WM21 to be Kurt Angle's Final Match?

[Dark Age 0]

Angle should retire dropping the WWE Title to Eddie Guerrero. It could rule. Have Kurt be all worried about what Eddie's going to do to him in the run up (he could hint that one wrong move could lead to retirement) because Eddie goes all nuts and stuff. Kurt can gradually turn face throughout the course of the match, and you can have a finishing sequence where Eddie throws everything at Angle only to see him kick out. Finally, after a third frogsplash, Kurt stays down. After the match, RESPECT~ between Eddie and Kurt. Good story.

[Guest krazykat72]

I never assumed that. I'm just saying if Kurt wants to hold on to a miracle, he can look to Michaels who after 4 years of R&R could make a comeback.

Michaels ended up having back surgery in 1999.

 

 

-Paul Jacobi-

[iliketurtles 0]

It's really...I dunno, disturbing maybe?

 

We had this topic two years ago going into Wrestlemania. And then a year ago going into Wrestlemania.

 

I sometimes wonder if Angle is going to wait until he can't function anymore before he leaves wrestling. He's really accomplished everything in wrestling and there's no point at all for him to stick around.

 

And for some reason, I can see Angle on CSI in a lab coat. I swear to god.

 

Point being, Angle needs to get into acting, start his own wrestling school/become a trainer, enjoy time with his family and his investments he's made throughout his life, get the surgery so he's not in this crazy pain anymore...he's too good not too, just as a human being.

 

And if anything, Angle's last match should be against Benoit, but I'd much rather see it against Michaels than Cena for the 523089th time.

[Enigma 0]

This difference between Shawn Michaels' back and Kurt Angle's neck is that Shawn injured his back in one isolated incident. Before he took that bad bump on the casket at Royal Rumble 1998, Michaels really didn't have any back problems despite the normal aches and pains that come with being a professional wrestler. Angle has had lingering neck problems for the past 9 years. That would be remarkably unhealthy for someone in a non-athletic line of work, and it's compounded even worse considering he's been doing pro wrestling since 1998 and the incredibly high workrate he utilizes.

 

Michaels had two back surgeries in April and November 1998 and took an unheard of four years off and now he's back as good as ever. I think almost 24 months after, we can deem Angle's 2003 experimental neck surgery a failure because he is not better. That surgery worked for people like Scott Hall and DDP because they don't have the insane work ethic inside the ring that Kurt Angle has (which is probably a credit to their intelligence). The point I'm trying to make is that Angle could not do what HBK did and take however long off to relax because this has been an exponentially growing problem for 9 years. HBK wrestled only one match after his back injury and immediately got it fixed. The situations are completely different. Michaels bounced back because he knew what had to be done and didn't waste anytime. Angle seems to have a fetish for working through pain, and it's ending up to really screw him professionally, but hopefully not personally.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Shawn's back was in bad shape before the RR' 98 bump. His discs were in bad shape, and the bump pretty much destroyed one of them. He only had one back surgery, in January of 1999, which is where the extent of his back problems where discovered.

[Enigma 0]

Disregard. I can't read.

[Styles 0]

I never assumed that. I'm just saying if Kurt wants to hold on to a miracle, he can look to Michaels who after 4 years of R&R could make a comeback.

Michaels ended up having back surgery in 1999.

 

 

-Paul Jacobi-

Yeah...and he returned almost 4 years later, at full strength. What point did I miss here? (not that Im saying it will be the same for Angle and a fused neck, it just seems like you're correcting me some how, what's your point?)...

[Dandy 0]

Okay, if I were in charge of ending Kurt Angle's career, it would go something like this:

 

Cena beats JBL for the title at Mania.

 

Angle pins HBK at Mania.

 

Shawn goes to Smackdown wither in the draft or a trade and feuds with Angle.

 

Angle challenges Cena before SummerSlam, and Cena stops pandering to the fans and gets some of his edge back.

 

Toward the end of the match, Cena keeps hitting the FU, Angle Slam or a new finisher on Angle, and they do a double turn.

 

Angle has to retire due to the injuries, and Cena goes full on heel.

 

Angle can come back to television much later, but should never wrestle again if he is that fucked up health-wise.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

So what does Angle do in the mean time between Mania and Slam? He really needs to isolate his time in the ring yet remain credible enough to challenge for the title at Slam...

