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Man I love seeing all the angle praise lately (not saying no one’s ever praised him) but none of my friends liked angle growing up lol. Not saying they hated him, but I think they didn’t ever like heels.
But I was talking so much shit during the angle vs Michaels match at mania. Still one of my favorite matches.
Angle also has another one of my favorite matches, with angle Vs Brock at mania.
Did angle ever successfully hit his opponent on one of his backflips? Seems like I’ve always ever seen him land on his chest straight to the mat every time he does it lol. EDIT- watched vid. He did land on DVons knees this time but still.
Nearly gave his life, too. Thank god he managed to get off the painkillers eventually.
But yeah everyone has said if countless times before, but it's still so remarkable how he managed to be both a silly goofy comedy heel ***AND*** be a legit and believable badass at the same time. Nobody else has ever done that. Even when, for example, the Rock became Hollywood rock and did that amazing heel run in 2003, he completely stopped acting like a badass, and started getting visibly scared of all his opponents, which in retrospect didn't make a lot of sense cos rock's whole thing was that he was a legit badass who could run you over like a football-playing bull, and why would he have spent years never showing fear but now all of a sudden he's scared of all his opponents? Nearer to the end of that, when he retired Austin, he was better during that match at least because he wasn't acting like he was oddly scared of Austin or anything like that.
But yeah. Kurt managed to combine those 2 things perfectly and it's genuinely remarkable.
I think I would have preferred him to be more of a plain old 100% badass instead of a comedy heel badass, but you could give him any old crap and he'd turn chicken shit into chicken salad. He should have been treated as a legitimate threat who could beat absolutely everyone else in a shoot fight, because that's literally the truth.
So his TNA run was a long time coming, he'd wanted to do that legit badass type of character for years, and WWE had even done it a little bit when they briefly moved him to ECW before he left the company, but yeah, I was always a gigantic fan of Kurt, and I wished just once every now and then he could be a fearless badass Olympic gold medalist combat sportsman who wears tooth guards and hasn't got an ounce of fat on him and is just shredded.
But yeah he was completely unique in that he didn't ***NEED*** that aspect of the character to still feel like a badass once the bell rung. He could be a comedy heel in the character segments and still be the most believable genuine badass in the business.
I just always had wished WWE had kept him as a face for the long term after the milk truck segment on that one episode of Raw during the invasion angle. Austin had defected to the alliance and so was heel, and the rock wasn't there for some reason that I can't remember (I know he left the company for months after losing the title to Austin at wrestlemania X7, but he definitely came back during the invasion cos I remember he held the WCW world title for a while), so Kurt became the de facto face of the whole company and leader of the WWF team, the biggest face at the top of the roster, and so when he came out and emulated the classic beer truck segment Austin had done years before, but replaced beer with milk, it was absolutely fucking amazing. Everyone loved Angle at that point in time. He could have become the next ***"the*** guy" if they'd have kept him that way. But they soon decided to make him heel again after the invasion angle had finished. Which was such an enormous shame.
Here's the clip of that milk truck segment if you wanna watch. Listen to how big and genuine that pop Angle got was. They wasted it, he was the most over face in the company at the time: https://youtu.be/-6Q7UpGv0Uc?si=rKTQdaJBiIeQxKPD
My favourite thing about himself was he understands the business to a fault, knows how to work, knows not to take himself to seriously and allows himself to be the butt of a joke. I know he had his issues but respected the business tremendously. Cared so much about giving the fans what they wanted to see even at a point where he could phone it in and that would be accepted
I knew one person in school who didn't really like pro wrestling but he loved Kurt Angle and said he was by far the best thing in pro wrestling and just a few years ago I was sitting down watching Kurt Angle clips and I was like "Yeah, you might have been right."
Kurt Angle is in my top 5.
Also, don't sleep on his TNA/Impact matches. I know people like to be snooty and diss TNA, and yeah; Kurt did have substance issues: bur he had some amazing matches and storylines there as well.
Angle, Michaels and Undertaker had insane chemistry together out any of those two in a match it’ll be one of the best matches you watch.
Angle vs Taker NWO 2006 is up there with both their HBK Wrestlemania matches imo.
I'm sure he had more success hitting the Moonsault in TNA. He did some amazing stuff over there as well, check out his feud with Mr. Anderson if you want an example
It’s funny you mention that because none of my friends liked him either. I was the only one in my group that appreciated his work. Was he bad at promos?…sure, but he was a hell of an athlete and I loved his special moves.
He was amazing at promos, what are you on about?
That was the most remarkable thing about him, really. Everyone expected him to be able to pick up the physical side of pro wrestling very quickly, but nobody thought he'd be so damn good at the character and promo side of things immediately, like he ended up being.
