Kurt Angle's Greatest WWE Rival

[The Brain]

It’s hard to believe that Kurt Angle has been gone from WWE for five years now. I think a lot of us assumed he’d have been back already but it doesn’t appear that he’s ever going to come back while still an active full time wrestler. There’s no doubt that Angle left his mark during his near seven year WWE career. He had many great matches and feuds. Out of all the people he worked with who would you say was Kurt Angle’s greatest rival in WWE? For old times sake I’ll rank the top ten like I used to do in my Best Feud threads from a couple years ago.

10. John Cena
9. The Rock
8. Edge
7. Shawn Michaels
6. Eddie Guerrero
5. Undertaker
4. Steve Austin
3. Triple H
2. Brock Lesnar
1. Chris Benoit

There are a lot of great names on that list and Angle had a memorable feud with all of them. Out of all of them I’d say Chris Benoit was his greatest WWE rival. These two had an on again off again feud in WWE for years. They could be put together at any time and make it work. Their first encounter came when both made their WrestleMania debut at WM16. It wasn’t really a personal rivalry at that point as they competed in a triple threat match along with Chris Jericho (who somehow never had a big feud with Angle), but it was a significant match for both men and the first of many times they would cross paths.

A year later is when they really kicked things off. They met up again at mania, this time one on one, and delivered an excellent match. Their feud continued beyond mania as they faced of in an iron man submission match, a two out of three falls ladder match, and a steel cage match. That’s quite a collection of matches during a three month period.

That might be enough to justify picking Benoit as Angle’s best rival but it didn’t end there. Benoit missed a year due to injury and when he returned it didn’t take long to renew the rivalry. They met up again at Unforgiven 2002 and delivered another great match. After that their rivalry took a strange turn as they were forced to form a partnership and go after the newly created Smackdown tag team championship. They made it to the finals and defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio in one of my all time favorite matches to become the first Smackdown tag team champions. Of course the partnership didn’t last long and the two would be at it again. This time the big prize was at stake. At the 2003 Royal Rumble they would face off for the WWE title. Somehow they were able to top everything they had done before and delivered what I think was their greatest match together. In my opinion it was easily one of the top ten matches of the 2000’s.

You wouldn’t be wrong by picking another name on the list, but the length of the rivalry, quality of matches, and stakes they competed for makes Chris Benoit the choice for me. Let’s hear some more opinions.

 

[RicoLen]

Kurt Angle is one of those guys that has really made me regret not watching the WWE very much from 1997-2002, he and the Rock. Now I've done my share of browsing youtube for old videos and have caught a lot of different things, but it's really not at all the same as watching it unfold episode by episode on Raw & Smackdown. I've been trying to watch all the old raw episode from that time period, because it IS such a better way to try and relive all that stuff.

Anyways, for me, Kurt Angle was just a genious in the ring and behind the mic, and the best heel in the same vein as Bobby Heenan, in that he was mostly just a whiny b**ch as a heel, and then the bell rang and he turned pure wrestler. It was amazing. And for me, the rivalry that really stands out, even though I saw Brock Lesnar, was John Cena. I saw him debut, and I saw Kurt Angle (as a face) come out to the ring, dressed like Cena, and make a fool of himself, then out comes the midget, dressed like Angle, and mini-Angle calls Cena a wiener (wiena) and has the crowd chanting along with him "When I say Cena, you say Wiener! Cena!" "Wiener!" IMO it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on WWE TV.

So for me, because of that, I just have to pick Cena/Angle.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I hands down agree with you Brain. When I think of Kurt Angle in the WWE, an image of Chris Benoit is usually who he is wrestling with Brock Lesnar close behind.

Him and Benoit had a fantastic rivalry which was capped off by the fact that both guys were absolutely tremendous technical wrestlers. They both had a level of intensity that was unmatched and 9 times out of 10 I was on the edge of my seat every time these 2 stepped in the ring together.

A lot of great moments come to mind like Benoit stealing his gold medals (which was ended by Angle having to reach down Benoits pant to get them), their rivalry when they were a tag team when they would annihilate their opponents only to start wrestling eachother afterwords and their best match IMO at Royal Rumble 2003 was one of my favorite Angle and Benoit matches. Both guys seemed to bring the best out of each other and both guys were primed every time they were together.

His rivalry with Lesnar was also good but could have went longer, was severely hurt by Angles neck injury and ended very prematurely in my opinion.

Angle vs. Lesnar was good but was no where near as satisfying as his fantastic feud with one Chris Benoit.

