What do you do with Kurt Angle?

[iggymcfly 0]

Obviously, he works as a good foil to the WWE invaders during the initial invasion storyline, but I don't see where you go with him for feuds down the line. He's got the natural charisma to work as a face and get over as an extreme "rebel" with the ECW fans, but can you still book him as the face against an established ECW star? I don't see a real ECW crowd in a place like Philly cheering him over someone like Sabu. At the same time, I don't see something like Angle/Big Show being the kind of feud that you want to establish the new ECW as around as it comes off too much like WWE-lite.

 

Actually, while I was writing this topic, I kind of answered my own question in my mind. I think a feud with CM Punk based on how Kurt Angle lost his "straight edge" roots by embracing the new ECW would be dynamite. Based on the stars currently established, Angle looks like he's in limbo, but a feud spanning a month or two with Punk before maybe turning on RVD in a face/face matchup and joining up with Punk would be awesome. Thoughts?

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Angle Vs. Sabu would be nice.

[razazteca 0]

Copy the Trish storyline...somebody from his past is jealous of him which is the starting point for the feud. Rinse and repeat everytime someone is ready to be brought up from OVW.

[chaosrage 0]

Angle Vs. Sabu would be nice.

 

In a barbed wire match to prove that he's extreme.

[razazteca 0]

Angle Vs. Sabu would be nice.

 

In a barbed wire match to prove that he's extreme.

Kurt Angle doesn't like RVD kicking him in the face so why would he agree to a match with Sabu when you know damn well there is going to be chair spots and Arbian Facebuster botches in the match?!?!?! RVD kicks are bad enough but a chair can break Kurt Angle's freakin' neck!

 

BRING BACK BILL ALPHONSO!

[tominator89 0]

I wouldn't mind a match with Little Guido

[Ravenbomb 0]

Copy the Trish storyline...somebody from his past is jealous of him which is the starting point for the feud. Rinse and repeat everytime someone is ready to be brought up from OVW.

 

Eric Angle~!

[King Cucaracha 0]

I think a feud with CM Punk based on how Kurt Angle lost his "straight edge" roots by embracing the new ECW would be dynamite.

 

What's un-straight edge about being in ECW? Nevermind that Punk even showing up on an ECW show and bitching at Angle for being 'extreme' would be a total contradiction from the get-go, but unless Angle goes out and drinks himself stupid between matches that would make no sense what-so-ever with the straight-edge character.

 

Just have him pound some jobbers and try to prevent him crippling himself. Good enough for me.

[Hawk 34 0]

Angle is going to built as the TAZ of ECW 2.0. He'll get a bunch of squashes against jobbers and low-carders and all the while build to big ppv showdowns against the likes of RVD and probably Punk (down the line).

 

It is the best way to use a near-cripple if you must. You allow him to be on the offense instead of taking the big spots that he is prone to take. He can save his energy for the big matches instead of the ultimately meaningless TV matches.

 

Punk/Angle would be great, except Angle will get murdered if it becomes a promo war. Set Angle out as the unbeatable machine, even if he is horrible at being a pro shoot wrestler.

[Wrestlefreak 0]

I don't really like the idea of Kurt Angle in ECW. Yes, it gives him a chance to work a different style, but since there aren't any solid mat-based wrestlers on the ECW roster, we won't get to see those shoot wrestling classics Angle's so damn good at. ECW is a step back for Angle, IMO.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

ECW fans will cheer Angle so long as he is entertaining. Which he usually is. Don't worry about Angle being cheered, but I think a decent little feud would be Sandman/Angle (if Angle's neck can sustain a Singapore Cane to the head, that is).

 

Why? Sandman was crucified while Angle sat there and complained about his character being defamed. Sandman needed help, and his friends were beaten while Angle took the attention away from Sandman and put it onto himself. Done and done.

[iggymcfly 0]

Punk/Angle would be great, except Angle will get murdered if it becomes a promo war. Set Angle out as the unbeatable machine, even if he is horrible at being a pro shoot wrestler.

 

I'd say that's fine. ECW desperately needs new stars and anything Punk could do to get himself over on Angle would be great. Angle's probably the best promo of the established workers in ECW, so that seems like another reason that they'd be a great fit. I'd like to think that a year from now, Punk will be the top heel in the promotion.

 

And it really wouldn't be that hard to set up a feud between the two. Shit, if you want to go all the way with it, have Angle chug a beer with Sandman after beating up a couple heels or something. Then, Punk could say how Angle used to be a good role model for children and now he's been perverted by all the thugs and criminals in ECW. I'm not saying that Punk has to be positioned as being against the entire promotion; just have him want to "clean things up" and make it about the wrestling.

[Lei Tong 0]

Set Angle out as the unbeatable machine, even if he is horrible at being a pro shoot wrestler.