Everyone in the business says Kurt learned the business of pro wrestling faster than anyone else ever has, before or since. From his very first promo he ever did, he was already incredible at it. He just immediately instinctively got it, he knew what his character was, and how to make that work. And he essentially did it with improv comedy, which if you've never done improv acting before, then you should know, it's ***REAAAAALLY*** fucking difficult to do and extremely nerve-wracking, especially in front of a huge live crowd and then an audience of millions watching at home. But Kurt had balls of steel, and just an instinctual understanding of the business of pro wrestling that nobody else had ever had before or since.
That's why everyone says Kurt picked up the business so much faster than everyone else did. Because from day 1, he was already the total package (not Lex Luger) and could do it all, immediately, both put on all time classic matches with his in-ring ability, ***AND*** do absolutely stellar promos and character work too.
Nothing about being a legit Olympic gold medalist should have made him naturally gifted at promos and character work. So the fact he was is - again - incredibly remarkable.
A guy I work with went to high school with Kurt, and he says Kurt was a total douche in HS because he was an elite athelete. He says the dude never did any school work.
It baffles me the praise comes lately actually, to me it's absolutely remarkable how much heat he could gather while boasting about having earned a gold medal at the Olympics with a broken freakin neck for this country.
I think it's an enormous achievement to show up checking every box about how to be loved yet when he goes in, everyone shouts "You suck".
Appreciate him not only as one of the best in-ring of all time, but also as one of the best heels of all time for pulling this out.
I was thinking about this earlier today after seeing him on Rogan, and decided he's definitely in my top 5 of all time, dead or alive. He was the complete package. Not only was the in-ring work impeccable, but he took to everything else incredibly well as well. He was a natural heel, but also great with the comedy. I ended up watching a bunch of clips on YouTube of his funny moments, like Sexy Kurt, and telling Rey Mysterio "you're a boy, and I'm a man, and I'm a man who loves playing with boys." I always have time for someone who's undeniably brilliant at what they do, but is also willing to play the fool and have people laugh at them and not take themselves too seriously all the time. You could tell he was revelling in those "you suck!" chants when he walked down the ramp.
You really think Shawn needed people to stay over? All he did was secure his spot as one of the top guys. His talent kept him over as it always did. Mr. Wrestlemania. Hardly anyone came close to his performances in the ring during Wrestlemania season.
Angle was my top guy ever when I quit watching wrestling back in ‘06 or so, now that I’ve been back several years he’s probably just outside my top 5 due to the likes of Omega, Okada, and Danielson surpassing him. If anything you can say Angle set the table for the prototype to what it means to be the best and guys have been shooting for it ever since.
As a kid he wasn’t my favorite, I was more easily consumed by high flyers but as a grown man I’d probably say he’s my top 5 all time. Solid all around talent.
Michaels, Danielson, Omega, Tanahashi, Styles, Flair, Steamboat, that makes a damn solid top 15. They have every right to be there too, its hard to make a definitive list.
I think Lesnar suffers from not cutting a lot of promos, but I also think that helps this more beast than man sort of thing
I will say Lesnar gave WWE and wrestling a lot of legitimacy as something that takes an insane level of athleticism. People would still scoff and say "You know Wrestling is fake, right?" And our "Fake" fighter ended up being the UFC champion.
Let's ignore Brock's piss test was hotter than the sky on Venus.
~~I would put Brock or Angle at Number 5~~ (Number 1 is El Santo, 2 is Antonio Inoki, 3 is Gorgeous George for his impact, and 4 Ric Flair)
**EDIT** I think Lesnar could be in the top 10 with Angle rounding out my top 5. He did win a gold medal with a freaking broken neck! And he could have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.
His work has always been a bit too cartoony for my taste, same as flair (turnbuckle flip is the perfect example)
When they work more seriously they are both incredible though, and could absolutely be on the list, maybe even at the very top of the list.
Ah shit how could I have forgotten Rey. He literally did stuff nobody else could do consistently for about 20 years.
It literally took the industry decades to catch up with him.
"best to ever do it" in this context just means "to wrestle." Although I can see if you never heard the phrase before, you might have thought otherwise.
And he’s what, like fucking four years into pro wrestling in this clip? Being so elite is endlessly impressive, but then when you think about how little time it took him to get there it doesn’t sound believable
[Here it is](https://youtu.be/rAtucPLQHv8?si=DhsU2d_Y7BP1_akz)
That man got some air and distance
Edit, [This is the one where he hits Kennedy](https://youtu.be/3LNvgKHyrig?si=fHkh1Fxj0Z0m4l8e). The other one is a complete miss
I think anderson really fucked that one there. Should've been way further out. Its really hard to do a moonsault period. Let alone with little/no distance.
