One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024
22. 2002 - Kurt Angle Vs Rey Mysterio, SummerSlam
The perfect opener from an era where the product was bad but the possibilities were endless, Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle's SummerSlam sprint was futuristic in tone despite being a clash of ages in promotion.
Mysterio had been at this longer than Angle, but within WWE canon, the 'Olympic Hero' couldn't sanction that somebody of Mysterio's size and supposed inexperience giving him a challenge. To this end, the newcomer ran the "veteran" ragged with a match that inspired Paul Heyman to times the formula by three and run it for the rest of the year. Angle is quite incredible on the sell, incredulous on the attack, and Mysterio's USP is established for the last of the fans at the back that weren't aware of what he was bringing to the table.
It's even better now than it was then, too - at a spry 9:20 it's the second shortest match on an electric card, and serves as a valuable reminder that extended runtime is never a shortcut to quality. In the wrong context - as it would have been here - it's in fact the total opposite.