Rebooking Kurt Angle's final match

[OGBoardPoster2005]

So at WM 35 we all know Kurt faced Baron Corbin in his last match and everyone was thrilled at their 6 minute epic.

My thinking would be to rebook this would be to give Cena to Angle as an opponent. Cena would have been a better fit facing Angle.

As for Corbin, I'd have him in a spot where he has no feud.

So he comes out on Raw and challenges the Undertaker to a match at Wrestlemania.

For weeks, Taker doesn't answer with Corbin running him down to no reaction from Taker.

Eventually the night of the show Corbin comes out and cuts one final promo, and the ref begins a countout, only for the gong to sound and lights go off.

When they return Taker appears behind Corbin and immediately tombstones him for a win in 9 seconds.

Thoughts?

[government mule]

.... so just swap Cena and Corbin? Not sure that puts any extra bums on seats.

edit - Oh wait, I'm getting WM's all mixed into one. Cena did the awesome Thuganomics promo with Elias at WM 35 didn't he? Was Taker/Cena WM34? Was Taker even at WM 35? My brain is melting

[Soultastic]

I think he needed a Shawn Michales to his Ric Flair. Someone good enough to make his last match a classic, or at least enjoyable, despite his physical limitations.

With that in mind, the only wrestler in the 2018 roster that seems to me like a good fit for that role was the returning Daniel Bryan. They could've had a story about Kurt snapping after Bryan announces his return to the ring, attacking him because he can't accept that Bryan is getting a second chance while he's at the closing moments of his last. Maybe not go full heel Kurt, but at least crazy intense Kurt. And so he challenges Bryan to a career vs career match for his return, stating that he can't let him steal his legacy as the best wrestler in the world.

Then of course the match starts, they give Bryan a nice long moment to feel the love of the crowd for his return, he wins, Kurt shakes his hand and then HE gets a nice long moment to absorve the crowd's adoration as he waves goodbye.

[Gerard Gerard]

He and Rousey versus Hunter and Steph was the perfect swan song for the guy, nothing else needed to happen.

[BlackoutCreature]

My idea would've been to turn it into a tag match with Angle and Cena against Corbin and Samoa Joe.

[yokohamacpfc]

Have it with Bryan but delay it until Summerslam as so not to interfere with Kofimania. I don’t think Bryan was even on the card for that years Summerslam, he was dealing with the Rowen impersonator angle.

Have Kurt depressed at getting squashed by Corbin and he goes on a small winning streak becoming the intense asshole Kurt of old. For some reason he can put it all on the line against DB at Summerslam.

[ChitownKnight]

Switch Drew and Corbin’s spots. Roman beats Corbin, Drew makes Angle tap to his own finisher the way he did on that one Raw

[tirtefaa]

Cena was Kurt's choice, so it's where I would have gone with it.

Kurt's retirement match is the example I always point to when people talk about having someone lesser getting a rub from a big star. I remember some of the names people would throw out there to retire Taker. Corbin gained practically nothing from retiring Angle, and Angle clearly lost to a guy who wasn't nor ever will be on his level.

[chazraps]

I would have made the Samoa Joe vs Rey match a 3 way with Kurt. Two of his all time greatest rivals facing him at Wrestlemania. Three people allows them to work around Kurt's limitations and we don't have to make Joe vs Rey and instantly finished squash match.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

It should be been Angle vs Cena

End his career with the dude whose career he started

[mc74]

Angle vs Cena or Angle vs Brock. Those are the 2 options that make the most sense given their histories.

[salz4life]

Oct 4, 2023 21:15:22 GMT -5 tirtefaa said:

Cena was Kurt's choice, so it's where I would have gone with it.

Kurt's retirement match is the example I always point to when people talk about having someone lesser getting a rub from a big star. I remember some of the names people would throw out there to retire Taker. Corbin gained practically nothing from retiring Angle, and Angle clearly lost to a guy who wasn't nor ever will be on his level.

Cena made perfect sense. Angle giving someone the rub would've been a good idea if he wasn't (and I don't mean this as bad as it's going to sound) past his prime. He essentially came back for the HOF enshrinement and a couple matches. I don't think he was in position (regards to his status/kayfabe) to give anyone the rub. They should've let him go out the way he wanted and the way he started, with Cena. Cena should've beat him to close out his in-ring career and they have a moment at the end. It absolutely would've been a "Wrestlemania Moment".

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Oct 4, 2023 16:45:38 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

He and Rousey versus Hunter and Steph was the perfect swan song for the guy, nothing else needed to happen.

This tbh

Kurt was broadly an embarrassment in his last run

[tirtefaa]

Oct 5, 2023 10:33:20 GMT -5 salz4life said:

Angle giving someone the rub would've been a good idea if he wasn't (and I don't mean this as bad as it's going to sound) past his prime.

In a perfect world, it would always be the wise decision to give an up and comer that kind of a rub, but it's way too risky since we don't know the future of that person. Imagine if someone like Ric Flair would have retired in 2000 and decided to give that rub to someone like Billy Kidman. We'd all look back and see how much of a waste it was. Remember when there were talks of Ted DiBiase Jr. ending Undertaker's streak? Unfortunately, the best option is to have someone who doesn't need the clout to be that person, only because it's a true Fail-Safe.

[salz4life]

Flair was still active and in decent shape. Angle was a shell of himself by then. He could still, in spurts, go... but he was done. Let him go in the HOF and end how he wants to end. It was a perfect story with Cena. Angle was his first and Cena would've been Angle's last. It's just my opinion though and what you said absolutely makes sense.

[Jindrak Mark]

Cena would obviously have been the perfect story but I don't think that would have been possible. He was about to go film F9 and probably not allowed to wrestle in case he got hurt. That's why he was just in that segment with Elias. If WWE were allowed to put him in a match surely they would have whether it was against Angle or not.

[tirtefaa]

Oct 5, 2023 11:57:29 GMT -5 salz4life said:

Flair was still active and in decent shape. Angle was a shell of himself by then. He could still, in spurts, go... but he was done. Let him go in the HOF and end how he wants to end. It was a perfect story with Cena. Angle was his first and Cena would've been Angle's last. It's just my opinion though and what you said absolutely makes sense.

Oh I agree with you, I was just explaining why it's usually not a good idea to try to give the rub. I would have loved if it was Cena.

[Some Guy]

Angle was SO cooked by that point that you can't really re-do the Shawn/Flair stuff because Flair just had way more left somehow. If it had to be anyone, he had a lot of chemistry with Chad Gable

[Slingshot Suplay]

Aj Styles. Aj would've given him a tremendous match and made him look great.

[callmekc]

Oct 5, 2023 9:58:07 GMT -5 mc74 said:

Angle vs Cena or Angle vs Brock. Those are the 2 options that make the most sense given their histories.

Lesnar would murder Kurt.

The ideal option would have been Jason Jordan, if his career hadn't ended beforehand. It would have closed the circle on the son angle and been a good rub for Jordan who was really finding his groove at the time where he had to go on the injured list. The only problem is that like Lesnar 'big dude that throws people around like they weigh nothing' is not great for broken Kurt.

Gable would have been a good passing of the torch and they could have a relatively bump light match by just going full amateur.