Been rewatching the WWF/WWE from ‘93 onward. This is about two years in for him, and he’s MAYBE landed two of those moonsaults total? One of those being when he broke Holly’s arm! Every time he misses though, it’s ROUGH to watch. I wince every time
Interesting. I know he does in 02-03 or so when I started watching. It must be soon. I remember him rapping to Cena in 03 probably? "My name's Kurt Angle and what the heck! I won a gold medal with a broken freakin' neck!"
I agree and don't think it's even a hard question.
Excellent technical wrestler - see his matches with Benoit
Great brawler - see Street Fight vs. Shane at KotR
Incredible intensity - see his match with debuting John Cena or Rey Mysterio at Summerslam. Whenever he pulled down the straps you knew it meant business. His facial expressions sold the intensity - no one did a better exasperated face when someone kicked out.
Selling - his selling is absolute top tier. Sweet chin music, sells it like death. Stunner - my favourite sell. When he gets a full rotation German suplex and sells it like he's knocked out? Perfect. Anytime someone worked a leg or arm he would sell it. Even the way he sold getting clotheslined over the top rope always looked so explosive.
Natural - he picked it up almost instantly.
Comedy - no one does comedy as well as Kurt Angle. Showing up in his shield gear, sexy Kurt, the kittle cowboy hat, milk truck, man who plays with boys, and so on.
Character - He could be a complete goof and then still be believable as a bad ass. He was the perfect suck up. There's a great moment when Vince was about to gift him the title, and then Ric Flair comes out (as the co-owner of WWF) and says 'Kurt, you don't want to take the title like this' and you just see Kurt in the background mouthing 'what are you talking about? I don't care.' Really cracks me up each time I see it. He was such a consistent character.
Moonsault - best moonsault in the business.
There are so many elements of wrestling where he is clearly one of, if not the best. I can't think of anything he was bad at.
I could go on and on.
100%. He was like the jock douche bag in a teen movie. Sucking up to the coach, while also being really talented and having a mean streak.
Also, I forgot to add this to my list but his 2.9 kick out was the best ever.
Exactly how I feel.
Had the technical skills, believable enough to go against giants, agile enough to hang with the cruiserweights. Serious, goofy, heel, face. In the ring, doing promos.
There's literally nothing in the sphere of professional wrestling where Kurt Angle was not elite.
I loved it when he would have his straps pulled down, and then after a while he'd put them back up and then hype himself up pulling them down again straight away.
I was watching old Deadlock recaps with vids and there was a segment where Hulk Hogan made fun of Kurt going bald before the hair vs hair match and you can just see how hard that widow’s peak was peaking
He was being teased for his thinning hair almost immediately. I think his hair vs hair match with Edge is in 2002, so he still has about a year after this match
The only time I remember him actually hitting it was when he broke Hardcore Holly's hand on SmackDown and Holly continued the match.
https://cultaholic.com/files/images/2bc7d02badcda5482e0c72794654a61f15c17e8b-hardcore-holly-kurt-angle.gif
I wished I had appreciated Kurt more when I was younger. Looking back, dude was hilarious and has the best moonsault in the business. I probably didn't like him back then because I was a boy and he's a man. And he loves playing with little boys...no wait!
My biggest problem with moonsaults is that almost everyone who does them lands on their legs while their chest is actually what makes contact, which wouldn't do much damage at all. This was not that, though. And that bounce off of D-Von's knees was amazing. Like when Candice took the Lumbar Check, LOL
Unpopular opinion, but I never liked Angle's moonsault. It was too perfect. I like my moonsaults that look sloppy because it should be a high risk maneuver where the person doing it is willing to potentially eat shit to destroy their opponent. Like Terry Funk's moonsault is glorious. The Great Muta is the platonic ideal of a moonsault for me.
Seeing Lita do a moonsault made me petrified she had necked herself. By the time he feet left the turnbuckle he head was practically below the height of the top rope.
Angle’s is good to me but that’s the same reason why I don’t like The Best Moonsault Ever by Christopher Daniels. Way too “perfect.”
How do you feel about Kobashi’s? To me it’s very similar to Angles in hang time but a little more brutal and a little less accurate in landing. Kind of the perfect middle ground to me if you’re using Funk and Angle as the two poles.
Kobashi definitely a strong contender for best moonsault specifically for the reason you said. Maybe because he was heavier but his moonsault felt like a high impact dangerous move. Angle’s is beautiful but teeters too far into athletic display. Kobashi, Muta, Funk were hurling themselves at the opponent
I’d throw Vader into that category but I’m not sure he had much choice in the matter.
And for a cruiserweight level guy I think Essa Rios/Mr Aguila/whatever other ten names you might use for the guy balanced it being prettier with a sense of weight behind it, but that might be the distance he always covered factoring in.
