WWE Royal Rumble: 10 Most Criminally Overlooked Matches

8. JBL Vs. Kurt Angle Vs. Big Show - 2005

It's fair to say that JBL's 2004-05 WWE Title reign is not remembered all-too-fondly by the majority of fans who had to endure it. While great on the microphone, JBL was slow and plodding in the ring, and matches against the likes of The Undertaker and Booker T failed to inspire. When put in there with a wrestling machine and a 7ft giant, however, things began happening. The 'Wrestling God's' title defence against Kurt Angle and Big Show at the 2005 Rumble was surprisingly entertaining stuff. Full of inventive spots and silky smooth exchanges, this one was much better than it really had any right to be. Triple threat matches are notoriously difficult to work, but the three men and the agents involved laid it out very well, so that it picked up a lot of steam towards the end. It also marks one of the first appearances of the old 'wrestler puts himself through the barrier' spot (Big Slow went tumbling through it at the match's conclusion). In the end, JBL scored another narrow victory following interference from his flunkies The Cabinet (Orlando Jordan and the Basham Brothers), delivering a typically stiff Clothesline From Hell on Angle for the win. If anything, this one could have went a bit longer, but it's well worth checking out on the WWE Network.