10 Wrestlers Who Had Their Best Match Against Shawn Michaels

Was this match ever NOT going to be a classic?

When Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels was confirmed as one of the matches for WrestleMania 21, fans literally salivated at the mouth. Arguably the two best in-ring competitors in the entire company, the fans expected an intense mixture of submissions, aerial offence and suplexes galore.

And boy, did we get it.

The match showcased the best of both men, with Michaels performing a springboard moonsault onto the announce table, and Angle attempting to one-up him by performing a moonsault of his own. The match centred around Angle attempting to perform the Angle lock, and Michaels using any tactic available to escape it.

Nearing the climax of the match, Angle caught Michaels in the lock so that he couldn’t escape. The visual of a screaming Michaels forcing himself not to tap still stands as one of wrestling’s most iconic images, but the pain was too much for Michaels to handle and he ended up tapping.

What makes this match so incredible isn’t the fact that it was the best match of Angle’s career; it was also one of Michaels’ best matches. Many performers have been able to make their own history against Michaels, but few have been able to be a part of Shawn’s as well.