You know, I'm just pointing this out there, but everyone seems of the assumption that either Sting or Kurt Angle can win this match via submission. That isn't the case at all. Magnum TA wasn't a technician, yet he got Tully Blanchard to quit, basically by brutal measures. The Rock used a playtrack to get Mankind to quit. The only times I can remember an "I Quit" match ending via submission are Cena/Orton, and the Backlund/Hart matches. So this weird theory that either Sting or Angle's submission background is going to really play that much of a factor in this match is quite presumptuous. I know it says in the rule that a winner can be announced by submission, but there's no guarantee that this match is going to end in a submission.
That said, it probably will come down to submissions in this match. And frankly, while Angle's great in them, we're dealing with ultra babyface Sting of the 90s for me. I'm going to throw out the following names, just for the lolz of the matter.
Ric Flair- Master of the figure four submission lock. Not only that, but patented the way to set up said Figure Four. Flair absolutely punished the knee and ankle in the midst of setting his opponent up. Much of his moveset centered around working on the knee and ankle. Then again, it also centered around getting caught on the top rope and flopping, but that's merely a minor issue. The fact is, this man knew how to pick apart and work and opponent's legs better than any wrestler, even Kurt Angle.
Vader- Yeah, he never had a submission move, I suppose. Doesn't mean he couldn't; he wrestled all over the world, and worked with all those fancy Japanese wrestlers. I'm pretty sure he could lock in a submission or two. Nevertheless, this was as brutal an opponent as you'll find in any promotion.
Cactus Jack- Again, another brutal opponent. Sure, not really a technician, but as tough as they get. He's actually a wrestler someone can legitimately said has only "quit" once, in which Melina was the cause.
Lex Luger- Yes, say what you want, but Luger's Torture Rack hurt like a mother fucker. Consider that hold for a second. You're repeatedly hitting his shoulders and being cranked incessently, all the while you can do nothing to stop it. It really is a brutal move, in theory.
Nikita Koloff- One of the toughest men in wrestling. The guy was an absolute beats, especially for how (relatively) small he was. Again, not a fantastic submission guy, but definitely a fantasic worker.
Meng- I believe that Meng has only tapped once in his career. Ever. Chris Benoit didn't do it to him, as he simply passed out from the pain. Sting is the only man in history to ever make Meng tap out. Sure, plenty of people have pinned Haku, but absolutely no one has made the guy tap out, submit, or say I Quit. Except, well, Sting.
Jake Roberts- If the guy knew how to quit, he'd have dropped the Thunderbird a long time ago. He, like Cactus and Vader, were absolutely violent men, hell-bent on giving as much pain as possible. And all of these men had Sting in their cross hairs at some point.
Know what else they have in common? Not only have all of them, at some point, lost to Sting via submission, but none of them have ever been able to make Sting tap out. At all. Sting was always the resilient wrestler of WCW, and was extremely charismatic in his day, which I'll go with being from 1990 to about 1996. This was a time in which Sting never tapped. Not once. And as you saw in the above list, he faced some pretty tough mother fuckers, all out for his blood.
Angle is a good wrestler, but he also has a tendency to tap. A lot. Chris Benoit has his number on speed dial. Brock Lesnar's Brock Lock says hi, too. And The Rock's Sharpshooter, a move Angle is going to become very well acquainted with, is making a guest appearance. Angle is great, but I just can't see an ultra babyface Sting tapping out to anyobody. He was always WCW's answer for Hulk Hogan, before the WCW actually got Hulk Hogan. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned that he made Hogan tap, too, in an era in which Hogan was sipping from the fountain of youth like it was wine.
Outside of kayfabe, if it weren't for Sting, Flair, Vader, and Rude, WCW would have closed its doors a long time ago. Sting and Vader were necessary to keep WCW afloat after that whole "Jim Herd wants to make Ric Flair Spartacus" debacle. Keeping your promotion alive tops anything Angle has done, even if someone would argue Angle is keeping TNA alive. It's not true, but I guess I could see the argument. Sting was, and always will be, one of my favorites, and has always stayed loyal to the company he performs for. He has always been the consumate professional, something Pissy Pants McPain Pill on the other side forgot a long time ago. Give me Sting in a great match to allow his tenacity to edge out the victory.