Pro Wrestling: Kurt Angle on Wrestling Observer Live

This was quite the night.



I'm not going to do a strict recap cause I didn't pay close enough attention the whole time but here are some things that I found to be well...things.

• Did you know that TNA has more talent than WWE? Well, that's what Angle was saying.
  Look, you can argue that TNA has better athletes than WWE its an argument that I personally would make, but athleticism is just part of the package. The WWE roster blows TNA out of the water when it comes to promo skills. Not only that but in terms of guys that look like and carry themselves as Superstars its not even close.
  Plus, having all of the talent in the world is useless if you can't utilize it properly. So what if say Sonjay Dutt is a better wrestler than John Cena, it doesn't matter if he's just pushed as a random wacky dude.
  
  
• Did you know that a certain someone didn't want the love triangle with Kurt/Hunter/Stephanie to continue?
  Yeah, I mean we all already knew that WWE botched a pretty good angle there and so that's no real surprise and its no real surprise that someone who has a few H's in his name helped bring an end to it.
  
  
• Did you know that TNA is going to have a 5 star show every week?
  This is good news for me because I'm tired of recapping horrible episodes of iMPACT. According to Angle it is because they have the best writers in the world. I'm still trying to figure out when Vince Russo got fired.
  
  
• Did you know that there are more guys in TNA that Kurt can have a 5 star match with than there are in the WWE?
  Ok, let me tell you a story. I've got a couple of friends, for the purpose of protecting the Innocent we will call them Scott and Marcus. Those aren't their real names but follow me here. Anyway, they have a tendency (especially Scott) when he finds out someone is a wrestling fan to discuss matches. A comment I've heard made more than a few times when hearing about what match someone likes is: "That was a 5 star match." or "That was a 4 and a quarter star match". Now whenever this happens its always greeted by the "what the hell?" face. Your typical wrestling fan doesn't care if a match is 5 stars. If you go up to your average fan on the street and say: "Kurt Angle had a 5 star match with Samoa Joe at Genesis", they're going to have no idea what the hell you're talking about. A term like "5 star match" is something that works for fans that follow the newsletters or online sites but the majority have no idea what that means.
  It is one thing for a RoH to sell a DVD on the promise of a ***** match because the internet is specifically the audience they are trying to reach. TNA has got a lot more exposure than the internet and so have to sell their product to a much larger audience. So if Kurt Angle says he can have a 5 star match with anyone, then my response is "that's nice, but who cares"?
  
  
• Did you know that Kurt Angle is the greatest wrestler in WWE history? Well, he said: "Not to blow smoke up my own rear end but if you took the top 10 matches in WWE history, I'm in all 10". Now that's not blowing smoke up your own rear end that's shoving the sun where it is not supposed to shine.
  
  
  1. Steve Austin Vs. The Rock, Wrestlemania X7
     
  2. Ricky Steamboat Vs. Randy Savage, Wrestlemania III
     
  3. Edge & Christian Vs. The Hardyz Vs. The Dudleyz, TLC Summer slam 2000
     
  4. Ric Flair Vs. Randy Savage, WrestleMania VIII
     
  5. Kurt Angle Vs. Chris Benoit, Royal Rumble 2003
  
  
  Those aren't a list of 10 matches nor are they in any real specific order but I just named 5 fine matches and only 1 involved Angle. Sure, you could argue for other matches and against all 5 that I listed but its hard for me to think that the top 10 matches in WWE all involve Kurt Angle. Even if we take historical importance out and just look at in-ring it is still hard to believe. Putting historical importance back in the equasion and you've got Hogan/Andre as more important than any Angle match will ever be, Bret Hart Vs. Shawn Michaels from Survivor Series 1997, for some reason people talk about this one a lot so it must have been important. Even the main event of the first WrestleMania is arguably more important than the most important matches in Angle's WWE run.
  Angle is a great performer but he's not a Hogan, Rock, Austin, Flair or Piper when it comes to driving business in pro wrestling especially the WWE. I'd argue that he's slightly below HHH and John Cena in that regard as well.

There is more but really I've covered most of it previously. I'm glad Dixie Carter is the nicest woman in the history of women and that he's so happy to be in TNA. I really want this to work out for the best for Angle and TNA as I think their survival is better for the wrestling business than if they were gone (I may not say that immediately after iMPACT each week or a PPV though) but I think he's got a long way to go before he's being completely honest with himself.
Well, let me put that a different way. I genuinely think that Angle believes a majority of the things that he says, and I'm not so sure he's not right on with a point or 2. Its just that he has taken on the role of selling himself and his situation so well that reality isn't as close of a friend as it should be.