 

[Fanatic4Life]

I would have to also say Chris Benoit. Let's be honest, every style of match that you could put these two guys in together? Would turn into gold. If I remember correctly? Even though Benoit lost in their 2003 Royal Rumble encounter? BOTH men recieved standing ovations. I still have the highlight of Kurt Angle doing that moonsault off the top of the cage and Benoit moving at the last second still fresh in my mind. I think that encounter took place on RAW I could be wrong on that...

Oh and Angle had a match with The Undertaker on Smackdown! I think in 2003 or 2002? When he was still the American Bad Ass? That was phenominal!! The Undertaker I think would have to be a close second to Chris Benoit

 

[Owlzfan84]

You got to go with Benoit. Lesnar is pretty close, but the feud with Benoit had a lot of different elements. They hated each other, they were competitive, they would feud just for the simple fact to find out who was better, they would be tag champs and continue to try to one up each other, and just the chemistry between the two was gold.

A name that's not on the list, but i think deserves a mention is Rey Mysterio. Just for the fact that they had good chemistry with one another and it was an entertaining little rivalry, even if it wasn't that long of one.

 

[darbare]

First person that came to mind was Shawn Michaels...that match at Mania is easily my second favorite match of all time period...their feud was just pure intensity....the second person that came to mind was Brock Lesnar...if there was ever one person who could go toe to toe with Lesnar it was Kurt....I dunno why, I didnt believe Rock, Taker or anyone else could do it, but Kurt was the only one I believed who ever stood a chance...after those 2 Id say either Benoit or Stone Cold....he brought out the best in Stone Cold and always put on 5 star mtches with the Rattlesnake...not only that but they had great funny promos, even the one with the blindfold and the bucket of water lol

 

[Miz_Mark]

Kurt Angle was my favorite wrestler in WWE during that time, I still mark out for him big time.

All of his feuds, everything he did was pure gold. It's tough to pick just one feud to be the winner.

On the topic of his Benoit rivalry, I was lucky enough to be there in attendance at the Royal Rumble 03 and that was from a technical perspective the greatest match I have ever seen live. Absolutely outstanding.

 

[RJJ]

1st person comes in mind is brock lesnar. These two had some classics, and I think each one of them pushed the other to the limit. And you can tell it was intense. Both wanted to be the best superstar on SD.

 

[greygoose67]

first person that came to my mind wasnt even on your list. shane mcmahon. they had a pretty memorable feud leading up to king of the ring and angle needing 3 belly to belly suplexes to get shane through the glass. then just throwing him thru the glass on the other side. and the epic angle slam from the top rope. first person i would say on your list tho is easily benoit followed by austin. benoit and angle had amazing matches and stone cold and angle were just pure comedy together.

 

[TheWrestlo]

the 1st 3 people that came 2 my head were Edge, Triple H, and Stone Cold. heres why

Edge
im not sure if this feud was that great but it was rlly frekin hillarious with edge doing the pictures joke on smackdown with him showing Angle the pics with the messages on the back the angle t shirt joke was pretty funny and this feud is the reason we have our bald headed angle.

Triple H
Angle and Hunter had a pretty good feud round 2001 i think when angle tried and eventully did steal triple h's girl stephine but this feud was pretty good and in my opinion wat rlly elevated angle 2 main event status

Steve Austin
Do i rlly need a reason for this one? this was pure hatred between both men when austin turned on him and WWF and joined the allinance then the feud got even more fueled when Austin threw Angles gold medals of a bridge (even though they werent rlly his medals) the point is Austin + Angle = Holy shit of a feud

 

[PagingMr.ass]

Hands down Brock Lesnar. Both are the definition of true athletes in pro wrestling. THey both could bring the house down no matter who they squared off against but when the two of them were in the ring they pulled even more out of each other than anyone could. The WWE has picked it back up in the last two years but there was a giant bore era after they both prematurely exited.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Although his feuds with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho produced much better matches, I am going to vote on personal preference here, and go for Triple H as Kurt's greatest rivalry.

The love triangle storyline between The Game and Angle over the affections of Stephanie was brilliant TV, and is one of the storylines that I think of most when I look back on my early days as a WWE fan. It was so well done, with Angle claiming to just want to be friends with Stephanie, and her defending him despite HHH being adamant that Kurt could not be trusted. It's a shame that the rivalry did not continue longer, as with athletes the calibre of HHH and Angle, it could have been one of the all-time greats. In my eyes, this is the feud that really got Kurt over as a main event level talent, as The Game was the best in the business at that time and feuding with him was the catalyst for Kurt to step up his game and afterwards he was thought of as a main event wrestler.

Also, his rivalry with Stone Cold was fantastic too. There was the 2 of them competing for the affections of Vince McMahon, the "Milk- O-Mania" incident and many other great moments and matches.