 

He can't extend the feud with Shawn if he beat him @ Mania unless it was via unclean circumstances and Shawn/Angle extending 4 months sounds horrible. If Shawn's coming to Smackdown which he should; it shouldn't be to delay what would be a pointless angle. It should be to get one last good round of matches out of his way with smackdowns workers.

 

Basically; if you were to extend Angle's career to Summerslam for be a pointless match and wouldn't mean nething for Cena in the grand scheme of things. You'd be forced to make him him HBK1994 character; part time wrestler, part time manager. I'd do it though; Have him manage Reigns whom he has excellent chemistry with and after Reigns beats Cena in a NT match due to Angle's actions, Cena calls Angle a bitch for hiding behind Reigns. Angle comes out and challenges for the title...

 

Cena: We've gone around the block a few times Kurt; I've beaten you and you got one on me...let's say we just settle it for good. You want this belt? Come get it from me but after I deliver you with the FU blow, You leave. Not to Raw, not to the office or behind your boyfriend Luther but out for good. Out of this business for good. I'm tired of always looking to see you behind my back. So @ Summerslam, You can have the belt if you can beat me but if you lose and the odds are pretty good that you will...Adios.

 

 

That's my idea. Do the match with HBK @ Mania which will be debated for months by some who claim it was ****3/4 and others will say it was barely **1/2. Put Angle behind Reigns who should be pushed as a upper carder anyways, hell put the US Title on him as well and feud him with Charlie Haas or maybe a new guy from raw. Angle should work a couple rare tag matches with Reigns but let Reigns do most of the work.

 

His career and sadly, his life is almost over. What's there to hold onto?

 

Jobbing another WM Main event? yeah that paychecks worth living life in a wheelchair. It's bad enough your only daughter had to see you in the hospital at such a young age but it's worst for her to see dad confined in a wheelchair for her life. You want to wheel your way down the aisle for her wedding? have fun kurt.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

I misspoke with LEGENDARY, but Michaels-Angle without a doubt has a good chance to be a great match, and would be much better than Angle-Cena.

 

Angle-Cena, Title vs. Career just makes no sense in so many aspects.

Angle and Cena had a feud last Summer when Angle was GM. They'll meet in the Finals of the tournament at No Way Out, and they had that No Mercy match in 2003.

 

Plenty of backstory.

But if Angle is retiring after this match that means he wants to retire now, not in August.

Of course, but I just said it would be better if it was the main event of SummerSlam, not some semi-main event of WrestleMania. Right now, it will be hyped as a Raw .VS. Smackdown match, not (possibly) Angle's last match.

 

But at the same time, if he gets a long reign as WWE Champion, and goes into Summerslam to defend against the top face(Cena), in a match billed as possibly his last match, everyone watching it knows he's going to lose, so that kills much of the suspense.

If Angle beats Cena in the tourny, and wins the title at NWO, before dropping it to Cena at SS (Probably in a classic match) where he retires, it would give Cena a much bigger rub than beating JBL at WM. They don't even have to advertise it as his last match... simply have Angle lose the title, and on SD he calls Cena to the ring, and makes a retirement speach.. talks about how he loves wrestling but his injuries are slowing him down and makes a speech about how he has respect for Cena after their match, and thinks he's the right man to fill his shoes, it would be HUGE for Cena.

 

Besides.. if Cena was champ and they advertised it as title vs. career, I'd expect Angle to take the title. If I didn't go on the internet, that is. I'd have no idea about the state of Angle's health, and him losing a match with his career on the line would come as a huge shock to me.

[Dark Age 0]

His career and sadly, his life is almost over. What's there to hold onto?

 

What are you, the Grim Rieper or something? Is there something you aren't telling us about Mr. Angle?

 

Jobbing another WM Main event? yeah that paychecks worth living life in a wheelchair. It's bad enough your only daughter had to see you in the hospital at such a young age but it's worst for her to see dad confined in a wheelchair for her life. You want to wheel your way down the aisle for her wedding? have fun kurt.

 

Angle isn't doing this for money, fool. You sound like a complete dick here, looking down on Kurt for continuing to wrestle. Would it be the right decision? No, probably not, but who the Hell are YOU to not only criticise said (personal) decision but then talk about him as if he's a fucking murderer or something.

[iggymcfly 0]

Fuck putting over new talent. It's not 1984. Nobody will even remember that shit after two months anyway.

 

If Angle's going to leave wrestling in the next few months, they should hype WM as his last match, and make his match with HBK a co-main event.

