Away from the obvious kayfabe rivalry between the two most celebrated amateurs in WWE history, the real tension heading in to Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar's main event match was how the Olympic Gold Medalist would fare with another "broken freakin' neck". Astonishingly, it was the state of 'The Beast's head and neck that had everybody panicking when the match concluded.
John Laurinaitis catches some flack for allegedly needling Lesnar into concluding the contest with the shooting star press, but both men had every reason to believe it would be the biggest moment of the main event. Brock had hit the move countless times before - his botch was a simply worst case scenario sadly realised.
Otherwise, this clash was fiercely fought and full of gravitas. A low key changing of the guard, Angle and Lesnar's places in the headline spot (over the four men they followed) was at the very last moment a reminder that WWE weren't entirely trapped in their illustrious past.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
