7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 2005

3. Kurt Angle Attacking Shawn Michaels Was Wrestling Perfection

The great thing about the Rumble match during the brand extension was that we could see Raw guys interacting with Smackdown guys, which was not a common thing at that point. Shawn Michaels was a Raw guy that was arguably the best performer on that show while Kurt Angle was a Smackdown performer that was probably the best all around wrestler in the entire company at that point. They entered the match in back to back spots. Michaels was #19 and Angle was #20. The story was that Angle stole Nunzio's number. Angle was on fire hitting a bunch of moves on some guys, but then he interacted with Michaels. He put Michaels in an Ankle Lock, but Shawn rolled out of it and he hit the Superkick to send Angle out of the ring. The fans loved it because Angle was one of the biggest heels in the company. Shortly after being tossed out, Angle went back in the ring to after Michaels. Angle dumped him over the top and Michaels was eliminated. Kurt grabbed the ring steps, hit Michaels in the face and Shawn ended up bleeding. Angle puts Michaels in the Ankle Lock with Michaels freaking out in pain. The referees showed up to break it up. It was one of the best examples of using the Rumble match to set up a new feud out of nowhere. It was a dream feud for a lot of fans because of how great they were and how they hadn't worked together. That led to Angle vs. Michaels at WrestleMania 21, which is one of the best matches ever. The eliminations of Angle and Michaels were great, but the best one was Paul London, who did a flip after receiving a Snitsky clothesline on the apron.