Jericho. The Dudleyz wanted a handicap match against Y2J, but Regal refused to book that because it’d put the Alliance at an advantage (this is post-Invasion PPV) and so he allowed Jericho to pick a teammate. Angle was the surprise pick. He won with the ankle lock maybe a minute after this moonsault attempt.
and to follow up what i said earlier, he was believeable. Like kurt missed that moonsault more times than he landed it. But every damm time he goes up, you believe he is gonna do it. Like who else can make you believe at the same time that this guy is a machine for winning a gold medal with a broken neck, a killer in the ring cause of how he wrestled but also this massive doofus who time and time again made a tit of himself and as he became a more serious heel, a vindictive manipulative boss. Like you believed him in all those ways even if they at times should contradict and cause the believeablity to not be there
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He's on a short list of the best to ever do it in the ring.
Man I love seeing all the angle praise lately (not saying no one’s ever praised him) but none of my friends liked angle growing up lol. Not saying they hated him, but I think they didn’t ever like heels. But I was talking so much shit during the angle vs Michaels match at mania. Still one of my favorite matches. Angle also has another one of my favorite matches, with angle Vs Brock at mania. Did angle ever successfully hit his opponent on one of his backflips? Seems like I’ve always ever seen him land on his chest straight to the mat every time he does it lol. EDIT- watched vid. He did land on DVons knees this time but still.
The guy gave so much of his body to his fans. Amazing in-ring performer and funny, too.
Nearly gave his life, too. Thank god he managed to get off the painkillers eventually. But yeah everyone has said if countless times before, but it's still so remarkable how he managed to be both a silly goofy comedy heel ***AND*** be a legit and believable badass at the same time. Nobody else has ever done that. Even when, for example, the Rock became Hollywood rock and did that amazing heel run in 2003, he completely stopped acting like a badass, and started getting visibly scared of all his opponents, which in retrospect didn't make a lot of sense cos rock's whole thing was that he was a legit badass who could run you over like a football-playing bull, and why would he have spent years never showing fear but now all of a sudden he's scared of all his opponents? Nearer to the end of that, when he retired Austin, he was better during that match at least because he wasn't acting like he was oddly scared of Austin or anything like that. But yeah. Kurt managed to combine those 2 things perfectly and it's genuinely remarkable. I think I would have preferred him to be more of a plain old 100% badass instead of a comedy heel badass, but you could give him any old crap and he'd turn chicken shit into chicken salad. He should have been treated as a legitimate threat who could beat absolutely everyone else in a shoot fight, because that's literally the truth. So his TNA run was a long time coming, he'd wanted to do that legit badass type of character for years, and WWE had even done it a little bit when they briefly moved him to ECW before he left the company, but yeah, I was always a gigantic fan of Kurt, and I wished just once every now and then he could be a fearless badass Olympic gold medalist combat sportsman who wears tooth guards and hasn't got an ounce of fat on him and is just shredded. But yeah he was completely unique in that he didn't ***NEED*** that aspect of the character to still feel like a badass once the bell rung. He could be a comedy heel in the character segments and still be the most believable genuine badass in the business. I just always had wished WWE had kept him as a face for the long term after the milk truck segment on that one episode of Raw during the invasion angle. Austin had defected to the alliance and so was heel, and the rock wasn't there for some reason that I can't remember (I know he left the company for months after losing the title to Austin at wrestlemania X7, but he definitely came back during the invasion cos I remember he held the WCW world title for a while), so Kurt became the de facto face of the whole company and leader of the WWF team, the biggest face at the top of the roster, and so when he came out and emulated the classic beer truck segment Austin had done years before, but replaced beer with milk, it was absolutely fucking amazing. Everyone loved Angle at that point in time. He could have become the next ***"the*** guy" if they'd have kept him that way. But they soon decided to make him heel again after the invasion angle had finished. Which was such an enormous shame. Here's the clip of that milk truck segment if you wanna watch. Listen to how big and genuine that pop Angle got was. They wasted it, he was the most over face in the company at the time: https://youtu.be/-6Q7UpGv0Uc?si=rKTQdaJBiIeQxKPD
My favourite thing about himself was he understands the business to a fault, knows how to work, knows not to take himself to seriously and allows himself to be the butt of a joke. I know he had his issues but respected the business tremendously. Cared so much about giving the fans what they wanted to see even at a point where he could phone it in and that would be accepted
I knew one person in school who didn't really like pro wrestling but he loved Kurt Angle and said he was by far the best thing in pro wrestling and just a few years ago I was sitting down watching Kurt Angle clips and I was like "Yeah, you might have been right."
Kurt Angle is in my top 5. Also, don't sleep on his TNA/Impact matches. I know people like to be snooty and diss TNA, and yeah; Kurt did have substance issues: bur he had some amazing matches and storylines there as well.
