribs were broken in the process. Puder, up next, saw the writing on the wall and realised he was going to need to protect himself or let Angle walk all over him. He chose the former, and the two grappled furiously in the ring before Puder, allowing the smaller Angle to bull him into the ropes, locked in a keylock on Angles right arm. In doing so, Puder lay back on the canvas and his shoulders were counted down by the referee. Angle would later express his irritation that the kid had, essentially pinned himself but anyone could see that the hold was locked in, and that Angle was seconds away from legitimately having his arm broken if Puder didnt relinquish the keylock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_12qn29WKA Why the agents in charge saw fit to book a shoot rather than a worked confrontation is anyones guess: there was no way of knowing how it would end up. Puder, by all accounts an arrogant young man with little wrestling ability and less personality, would end up winning the Tough Enough competition but being released a year later in a cost-cutting move. It didn't really matter: the biggest moment of his career was when he stood up to veteran bullying on behalf of Chris Nawrocki, himself and every other Tough Enough rookie fed up of being hazed by overgrown kids. 'Olympic hero' Kurt Angle is still being asked amused questions about the incident to this day.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