 

Let Angle kick out of the superkick, and then have HBK turn heel on him only to lose the match anyway, as Kurt gets one last courageous victory in a double turn.

 

That way, HBK's got somewhere new to go with his character and isn't really hurt by the loss, they get something memorable for Mania, and Kurt gets to go out on top. That would work way better.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If WM XXI is Angle's last match, he should lose, even if it is to HBK, who clearly doesn't need the rub. HBK is the one sticking around, so he should win, assuming it is Angle's last match.

[Dandy 0]

So what does Angle do in the mean time between Mania and Slam? He really needs to isolate his time in the ring yet remain credible enough to challenge for the title at Slam...

 

He can't extend the feud with Shawn if he beat him @ Mania unless it was via unclean circumstances and Shawn/Angle extending 4 months sounds horrible. If Shawn's coming to Smackdown which he should; it shouldn't be to delay what would be a pointless angle. It should be to get one last good round of matches out of his way with smackdowns workers.

 

Basically; if you were to extend Angle's career to Summerslam for be a pointless match and wouldn't mean nething for Cena in the grand scheme of things. You'd be forced to make him him HBK1994 character; part time wrestler, part time manager. I'd do it though; Have him manage Reigns whom he has excellent chemistry with and after Reigns beats Cena in a NT match due to Angle's actions, Cena calls Angle a bitch for hiding behind Reigns. Angle comes out and challenges for the title...

 

Cena: We've gone around the block a few times Kurt; I've beaten you and you got one on me...let's say we just settle it for good. You want this belt? Come get it from me but after I deliver you with the FU blow, You leave. Not to Raw, not to the office or behind your boyfriend Luther but out for good. Out of this business for good. I'm tired of always looking to see you behind my back. So @ Summerslam, You can have the belt if you can beat me but if you lose and the odds are pretty good that you will...Adios.

 

 

That's my idea. Do the match with HBK @ Mania which will be debated for months by some who claim it was ****3/4 and others will say it was barely **1/2. Put Angle behind Reigns who should be pushed as a upper carder anyways, hell put the US Title on him as well and feud him with Charlie Haas or maybe a new guy from raw. Angle should work a couple rare tag matches with Reigns but let Reigns do most of the work.

 

His career and sadly, his life is almost over. What's there to hold onto?

 

Jobbing another WM Main event? yeah that paychecks worth living life in a wheelchair. It's bad enough your only daughter had to see you in the hospital at such a young age but it's worst for her to see dad confined in a wheelchair for her life. You want to wheel your way down the aisle for her wedding? have fun kurt.

Well, I didn't want to type out 6 months worth of booking, and I didn't go into intricate detail, but obviously Angle and Cena have history dating back to Cena's debut. They will most definitely be meeting in the finals of the number 1 contender's tourney. HBK is probably going to cost him that match.

 

If HBK beats Angle at Mania, why would he jump to Smackdown to continue a feud he's already beat Angle in? So, Angle beats HBK at Mania, and HBK feels like he could have beaten him and is disgusted that he didn't pull out the win. So HBK ends up on SD and continues the feud with Angle. This leaves them with April, May, and June to have two more high-profile matches, with each of them winning one a piece letting Angle win the series. During all this, Angle is slowly turning crowd favorite because he is able to back up what he claims by beating HBK. In July, Angle says he thinks he deserves a shot at the title now that he is finished with HBK.

 

Is that a good enough bridge from Mania to Slam?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Since when is Angle dieing soon?

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

I didn't mean he would die but if he continues to work this way, he'll end up crippled. Wrestling is his life, it's what has driven him his whole life. I meant "life" in that context. Not his mortality. If he retires from the ring now; he can still work in the business be it a manager, on screen personality, office work, trainer etc.

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Styles 0]

For the people writing out these elaborate plans to hype it as Kurt Angle's last match, remember they weren't hyping Ausitn vs. Rock at WM19, they basically kept it quiet, same with Kurt's neck injury (which we thought was career ending, well it should have been, actually) against Brock at...uh Wm19 (boy was that show screwed up). No reason to think they hype this as his last match, I think Kurt just goes about it quietly...

[Guest JebusNassedar]

The plus of the Retirement Match with Cena is that, if it's hyped for long enough, it will (for one night) bring back the casual fans from the 2000/2001 boom. Because they remember Angle, and saw Angle's meteoric rise and would probably want to be there for his fall.

