WrestleMania 21 featured one of the biggest matches the company could hold at the time when Kurt Angle faced Shawn Michaels. At the time, it was a first time ever match between them and the first time the duo had even been in the ring together not counting Royal Rumble appearances.
Angle didn’t only win the match, but Michaels cleanly tapped out to Angle’s Ankle Lock, shocking fans all over the world, but it wasn’t a finish Vince McMahon laid down, as it was one decided on by Michaels himself. Angle spoke about this match on the Kurt Angle Show and took us behind the scenes on that match and how Michaels had a lot of influence on the finish and how he didn’t know if the two would have a rematch.
“Vince left it up to us. I was surprised, I didn’t know that’s what he did. When I met with Shawn four days before WrestleMania, we went to ‘hotel party room’ where they had a ring set-up and you would structure the matches. Shawn came to me and said, ‘We don’t have a finish for WrestleMania, but I think you should go over by tap out and this is why. I think you’re going to do a program with Batista and we need to make you look really strong. I was like, wow, Shawn Michaels just told me he was going to do a job for me. I was pleasantly surprised and didn’t know if he was serious. It showed me that he respected me and he knew we would have an incredible match and it wouldn’t matter whether he won or lost. I understand the program with Batista, which never happened, but I’m sure it was supposed to. Shawn just decided to let me win without the guarantee that we would wrestle again because there weren’t any plans for us to wrestle after that.”
Angle’s program with Batista never surfaced, as Triple H continued his feud with Batista following Triple H losing to him in the main event. Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels and Angle wound up having a rematch at Vengeance in June of that year where HBK picked up the win.
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