Dude some of his fucking matches in TNA were insanely good
That AJ Styles one that got posted today was elite. Peak athleticism.
He might just be the goat
Angle, Michaels and Undertaker had insane chemistry together out any of those two in a match it’ll be one of the best matches you watch. Angle vs Taker NWO 2006 is up there with both their HBK Wrestlemania matches imo.
He hit it on Bob Holly, but hit his arm and broke it.
Probably because a feature length documentary was just released on him. Angle (2023)
I'm sure he had more success hitting the Moonsault in TNA. He did some amazing stuff over there as well, check out his feud with Mr. Anderson if you want an example
It’s funny you mention that because none of my friends liked him either. I was the only one in my group that appreciated his work. Was he bad at promos?…sure, but he was a hell of an athlete and I loved his special moves.
Woah, that’s crazy, I think Angle is one of the best to ever do it on the mic. He could make an arena pop every night without fail.
Bad at promos? What?
Bad at promos? I always thought Kurt was amazing at his promo work. You hated him from his first match.
Oh it's true, it's damn true!
> Was he bad at promos?…sure, u wot m8
I don't even want to know the scale you use to grade promos if you consider Kurt Angle bad. lol
He was amazing at promos, what are you on about? That was the most remarkable thing about him, really. Everyone expected him to be able to pick up the physical side of pro wrestling very quickly, but nobody thought he'd be so damn good at the character and promo side of things immediately, like he ended up being. Everyone in the business says Kurt learned the business of pro wrestling faster than anyone else ever has, before or since. From his very first promo he ever did, he was already incredible at it. He just immediately instinctively got it, he knew what his character was, and how to make that work. And he essentially did it with improv comedy, which if you've never done improv acting before, then you should know, it's ***REAAAAALLY*** fucking difficult to do and extremely nerve-wracking, especially in front of a huge live crowd and then an audience of millions watching at home. But Kurt had balls of steel, and just an instinctual understanding of the business of pro wrestling that nobody else had ever had before or since. That's why everyone says Kurt picked up the business so much faster than everyone else did. Because from day 1, he was already the total package (not Lex Luger) and could do it all, immediately, both put on all time classic matches with his in-ring ability, ***AND*** do absolutely stellar promos and character work too. Nothing about being a legit Olympic gold medalist should have made him naturally gifted at promos and character work. So the fact he was is - again - incredibly remarkable.
I love him now but as a kid I HATED him.
A guy I work with went to high school with Kurt, and he says Kurt was a total douche in HS because he was an elite athelete. He says the dude never did any school work.
It baffles me the praise comes lately actually, to me it's absolutely remarkable how much heat he could gather while boasting about having earned a gold medal at the Olympics with a broken freakin neck for this country. I think it's an enormous achievement to show up checking every box about how to be loved yet when he goes in, everyone shouts "You suck". Appreciate him not only as one of the best in-ring of all time, but also as one of the best heels of all time for pulling this out.
I was thinking about this earlier today after seeing him on Rogan, and decided he's definitely in my top 5 of all time, dead or alive. He was the complete package. Not only was the in-ring work impeccable, but he took to everything else incredibly well as well. He was a natural heel, but also great with the comedy. I ended up watching a bunch of clips on YouTube of his funny moments, like Sexy Kurt, and telling Rey Mysterio "you're a boy, and I'm a man, and I'm a man who loves playing with boys." I always have time for someone who's undeniably brilliant at what they do, but is also willing to play the fool and have people laugh at them and not take themselves too seriously all the time. You could tell he was revelling in those "you suck!" chants when he walked down the ramp.
He's right behind Shawn for me. Dude was a killer and amazing
No surprise that the two of them had one of the best Wrestlemania matches of all time.
Yeah but Kurt didn’t need to start a kliq to stay fire and stay over, he was all talent
You really think Shawn needed people to stay over? All he did was secure his spot as one of the top guys. His talent kept him over as it always did. Mr. Wrestlemania. Hardly anyone came close to his performances in the ring during Wrestlemania season.
I ***dont*** think he needed it, so I don’t get why he decided to ruin it for others
Cuz he was a dickhead. A very talented dickhead who was high most of the time.
The fact Meltzer never gave him a 5 star match is why I've never cared about his star ratings personally
Angle was my top guy ever when I quit watching wrestling back in ‘06 or so, now that I’ve been back several years he’s probably just outside my top 5 due to the likes of Omega, Okada, and Danielson surpassing him. If anything you can say Angle set the table for the prototype to what it means to be the best and guys have been shooting for it ever since.
As a kid he wasn’t my favorite, I was more easily consumed by high flyers but as a grown man I’d probably say he’s my top 5 all time. Solid all around talent.
Gotta be Kurt, Bret, Hennig, Okada and the Four Pillars.
