Cages and Classics: Reliving WWE HOFer Kurt Angle's Best Impact Wrestling Bouts

The way WWE announcers talk about Kurt Angle it sounds as if he spent 2006 to 2017 in stasis, with the 1996 Olympian cryogenically frozen in some distant lab. 

His return match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in October was billed as his first in 11 years. The highlights of his career aired ahead of that pay-per-view, not surprisingly, skipped over everything he did at TNA (now Impact Wrestling). 

WWE doesn't want to acknowledge the rival promotion and so a massive chunk of Angle's history is torn out of his book.

But The Wrestling Machine's time away from Vince McMahon's company produced a number of his finest matches and led to some of the most important years of his overall career.

Angle flourished in battles against Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Mr. Anderson and others. He enthralled on the mat and in brawls inside a steel cage.  

Referee Brian Hebner saw a number of those contests up close, and the former TNA and WWE official came away in awe.

"To me, he's the most technically sound wrestler in the world," he told Bleacher Report. "He makes wrestling what wrestling is."

Garrett Kidney, a writer who covers Impact Wrestling for Voices of Wrestling, talked up the importance of Angle's feud with Joe. He called it "one of the defining in-ring rivalries in the history of the company."

But there was more at play with Angle than pure bell-to-bell skill, as David Lagana—a booker for SmackDown when the Hall of Famer wrestled on that brand in the early 2000s and wrote for TNA during the Raw general manager's time there—pointed out.

"It's not so much the match quality, the star rating thing, it was all the guys we worked with at TNA and got the best match of the group," Lagana said. "It was what he did for the guy before, during and after."

Late in his Impact Wrestling tenure, Angle fell to Ethan Carter III in a match that increased the spotlight on the shining star.

"It made EC3 a real guy," Lagana said.

That was no isolated incident. Angle proved to a starmaker several times over.

"During that last run, Kurt was really selfless," Lagana said. "He put Matt Hardy over. Drew Galloway. Lashley. He got a bunch of guys ready for that next era. And that ended up being very important for the company in 2016."

Along the way, Angle created a collection of classics that will long rank as some of Impact Wrestling's best.  

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe: Genesis 2006

Billed as the Dream Match of the Decade, Angle vs. Joe at Genesis 2006 was a meeting of two warriors who had made their names in different worlds.

Angle had risen to the top of WWE before signing with what was then known as TNA. Joe, meanwhile, was a force for the Ring of Honor promotion. The powerhouse stormed on to his new stage and until facing the Olympian was undefeated, a monster storming through the village, knocking over any would-be white knights. 

Their fight at the second edition of the Genesis PPV turned physical in a hurry.

Angle and Joe fought on the outside of the ring, where the heel took control. Joe smashed his opponent into the barricade, slammed him into the ring post and upended the steel steps with Angle's body. He was a supervillain hurling the hero into their surroundings.

Blood soon painted Angle's face and bald head.

The bout made Joe look like a certified beast. Angle pushed him to one of the best matches of his career, playing the gutsy babyface while Joe was the bloodthirsty bear savoring the slow death of his prey.

The contest left the fans clapping, buzzing chanting "This is awesome!" Beyond that, though, Joe's stock shot upward, and TNA had a must-see rivalry to further tap into moving forward.

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe: Lockdown 2008 (Steel Cage)

Heading into the cage in April 2018, both the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and Joe's career were on the line. If The Samoan Submission Machine wasn't able to take down Angle this time around, he'd be forced to walk away from the ring.

What unfolded inside that steel structure was a revolutionary take on the pro wrestling art form.

This was an MMA fight melded into a wrestling match. Angle donned MMA-style gear, and submission-based offense dominated. 

"Years ahead of its time in many ways, this match was contested as a sort of MMA/pro wrestling hybrid," Kidney said. "This match led the industry and would be reflective of the broader styles that have risen across the indies in particular over the last five years."

Angle thrived in this environment. He tried to climb atop and tame an unruly animal in a contest one couldn't look away from. 

The Olympian kept going after Joe's ankle, looking to rob this snarling bear of his mobility.

The bout again elevated Joe, who became world champ that night. And like much of their work together, this was a thriller. Kidney noted the cage match "showcased the best of what Angle, Joe and TNA had to offer."

These were men born to be rivals and it showed here again.

Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson: Lockdown 2010 (Steel Cage)

Something about being surrounded by a steel cage brought out something special in Angle. The Wrestling Machine simply told moving stories when battling in that environment.

Against Ken Anderson in 2010, he was out for revenge and charged into the fight seeing only red. 

Angle had taken to wearing dog tags to honor the U.S. military at the time. And the heel pounced on this symbolic gesture leading up to this bout, spitting on the dog tags and using them to whip his enemy.

The cage provided a place for Anderson to serve his comeuppance—and for the patriot to prevail.  

This was not the technical classic that one has often seen from Angle. It was smashmouth, stripped-down wrestling, a showcase of closed fists and stomps to the sternum.

Blood smeared across Angle's face as he battled Anderson. Wounded and all, he had a clear chance to escape the cage and win but driven by thoughts of vengeance, he chose to toss the key away.

And Angle delivered a moonsault from off the top of the cage that was equal parts graceful art and daredevil stunt.

Anderson never looked better. Lockdown added a classic to its timeline. And Angle made sure fans felt foolish for missing out on all of it.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett: Lockdown 2011

Jeff Jarrett and Angle told a memorable story of vengeance in the spring of 2011.

