"Often considered" yes, but the long term selling wasnt there, and the Ankle Lock to Crossface reversal sequence was mind numingly stupid.
Wouldunt break *** for me.
Id say the best Angle match ive seen was against Austin at Sumerslam 2001.
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I actually enjoyed the Anklelock/Crossface reversals, as it showed both men had so much pride in their own chosen finishing holds that neither wanted to win with anything else at that point. Every time one went for their chosen move, the other had a counter for it until Angle finally said "fuck this" and sat down with the Anklelock, making Benoit tap.
Angle/Benoit from Rumble '03 is the closest thing to a true ***** match I've seen. Keep in mind that I don't import tapes so I haven't seen ANY Misawa/Kawada (though this WILL change soon, as my friend Chris is interested in importing tapes of Brock in Japan), and yeah.
Another match I'd say comes close to ***** that I've seen/love would be Raven/Saturn vs. Benoit/Malenko from Spring Stampede '99. A lot of drama with a few different styles of work in the match (Raven's brawling, Saturn's blend of martial arts and technical wrestling, and Benoit/Malenko bringing the pure technical madness), and so much emotion.
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Yeah, that was really close to ***** for me, too