 

Whew. I was worried that my MMA sensiblities was making me overly critical of his shoot-ish work.

[Maztinho 0]

Set Angle out as the unbeatable machine, even if he is horrible at being a pro shoot wrestler.

 

Whew. I was worried that my MMA sensiblities was making me overly critical of his shoot-ish work.

 

No... he does have the WORST Mate-Leao in the history of worked fights. All five that I've seen, but Joe's RNC >>>>>> Angle's by lightyears.

 

And I'd buy Iggy's set-up. Punk could team with Knox (that's who covered up Kelly right?) and have a Straight Edge group tossing Test in there as Big Dick Dudley-esque muscle.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Nope, all I see is restholds too.

[Hawk 34 0]

You guys probably aren't aware of this but Punk hasn't done the sXe gimmick since 2003. He's more then just that character.

 

So it doesn't require him to do anything within that realm as far as storylines are concerned with Angle or for anyone.

 

Look at his programs with Jimmy Rave, ROH, Gibson, Albright, Gen Next...it had nothing to do with sXe and they were just as good as far as storylines went (in fact Rave > Raven. )

[King Cucaracha 0]

I'd rather see Punk/Dreamer. Have Punk play the young upstart like he did against Steamboat, maybe have him attack Funk or something similar to draw Dreamer out. The matches wouldn't be classics but they'd draw more emotion than Punk/Angle.

[iggymcfly 0]

I was actually thinking that Punk and Angle would eventually end up teaming together with the idea that Angle grew to respect Punk after their blowoff match. (Hopefully, they can work a 30-minute epic, otherwise it doesn't work as well.) Your idea would work too though.

[iggymcfly 0]

I'm looking at this from the perspective that ECW needs heels in a bad way. Right now, they've got Big Show and that's about it. I figure that by turning against "extreme", they can get instant heel heat on Angle and Punk in a jiffy. I'm not saying that every feud Punk does has to rely on straight edge, but I think that would initially be a good way to get him over to the ECW audience.

[Hawk 34 0]

Most people don't realize this but Punk designed the entire Joe triology. Every moment and every spot was from Punk's head. It's not out of the question to imagine that Punk could drag something out of Angle since Angle is 1/2 Joe but with a bunch of silliness and poor pacing thrown in there.

 

Punk should start in the mid-card and build himself as a legit threat to Angle around the start of 2007.

 

That being said, Punk requires someone with a good base or otherwise he will overcompensate.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I would make Kurt Angle the main heel of the show. Make him the anti-hardcore WRESTLER. Every time one of his opponents tries to bring a weapon into the match, Angle quickly dumps it out of the ring without ever using it. It would make him a heel among ECW fans that want to see hardcore wrestling, but it would also put over the fact that he is the best wrestler on the roster.

[Fro 0]

The obvious thing that's going to happen is they're going to build to Angle v.s. a new MMA-style character (like what Puder did in OVW).

[NoCalMike 0]

I really think that once the WWE crossover stops on ECW TV, that is when we will begin to see more actual feuds emerge. Also, ECW has to show off more of it's roster. It really is hard with only a one-hour timeslot, but it also helps that ECW in their 2nd week concentrated on WRESTLING MATCHES for the most part, instead of long, drawn out promos.

 

Once more of the roster is shown off, I am willing to be Kurt Angle is a prime contender to turn heel.

[Guest droptoehold]

Do the angle that they did with Booker when he went to SD, but this

time just DO IT CORRECTLY. Let Angle be the wrestling machine or

whatever but a feud with sandman will frustrate him and he can beg

Vince to come back to raw or sd. When it dosent work it builds his

story that the pure athlete can rise above without the use of weapons.

Bettering the ECW perception....but that will never happen

[razazteca 0]

STRAIGHT EDGE (Edge, Nitro, CM Punk) vs VARSITY CLUB (Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin). CM Punk convinces both Edge and his clone Nitro to dump the succubus divas (Lita & Melina) who were bad influences. Punk goes on to say that the divas did nothing for their careers stating that Edge couldn't keep the WWE Championship because Lita was always interfering in the matches and rarely helped him win. Punk would also say that Melina was the reason why the best tag team to ever work on Smackdown was broken up. Kurt Angle would cut a few promos saying that Edge and Nitro are codependent fools for believing in Punk and can't do anything on their own and will forever spend their careers in the midcard if they continue to follow that path they are on. The next week will be Kurt Angle doing the 3 minute challenge against Nitro...Kurt would win by cheating with help from Haas and then the next week it would be Haas vs Edge with Benjamin doing the run in. The feud would continue with a 6 man tag match with a cliff hanger finish setting up Kurt Angle vs CM Punk for the ECW PPV Anachary Rulz.