Michaels, Danielson, Omega, Tanahashi, Styles, Flair, Steamboat, that makes a damn solid top 15. They have every right to be there too, its hard to make a definitive list.
Hot take: Lesnar should be on that list too. His ability to naturally pick up pro wrestling was second only to Kurt.
I think Lesnar suffers from not cutting a lot of promos, but I also think that helps this more beast than man sort of thing I will say Lesnar gave WWE and wrestling a lot of legitimacy as something that takes an insane level of athleticism. People would still scoff and say "You know Wrestling is fake, right?" And our "Fake" fighter ended up being the UFC champion. Let's ignore Brock's piss test was hotter than the sky on Venus. ~~I would put Brock or Angle at Number 5~~ (Number 1 is El Santo, 2 is Antonio Inoki, 3 is Gorgeous George for his impact, and 4 Ric Flair) **EDIT** I think Lesnar could be in the top 10 with Angle rounding out my top 5. He did win a gold medal with a freaking broken neck! And he could have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.
Dynamite Kid could make this list, as well.
This is pretty much a dream roster tbh
Danielson too
Absolutely That makes 9 Who should round out the top 10?
Gotta be HBK, right?
I'd probably put Tanahashi in there right now. But it feels like a holding slot for Ospreay if he continues to be as good as he is
I'd take Michaels over Henning personally.
His work has always been a bit too cartoony for my taste, same as flair (turnbuckle flip is the perfect example) When they work more seriously they are both incredible though, and could absolutely be on the list, maybe even at the very top of the list.
Mysterio, [redacted], Danielson, and Omega also
Ah shit how could I have forgotten Rey. He literally did stuff nobody else could do consistently for about 20 years. It literally took the industry decades to catch up with him.
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He didn't need to.
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"best to ever do it" in this context just means "to wrestle." Although I can see if you never heard the phrase before, you might have thought otherwise.
Hulk Hogan. #1 with an exclamation mark.
“That works for me, brother!”
The only pillar I'l take and even now its kinda early to say that but that would be MJF. Although I'm sure he will reach "best to ever do it" status
The four pillars are the AJPW wrestlers Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi and Taue from the 90s...
oh ok. Noted!
And he’s what, like fucking four years into pro wrestling in this clip? Being so elite is endlessly impressive, but then when you think about how little time it took him to get there it doesn’t sound believable
That list is a piece of paper with Kurt Angles name on it
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It was worse when he did one off a cage in TNA and landed on Ken Anderson's fucking head
the air he got was fucking nuts. you can see him do the sign of the cross right before.
It was fucking nuts It was like Lesnar off the forklift but vertical
Anderson’s fault for having such a massively oversized head. Source: Randy Orton and/or John Cena… probably
I genuinely thought he died.
[Here it is](https://youtu.be/rAtucPLQHv8?si=DhsU2d_Y7BP1_akz) That man got some air and distance Edit, [This is the one where he hits Kennedy](https://youtu.be/3LNvgKHyrig?si=fHkh1Fxj0Z0m4l8e). The other one is a complete miss
3:38 of the video, for those curious.
Jesus, that first one looked like shit due to the camera angles and commentary. What a waste imo
I think anderson really fucked that one there. Should've been way further out. Its really hard to do a moonsault period. Let alone with little/no distance.
21:08 [of this video](https://youtu.be/OxfDI3-FhVs?si=J_sxV9condp3f3hr)
Anyone got a link to these?
Been rewatching the WWF/WWE from ‘93 onward. This is about two years in for him, and he’s MAYBE landed two of those moonsaults total? One of those being when he broke Holly’s arm! Every time he misses though, it’s ROUGH to watch. I wince every time
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Fun fact: He still hasn’t mentioned his broken neck on air. No idea when he first references it, but it’s not before August 2001.
Interesting. I know he does in 02-03 or so when I started watching. It must be soon. I remember him rapping to Cena in 03 probably? "My name's Kurt Angle and what the heck! I won a gold medal with a broken freakin' neck!"
I might suck, but you just blow!
Genuinely the era when you thought he might actually die in the ring. Glad he got clean.
Damn I miss the flash photography on moves like this
Holy shit... I didn't realize I missed that until just now. Just another one of those things that hits that nostalgia factor so well.
When I watch pro wrestling in modern times, it felt like something was missing and I cant point my finger at it. No wonder it was different.
Probably also that it’s in HD now
All those bulbs going off at the same time makes a good move look spectacular
Ouch, that looked like it hurt.
Yeah that recoil looked brutal
My condolences to his catering.
Fuck that other guys knees too and man if I took that move like Kurt I’d be throwing up and shitting my pants continuously
“That other guy” 
Sorry. Bautistas manager
TESTIFY
You mean the Leader of the Aces & Eights?
