20 Most Epic Wrestling Matches That Weren't Supposed To Be Epic

7. Edge vs. Kurt Angle (Backlash 2002)

When Edge became a top tier player in WWE, it was after he had already been through the neck surgery that put him on the shelf for over a year. Upon his return, he was a slower, smarter worker, no longer in his physical prime. Sadly, fans only got to see Edge in his physical prime as a highly utilized singles worker having showstealing-caliber singles matches for about one year €“ 2002. In that one year, Edge had a variety of high octane matches on the newly christened Smackdown brand that tore the house down. The best of the lot that qualified under the sub-14-minute criteria was his Backlash match with the incomparable Kurt Angle, who will dominate the rest of this list. The Attitude Era had a distinct style of wrestling. When WWE transitioned out of that era, a new style had to be created. With elite athletes littering the roster, WWE settled on opening up the playbook, but shortening the game length, so to state. Matches were lightning fast and chock full of near falls, especially on the Paul Heyman-booked Smackdown. It was the wrestling equivalent of the Chip Kelly-inspired Oregon/Philadelphia Eagles spread offense in football. And no two wrestlers were any better at utilizing that style than Angle and Edge. At Backlash, they set the tone for a bevy of classic Smackdown brand matches throughout the final 8 months of 2002.