 

Not only that, but since times have changed, Cena might also bring some of those fans back, loathe as smarks are to how he wrestles. They always forget one thing.

 

Pro wrestling is about making money. A Benoit/Eddie 3/5 falls match wont draw money. A heated feud with a charismatic face and a vintage heel will. Whoever said that Cena needs to get an edge for this feud is right. Because, eventually, people will see through the crowd stuff. If they know he can get dead serious if he needs to, that'll cement him even further. Also, looking at the calender, the show is in Washington DC. Can you think of a better place to retire a guy who's gimmick is the American Hero of WWE?

 

That would also be the time to start compiling "It's True: The Best of Kurt Angle" or whatever they'll end up calling it. The occasion would be monumental, memorable,and as long as Angle doesnt "Funk" on the fans, be the perfect completion of a career.

 

But that'll never happen. Because it makes sense.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Why hype up a retirement match ? Nobody buys stipulations as it is, let alone retirement ones.

[Guest JebusNassedar]

Why hype up a retirement match ? Nobody buys stipulations as it is, let alone retirement ones.

Pro wrestling is about making money.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

Like he said; No one buys stipulations esp Retirement stipulations anymore because there's nowhere else for someone to go. It was believable in the Terrortory era where it was rather common for someone to lose a Loser Leaves Town match and actually LEAVE TOWN. It was somewhat believeable in the monday night wars era since there were two major companies and ecw. Now? Hardly 5% of the wrestling fanbase outside of the net even know what tna is.

 

So one's going to really buy a "Retirement" match when it's been done about 20 times in the last 5 years in some sort of way "loser leaves show" "loser is off tv forever" "last match ever between these two" "buried alive"(premise is they wont come back) and has yet to even live up to it's promises for the majority.

[Dandy 0]

I had an idea a year or so ago that a wrestler would announce his intentions to retire, and wanted to try for the title one last time. If he lost, he'd retire, but if he won, he'd have to think about what he wanted to do. After he won the title, every match could be his last. I think it would add a layer of drama to the title defenses, and especially his TV matches.

 

I also understand what everyone says about retirement matches, but I look at it like this: unless a wrestler specifically says he will never wrestle another match as long as he lives, he can come back for a few appearances later on. I don't mind Foley wrestling once every 2-3 years, because he is still "retired" when he wrestles. He is not an active wrestler anymore. Not all people that retire from a job quit working all together. And people have come out of retirement before. When it really hurts is when Terry Funk has 361 "retirements," but will never leave until he can't walk or is dead.

[Precious Roy 0]

For some reason I think retiring Angle wouldn't be as a big deal as Foley's was or Taker's will be if done correctly.

 

No, the rub isn't quite as valuable, but there's still a good rub to give there, and giving it to a guy who, like I said, is on the verge of retirement himself just isn't good business. Use it on someone who's a strong part of the future of your company, if not Cena than someone else, but not a 40 year old with a bad back and bad knees, who's already bulletproof as is.

 

(Michaels) took an unheard of four years off and now he's back as good as ever

 

You've never seen anything pre-98 from Michaels, have you?

[Promoter 0]

I do remember some rumours of this nature about Angle around summer time last year. Some here might have the laid out plans that the wwe had if we take into account the rumours. Wasn't Angle/Taker a rumoured title match for WrestleMania? If Angle went over( ) and if Vince wanted to crown Cena at SummerSlam than the scenarios here aren't so far fetched. The obvious problem is Angle's health and maybe that's why we got JBL with this monster push as champion. I still think Cena should not be crowned until at least SummerSlam to mazimize his current reign and character some more, but it seems they will pull the trigger at Mania. I can't see a retirement match drawing if Angle is a challenger because it will come off as grandstanding on the part of Angle. Remember, he pulled this stunt just last summer.

 

We also got to take into account that Angle wanted to supposedly face legends at the last two Mania cards. Last year it was Bret Hart(whom he claimed was the greatest) and this year Undertaker(due to his WM legacy). If Heyman was responsible for this match as rumoured months back he probably gave Angle the middle ground with facing HBK. HBK has a pretty solid Mania legacy himself by going over Bret Hart at WM 12. He's only lost to Diesel since going singles at the event cleanly and is known to be the champion who got knocked out by Mike Tyson at the event. Maybe HBK being his last match is what Angle wants.