Picture this: it is April 2, 2006 just outside of Chicago, Illinois. The All State Arena is filled to capacity for its latest honor of hosting WrestleMania. A video package airs to showcase two of the greatest WWE stars of all-time: Kurt Angle and Undertaker. Angle, the ever confident World Heavyweight Champion, tells the Deadman that, when the bell rings, "I don't have a soul either." For thirty-minutes, the duo battles a back and forth classic that sees Taker frequently leave his comfort zone - or least you think so at the time since much of his offense, appearing to be MMA-driven, is unique to his career. Angle personifies his 2006 moniker of "The Wrestling Machine." It is a beautiful blend of the WWE main-event style and Angle's preferred mat-based work. The whole time, the crowd is going bananas, peppering the performance with appreciative chants that add to the presentation, culminating in one of the all-time great matches at WrestleMania with Taker earning the victory via Tombstone. Alas, the final sentence of the previous paragraph was, just as the opening sentence in the first paragraph, revisionist history. Taker vs. Angle did not happen at WrestleMania 22. Taker did not win. The Chicago crowd was not there to take this match to the next level of remembrance. Instead, a relatively quiet, but appreciative audience at February 2006's No Way Out provided the background noise. It was a match originally slated for Mania, but plans changed. As Samuel Plan, author of the soon-to-be-released book, 101 WWE Matches to See Before You Die, might say, "Taker vs. Angle was the greatest WrestleMania match of all-time that didn't actually take place at WrestleMania."
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