[iggymcfly 0]

Punk should start in the mid-card and build himself as a legit threat to Angle around the start of 2007.

 

I'm not feeling this. The fact is that the ECW roster is pretty thin. There really isn't enough of a "mid-card" that a prime prospect should spend a year going through it. There's no secondary belt and with an hour-long TV show, matches are either stars facing stars or stars facing jobbers. Of the young wrestlers yet to debut, Punk is the most polished and developed, and is fairly well-known, at least among internet fans, so there's no reason he can't jump straight to the main event. The best way to get him over credibly at that level is with a hot feud against an established wrestler, which in this case would be Angle.

 

As far as the idea of Angle hating ECW and begging Vince to go back to Smackdown, I don't like it. I think the most important thing for ECW right now is to distance itself from Raw and Smackdown and having the "WWE guy" run skits with Vince all the time acknowledging that ECW is operating completely under the WWE umbrella shatters the idea that they're separate companies.

 

I think the best way for Angle to turn heel is by joining Punk in defaming the notion of "extreme" and the character of ECW wrestlers after initially embracing their philosophy. I'd hype up the second big ECW show (are they running PPVs?), on the idea of an RVD/Angle face vs. face match built on respect for each others' wrestling ability. Then, I'd have Punk interfere to help Angle, have Angle shake his hand, then have the two of them hit a double team move which pins RVD. Then Angle could come out the next night and say that he gained respect for Punk after their initial 30-minute epic, and realized that everything Punk was saying about how he "changed" was right. That way, you strongly position Angle as the top heel in the company, going against everything ECW stands for, and make the feud even hotter against top face RVD.

[NoCalMike 0]

I think you could brew a feud between RVD and Angle with their conflicting wrestling styles. Since the ECW fans are already all over RVD's nuts you can basically be the ECW Champ for awhile, as Kurt Angle is going through the ECW roster one by one, not necessarily squashes, but he wins his matches. So this goes on well into 2007, RVD is getting the glory, while Kurt Angle is quietly ripping through the roster.

 

You build RVD and Angle as the #1 and #2 faces of the company. Then comes a Tag Team match RVD teaming up with Angle against whoever the big heels are at the time. The match is going on, with the heels getting the upper hand, RVD is positioned to get the Hot tag, The crowd is chanting for RVD....however.....Kurt Angle refuses to tag out, instead taking more punishment while trying to turn the match around himself. Eventually the heel executes a move into the corner of RVD, and RVD slaps Angles shoulder to tag himself in and take the match upon himself. From here, you can either have RVD win the match from the hot tag OR you can do the classic angle where RVD gets to the point where he needs to tag out and Angle abandons him. That weeks episode ends.....

 

The next week Styles is in the ring, demanding an explanation from Angle, he comes out and talks about his olympic training, his wrestling skills, blah blah, and says how he is sick and tired of how RVD an inferior "spot monkey" is what the fans want to see over himself. He says he came to ECW to "CHANGE THE FACE OF ECW" and until RVD is beaten for the belt, the change will not be complete....etc etc

 

So now the feud is basically setup as Kurt Angle turns heel and starts a program with RVD for the ECW World Title.

 

Thoughts?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

STRAIGHT EDGE (Edge, Nitro, CM Punk) vs VARSITY CLUB (Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin). CM Punk convinces both Edge and his clone Nitro to dump the succubus divas (Lita & Melina) who were bad influences. Punk goes on to say that the divas did nothing for their careers stating that Edge couldn't keep the WWE Championship because Lita was always interfering in the matches and rarely helped him win. Punk would also say that Melina was the reason why the best tag team to ever work on Smackdown was broken up. Kurt Angle would cut a few promos saying that Edge and Nitro are codependent fools for believing in Punk and can't do anything on their own and will forever spend their careers in the midcard if they continue to follow that path they are on. The next week will be Kurt Angle doing the 3 minute challenge against Nitro...Kurt would win by cheating with help from Haas and then the next week it would be Haas vs Edge with Benjamin doing the run in. The feud would continue with a 6 man tag match with a cliff hanger finish setting up Kurt Angle vs CM Punk for the ECW PPV Anachary Rulz.

 

Why give them a new name? Most WWE fans will know them as Team Angle, so just give them that name.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Wait until ECW is dead in 10 weeks.

 

Move him back to SD, where he gets another handful of token title reigns, yet is never booked as the main character. Fin.

[razazteca 0]

Why give them a new name? Most WWE fans will know them as Team Angle, so just give them that name.

Have the backstory of being NCAA All-Americans using the name Team Angle is too generic. If they are going to push Kurt Angle as a MMA fighter then might as well go all the way and give the team name some embelishment by calling themselves Team Angle Real Freestyle Elite Wrestling System or TARFEWS for short