Remembering MMA's Daniel Puder In The WWE

I started writing this article wanting to discuss the evolution of John Hennigan, or as we know him in the WWE, John Morrison. During my research on Hennigan, I was reminded of an amazing incident that was never supposed to happen on WWE television.

A few years ago, Vince McMahon had the idea of a reality competition that would center around wrestling hopefuls. We came to know this as Tough Enough. There were four seasons of the competition but for this article I am going to focus on the final one.

From that season we got the wrestler known as The Miz. Miz was not the ultimate winner though, that goes to Daniel Puder. Puder was in the MMA scene before even setting foot into a wrestling ring.

As a contestant on the show Puder wasn't well-received by a few of the superstars backstage. We even saw Big Show (Paul Wight) legitimately push Puder into some lockers. It was the following week on Smackdown that is important though.

Former WWE talent Kurt Angle was in the ring and had the contestants perform a squat thrust competition. The winner of the competition Chris Nawrocki then had a match with Angle. Angle quickly discarded Nawrocki and asked if there were any other volunteers.

Puder raised his hand and made his way into the ring. The fans were fully behind Puder as he and Angle locked up. They battled for leverage for a few seconds before Angle was able to take Puder down. Puder made it back to his feet, all the while he and Angle are still locked up. If you watch the clip or remember the episode, the fans were clearing chanting "UFC."

Angle pushed Puder into the ropes and then to the ground. That is where things get a tad hairy. Puder was able to lock Angle in a kimura lock, which is a reverse keylock (picture the figure-four leglock except on the arm).

Angle was stuck in the hold and Puder didn't look like he was going to relent anytime soon. The ref counted to three and announced Angle as the winner, saying that Puder had his shoulders on the mat.

If you noticed, Puder's shoulders weren't both down but the WWE couldn't have one of these hopefuls pinning their Olympic champion.

Dave Meltzer commented on the incident saying:

"If you don't follow fighting, Puder had Angle locked in the Kimura, or keylock as Tazz called it, although Tazz didn't let on the move was fully executed. Not only was Angle not getting out of the move, but most MMA fighters would have tapped already. Angle couldn't tap for obvious reasons. The ref counted a three even though Puder's shoulders weren't fully down, trying to end the thing, because the reality was Angle would have been in surgery had it gone a few seconds longer or had Puder not given up the hold. My impression is, since this was a taped show, that nobody in enough power in the company actually understood what happened and let it air, and figured most would see it as a pinfall in 40 seconds. And they were 98% correct, between the commentary and the pinfall, that is how most saw it."

After the match, Angle had some words for his challenger and I doubt it was "congratulations." Angle was apparently irate backstage and it's probably because he knows that if he was spared by the refs his arm might have been broken.

According to Dave Scherer of PWInsider:

"As you would expect, Kurt Angle was less than happy backstage at Smackdown after almost being forced to tap out to Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder. Downright ticked off would probably be the best way to describe his mood. The unscripted nature of the contest was the main reason that Angle was made to look so bad since Puder just reacted to the situation and could have forced Angle to submit had the referees not thought quickly and counted a pin that wasn’t there on Puder."

At the end of the match, one of the announcers (Tazz) said "well, so much for the UFC." If Tazz meant that the UFC was no competition to the WWE then he was surely mistaken. The UFC has grown vastly since.

If Tazz was referring to Puder having a future in the UFC that is wrong also. Puder did go on to have five more fights in mixed martial arts after his stint with the WWE. As far as I know his win/loss record stands at 6-0.

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