8. Kurt Angle WWF Champion (22/10/00 25/2/01)
If I decided to write a book called How to Make a Pro Wrestling Star, chapter one would probably be called Kurt Angle. The 2000-era Kurt Angle was a bright, good looking former Olympian who was motivated, eager to learn and as American as apple pie. In the hands of a lesser promoter, Angle would simply have been packaged as hes an Olympic Gold Medal winner, hes an American sporting hero and he looks like G.I Joe. Start cheering, people (the way TNA books him today, in fact) But Vinny Mac isnt just any promoter... Contrary to all expectations, the Kurt Angle character of the 2000s was arrogant, cowardly and deceitful. He ran away from challengers, cheated like it was a bodily function and generally acted as an irritating pr!ck at every opportunity. However, despite all that, Angle was rarely, if ever, booked to look weak. Once he got in the ring and started using his array of beautiful, textbook suplexes (his belly-to-belly and German suplexes are utterly definitive and never less than breathtaking), or his masterful holds and reversals, the fans were always allowed to see a master ring technician in action. In short, Angle was legit and the fans knew it. Following a superb feud with Chris Jericho, Angle was pronounced Inter-Euro Champion (meaning that he now held both the Intercontinental Championship and the European Championship simultaneously). The major wins continued and Angle capped off his rookie year by winning The Big One, in a meteoric rise that WWE has attempted a few more times since, but never quite as successfully (Randy Orton probably being the closest comparison I can think of right now). Today, with Angles place as the best wrestler of his generation pretty much assured, people often forget that his first, damn-near year long title run as a despicable heel character granted him pinfalls over the eras biggest stars and saw him become one of the most recognizable faces in professional wrestling, practically overnight. Had his first reign been booked like Eddie Guerreros one and only reign, or even Zigglers WHC run detailed earlier, he might never have become the 11-time World Champion and massive star that he is today.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
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