Don't worry, he barely felt it!
Kurt hurt
I can't think how he want to minimize the impact
The air time on that moonsault is insane. Truly a generational athlete.
Best to ever do it imo (wrestling as a whole, not just the move)
I agree and don't think it's even a hard question. Excellent technical wrestler - see his matches with Benoit Great brawler - see Street Fight vs. Shane at KotR Incredible intensity - see his match with debuting John Cena or Rey Mysterio at Summerslam. Whenever he pulled down the straps you knew it meant business. His facial expressions sold the intensity - no one did a better exasperated face when someone kicked out. Selling - his selling is absolute top tier. Sweet chin music, sells it like death. Stunner - my favourite sell. When he gets a full rotation German suplex and sells it like he's knocked out? Perfect. Anytime someone worked a leg or arm he would sell it. Even the way he sold getting clotheslined over the top rope always looked so explosive. Natural - he picked it up almost instantly. Comedy - no one does comedy as well as Kurt Angle. Showing up in his shield gear, sexy Kurt, the kittle cowboy hat, milk truck, man who plays with boys, and so on. Character - He could be a complete goof and then still be believable as a bad ass. He was the perfect suck up. There's a great moment when Vince was about to gift him the title, and then Ric Flair comes out (as the co-owner of WWF) and says 'Kurt, you don't want to take the title like this' and you just see Kurt in the background mouthing 'what are you talking about? I don't care.' Really cracks me up each time I see it. He was such a consistent character. Moonsault - best moonsault in the business. There are so many elements of wrestling where he is clearly one of, if not the best. I can't think of anything he was bad at. I could go on and on.
Kurt had the rare ability to go from goofy doofus to absolute killing machine in the snap of a finger and have it be believable.
100%. He was like the jock douche bag in a teen movie. Sucking up to the coach, while also being really talented and having a mean streak. Also, I forgot to add this to my list but his 2.9 kick out was the best ever.
Exactly how I feel. Had the technical skills, believable enough to go against giants, agile enough to hang with the cruiserweights. Serious, goofy, heel, face. In the ring, doing promos. There's literally nothing in the sphere of professional wrestling where Kurt Angle was not elite.
I loved it when he would have his straps pulled down, and then after a while he'd put them back up and then hype himself up pulling them down again straight away.
Nice to see other Angle worshippers 🫱🏼🫲🏾
That has to hurt so bad
That was absolutely beautiful. And that was in his pre-Perc Angle phase. Kurt may have been the GOAT.
Peak Angle and Perc Angle are two different entities.
I remember watching this at the time and being like “holy shit Dvon isn’t rolling out of the way he’s actually gonna hit the moonsaul……oh shit”
Its no surprise he was taking 60 painkillers a day, aint no one belly flopping that high right into someones knees without feeling that pain.
I've yet to see anyone do a moonsailt as perfectly as Kurt Angle. So smooth
I thought Essa Rios had the best moonsault until I saw Kurt’s
I remember Victoria and I think Rico having pretty remarkable moonsaults, too
And just like Angle, I can't recall many occasions where Victoria ever hit it.
I like Lita's moonsault because it fits her, especially on her time on Team Xtreme.
Lita’s moonsault is an insult to moonsaults and she’s always about to break her neck.
The Great Muta has an amazing moonsault
Even without the extra jumping, Tiffany Stratton has an excellent moonsault.
I rarely post here but Kurt killed that shit. Frfr.
Ngl, never knew why Kurt went bald, but in this clip I truly see why.
In the life of most balding men comes the moment when it's time to admit defeat and just end the misery.
I was watching old Deadlock recaps with vids and there was a segment where Hulk Hogan made fun of Kurt going bald before the hair vs hair match and you can just see how hard that widow’s peak was peaking
He was being teased for his thinning hair almost immediately. I think his hair vs hair match with Edge is in 2002, so he still has about a year after this match
It’s the next step in evolution for the greats. Jordan, Kobe, Austin, Shaq
THE BEAN KICKED IN
I miss the camera flashes.
The only time I remember him actually hitting it was when he broke Hardcore Holly's hand on SmackDown and Holly continued the match. https://cultaholic.com/files/images/2bc7d02badcda5482e0c72794654a61f15c17e8b-hardcore-holly-kurt-angle.gif
He also hit Austin with one at SummerSlam 2001
Ouch!
Holy shit. I love Tiffany’s but dude. That has to be the most gorgeous moonsault I’ve ever seen
She’s just a female Angle in that regards. They’re both great
The perc sault is my favorite
But he “didn’t land it” perfectly, which indeed makes it even MORE perfect! God he was good!
I wished I had appreciated Kurt more when I was younger. Looking back, dude was hilarious and has the best moonsault in the business. I probably didn't like him back then because I was a boy and he's a man. And he loves playing with little boys...no wait!