Their wild rivalry ruined a wedding-renewal ceremony, saw Angle wield an ax and involved arguments about who was the better husband and man. A 2-out-of-3 Falls bout inside a cage would end it all. 

Hebner, who officiated that night, remembers it being a "very serious, intense match."

To him, it was a good example of how Angle turned on an internal switch once he strapped on his wrestling boots. 

"He is a guy who is 100 percent professional," Hebner said. "When he is walking down that ramp, there is no Kurt Angle that was your friend in the back. It's all business. He's 100 percent focused when he's in that ring. And there's nobody that's ever matched that."

Hebner ousted the heel's wife, Karen Jarrett, early in the action. That left the two rivals to beat on each other in peace. 

Jarrett did better than expected with his ground game against the Olympic gold medalist. Angle, though, showed off artistry on the mat, using his opponent's limbs as his paintbrushes, twisting and turning deftly throughout.

The Wrestling Machine had the slimy scoundrel beat, but much like his match with Anderson, he waved off sure victory to inflict more punishment. Angle didn't just want to defeat him, he looked to devour him.

A mask of blood slipped over on Jarrett's face as the match careened into a chaotic ending.

Gunner waited for Angle at the base of the case with a steel chair. Scott Steiner ran in. Karen Jarrett slipped in once Hebner was knocked out. And Angle threw in a moonsault from the top of the cage for good measure.

Angle has had better matches from a work-rate standpoint, but this bit of beautiful chaos was hard to forget.

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles: Slammiversary XI

Each time Angle and Styles got in the ring, they looked like two gears crafted to fit together.

TNA recognized that and smartly utilized their chemistry. CageMatch.net lists 58 television and pay-per-view matches between them. A good number of those were excellent.

"There have been no two men in the history of TNA more responsible for churning out quality match after quality match than Kurt Angle and AJ Styles," Kidney said.

In their Slammiversary XI showdown, Styles' quickness and full-tilt offense made for fun viewing. He was a pinball bouncing between the ropes while Angle leaned on slugging it out and wrenching his foe's limbs.

This was a battle of Styles' Calf Killer versus Angle's ankle lock. It was a meeting of two of TNA's cornerstones.

And it was simply superb.

"This was their last PPV match together and a clear display of everything they were capable of—athletic, explosive and utterly compelling," Kidney said. "Angle and Styles had an ease and a chemistry together that never failed to produce the goods."

Both men have since made their way to WWE, but it's outings like this one that will have them forever connected to TNA history. 

Kurt Angle vs. Austin Aries: Destination X 2015

Angle twice delivered on a special edition of Impact Wrestling. And he did so against two vastly different opponents.

"People forget he worked Rockstar Spud for the world title the same night he worked Austin Aries," Lagana recalled. "And he had two quality matches."

Hebner recalled how seriously Angle took the second of the two bouts, treating it as if it were at WrestleMania.

Aries cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase to score an opportunity against Angle for the TNA world title. Once the bell rang, an electricity started to emerge. 

Reversals and counters wowed. The clash saw two evenly matched technicians trading the advantage. This was a chess match inside the squared circle.

Aries' risk-taking cost him in the end as he crashed into the guardrail and eventually fell short against Angle.

The final moments whirred. "The finishing sequence was really well done, really intense," Lagana said. "It really made Austin."

That was by design. Angle made it a point to boost up his foe.

"He was very excited to work with Austin Aries who he thought was a great hand and a great talent in the ring," Hebner said. "He really wanted to help build the Austin Aries character."  

Aries indeed looked like a bigger star after this clash. 

But this was another reminder of Angle's ability. It didn't matter if he was taking on a hoss like Joe or a cruiserweight like Aries, something excellent was all but assured each night.

Lagana saw that firsthand. "He was so good at everything," he said of the Olympian.

Kurt Angle vs. Ethan Carter III: Impact Wrestling, July 1, 2015

By 2015, Angle's apex as an athlete was over. He could still do beautiful things on a wrestling mat, but he was in his late 40s with plenty of miles on his tires.

Before he left Impact Wrestling, though, he helped build bricks for the company's future, using his Midas touch on up-and-coming talents such as Carter.

EC3 reinvented himself in his new home after WWE cut him loose from its developmental system in 2013. He transformed from Derrick Bateman to one of Impact Wrestling's most compelling characters—a sneering, snooty, unscrupulous heel.

He would dethrone Angle in a career-defining match, one that had extra meaning for EC3.

"Growing up, my dream match was to be able to face Kurt Angle for a world title," Carter said. "It doesn't get more special than that for me."

Angle prowled the ring as he dominated the challenger. He outwrestled Carter. The challenger simply survived as he was left wobbly from a suplex barrage. 

Carter has vivid memories of the physicality of the contest.

"I remember 16 German suplexes, three Angle Slams, two sustained ankle locks (one with a leg grapevine). I remember he made me earn it," he said.

When the match ended with Angle on his back as Carter rolled him up, both men appeared shocked. Disbelief blended with joy in EC3's face. Angle sat stunned.

The Wrestling Machine had done it again. Fans were left with a number of lasting images to savor. The buzz of a well-crafted bout crackled in the air afterward.

And again, an opponent came out of the battle claiming more than victory.  He had bettered his career thanks to a collision with Angle.

Quotes from two-time TNA world heavyweight champ Ethan Carter III, former TNA referee Brian Hebner, Voices of Wrestling columnist Garrett Kidney and NWA Vice President and former TNA producer David Lagana obtained firsthand.