10 WWE Champions That Completely Buried Their Challengers
7. Stone Cold Steve Austin (Challenger: Kurt Angle)
Stone Cold Steve Austin is today the model for which many young performers should pattern themselves after. 'The Rattlesnake' left backstage interviewer Mike Rome a trembling mess at Raw 25 after the creative team staggeringly robbed him of promo time on the catastrophic tribute show. Contrast to present day worrywarts low on the totem pole - Mike Kanellis fell to his knees at Rome's news he'd managed to last two seconds in the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Radiating confidence and enforcing respect from his peers, Stone Cold embodied all the traits a 'top guy' required, but was also guilty of using and abusing his supremely close relationship with Vince McMahon to gain almost full autonomy with the Chairman at his peak.
Kurt Angle has already survived a rather backdoor burial from Triple H when their thrilling 2000 feud ended with a whimper, but the Olympian was gobbled up yet again in cynical (yet admittedly still excellent) contests with Austin through much of 2001.
Their SummerSlam match layout allegedly originally called for babyface Angle to bludgeon Austin and take his title before the script was flipped to the heel Champion taking nearly all the match and keeping his title. Kurt's win a month later was soaked in 9/11 sentimentality, evidenced by the quick and unremarkable reversal on Monday Night Raw just a few weeks later.