10 Times Wrestlers Botched Their Biggest Moment

Daniel Puder was a promising athlete whose career was reduced to a couple of moments of infamy when it could have been so much more.

Puder arrived in WWE as a contestant on the fourth Tough Enough. Though he would win the competition, his career was over before his victory.

During a segment aired on SmackDown, Kurt Angle mocked the competitors and dared one of them to take him on. When Puder rose to the challenge, the two quickly locked up and it appeared Angle would humiliate the rookie. However, Puder locked in a kimura leaving Angle with the choice between tapping or having his arm broken. Quick-thinking referee Jim Korderas ruled a pin to end the scuffle in an Angle victory.

The incident was a risk for the newcomer, and it didn’t pay off. It was foolish to think anybody in the back would be pleased with a reality TV rookie humiliating, and possibly injuring, one of the company’s biggest stars. The shoot was a botch from the moment Puder conceived it. Wrestling politics are as dangerous as anything that happens in the ring.

After being legitimately beaten as punishment during the 2005 Royal Rumble match, he was soon gone from the company. Angle doesn’t blame the incident for Puder’s release, revealing:

"The company felt that he wasn't picking up on the technique as quickly as they wanted him to, so they decided to let him go […] his contract was coming up again and they didn't want to renew [it] for $250,000 guarantee. They wanted to drop it to $75,000 […] I think Daniel just decided not to [re-sign] because the money dropped dramatically.”