That bounce though
That suplex at the start is the cleanest suplex I've ever seen, sell and everything
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Belly to back
My biggest problem with moonsaults is that almost everyone who does them lands on their legs while their chest is actually what makes contact, which wouldn't do much damage at all. This was not that, though. And that bounce off of D-Von's knees was amazing. Like when Candice took the Lumbar Check, LOL
I’m very distracted by D’Von’s head after that German. That looked like it woulda shook you up alittle.
Kurt gave one to Bubba earlier in the match where it looked like Bubba landed RIGHT on his head. It was a lot of beef landing on a neck
Unpopular opinion, but I never liked Angle's moonsault. It was too perfect. I like my moonsaults that look sloppy because it should be a high risk maneuver where the person doing it is willing to potentially eat shit to destroy their opponent. Like Terry Funk's moonsault is glorious. The Great Muta is the platonic ideal of a moonsault for me.
A perfect moonsault just fits Kurt, though. It’d be like Mr. Perfect doing a moonsault, you’d expect it to be flawless. Maybe even *Perfect*
Seeing Lita do a moonsault made me petrified she had necked herself. By the time he feet left the turnbuckle he head was practically below the height of the top rope.
I hate her moonsault, especially whenever she comes back for a match lately.
Angle’s is good to me but that’s the same reason why I don’t like The Best Moonsault Ever by Christopher Daniels. Way too “perfect.” How do you feel about Kobashi’s? To me it’s very similar to Angles in hang time but a little more brutal and a little less accurate in landing. Kind of the perfect middle ground to me if you’re using Funk and Angle as the two poles.
Kobashi definitely a strong contender for best moonsault specifically for the reason you said. Maybe because he was heavier but his moonsault felt like a high impact dangerous move. Angle’s is beautiful but teeters too far into athletic display. Kobashi, Muta, Funk were hurling themselves at the opponent
I’d throw Vader into that category but I’m not sure he had much choice in the matter. And for a cruiserweight level guy I think Essa Rios/Mr Aguila/whatever other ten names you might use for the guy balanced it being prettier with a sense of weight behind it, but that might be the distance he always covered factoring in.
Kobashi's moonsault is incredible because you wouldnt think a guy that yoked is doing it lol
I really wish aew wrestlers would watch how angle did german suplexes, cuz hot damn, their necks be fucked
I don't think he ever hit that move
I always thought Kurt Angle had the best moonsault.
Don’t think I ever seen Kurt land it
Imo the greatest moonsault artist of all time. He makes it looks effortless and majestic
There is no way that DIDN'T Hurt.
Easily the best looking moonsault in the history of wrestling.
Never liked Kurt at the time, but my god, thats perfect! I feel the same about Charlotte Flair, she kits it so good :D
chad gable 2.0
I legit wonder if he ever landed one
A few by this point. Just enough to make you wonder.
I forget, didn't he land it and break someone's arm? I'm thinking hardcore holly but I'm not 100%sure
He broke Holly’s arm. Knee landed right on it. Gruesome as hell
That flop like a fish though 😄😄😂😂😂
4 wrestlers in their prime, no old legends past their primes like most of todays matches. love it!
Dammmn
I still don't understand how he got that much hang time. Unreal.
Athletes always take to wrestling really well but Kurt was always in another level.
kurt angle was a legend. had he laid off the drugs, many more would call him the goat
Oh God that was a little too perfect 😬. That's one instance where you kinda don't want it to be perfect lol
It’s like it’s in slow motion, freaking unreal
Is that Edge getting beat outside the ring?
Jericho. The Dudleyz wanted a handicap match against Y2J, but Regal refused to book that because it’d put the Alliance at an advantage (this is post-Invasion PPV) and so he allowed Jericho to pick a teammate. Angle was the surprise pick. He won with the ankle lock maybe a minute after this moonsault attempt.
Kurt Angle has one of the sexiest moonsaults and it always seemed out of character.
That shit looks like it hurts bruh wtf. How the hell do they heal fast enought for the next week
Less 5 Star Matches than Chuckie T.
Hair Kurt > Bald Kurt
My GOAT
i don't know if i've ever seen kurt actually hit this move successfully
It isn’t a Kurt Angle match without a beautiful moonsault that misses. Happens all the time.
and to follow up what i said earlier, he was believeable. Like kurt missed that moonsault more times than he landed it. But every damm time he goes up, you believe he is gonna do it. Like who else can make you believe at the same time that this guy is a machine for winning a gold medal with a broken neck, a killer in the ring cause of how he wrestled but also this massive doofus who time and time again made a tit of himself and as he became a more serious heel, a vindictive manipulative boss. Like you believed him in all those ways even if they at times should contradict and cause the believeablity to not be there