New York Region, Third Round: No Disqualification: (3) Kurt Angle vs. (6) AJ Styles

[Hollywood Naitch]

If both these men were in their prime I would have to give this to Angle.

The man is a machine. He can take almost any beating and keep going, there is no other wrestler I have seen who is as intense, aggressive and talented as Kurt Angle. When you add all his attributes together, you have the perfect competitor for a no-DQ match.

He would simply maul AJ in this one. I love Styles, I really do, but a heathly Kurt Angle would beat the crap out of him, wear down his ankle with chair shots, and if this went out of the ring I could see a few German Suplexes, Belly To Bellys (remember the match with Shane McMahon?!) and an Angle Slam through a table.

Styles would not die easily, he would keep making comebacks with his innovative offense and would certainly cause Kurt some damage. I just think that in this type of match, Kurt would have Styles' number and when AJ struggled to get to the top rope after his ankle had taken a beating, Kurt would spring up, jump up behind AJ and then nail a top rope Angle Slam for a 3 count.

Angle advances, he would be the better man in this one. Great match

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that the mistake a lot of people are making is that they think that AJ will be unable to defeat Kurt in his prime. The question is what are you considering to be Kurt's prime?

Kurt was in his physical prime in the earlier part of the decade but you will find that he was not in his kayfabe prime. He was faster and younger in the earlier part of the decade but you'll see that he has a better win-loss record in the later part of the decade ie from 2005-2010 that he had in the first 5 years of the decade. So AJ has defeated Kurt in his prime because he has defeated Kurt at a time in which Kurt was booked at his strongest. Kurt has a better win loss record over most TNA wrestlers except for AJ and Kurt has never defeated AJ in a NO DQ setting.

So if you are voting for Kurt you are not making an informed choice. Either your fandom for Kurt or your hate for TNA is getting in the way of a correct vote.

Also I think hatehabsforever mentioned Kurt having an advantage over AJ in a No Dq match because of AJ's blandness. Well firstly AJ has beaten Kurt in a NO DQ match and secondly he has a great record in NO DQ matches and has even defeated huge guys like Abyss in a hardcore match.

Make the informed choice. Vote for AJ!!

 

[LSN80]

I keep reading about "in their primes", not only here, but in several other matchups. Well, using that logic, Hulk Hogan would have lost in about 30 seconds in the first round of his matchup. I get the "using your own criteria" here, but some of this is ludicrous. Angle, if anything, has had a career resurgnce in TNA and has looked as good as he's had at any time in his career in TNA due to time off and the reduced schedule. Prime isn't a factor, so let's just look at this match for what it is.

I dont see the "NO-DQ" aspect being a factor here. For any claims of AJ having backup from Fourtune, Angle would have had similar backup with the MEM on his side. Both men have generally set out to prove who the better wrestler is when they've matched up, and while weapons and interference have come in from time to time. they've generally wrestled straight-up even when the opportunity to do otherwise was there. Both took liberties with each other when they were heels, but the majority of their matches have been wrestled straight up. I dont see this match being much different. These two have simply brought the best out in each other each time they'e stepped in the ring together. Im going to assume both are faces as they are now and throw the DQ aspect out, because it's virtually negated by their factions.

So that brings us to the match itself. Both men hve beaten the best there is to beat in their respective companies, and have done so clean much of the time. AJ is quicker, but I see Angle as being slightly bigger stronger, and possessing one weapon AJ doesn't have, and that's a submission move in the Angle Slam. Even if AJ weren't to tap to it, it would severely weaken his ankle to the point where his high flying offense would be somewhat hobbled. This would leave him prey to an Angle slam, probably two, and this match would go right up to the time limit. But even with all that being said, Ill take Styles at the 29 minute mark. As many have pointed out, AJ has had Angle's number, and that certainly wuld play a factor in this match. "Wrestling machine" or not, Angle is human, and the repeated losses to Styles would be in his head. Styles kicks out of the first Angle slam, and Angle does the same with the Styles Clash. But a Pele catches a wobbly Angle getting up, and that leaves him prey to the Spiral Tap and the pin with less then a minute left in the match.