[2005-03-17-WWE-Smackdown] Kurt Angle vs Marty Jannetty

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[ohtani's jacket]

I remember there being quite a bit of buzz around this match when it happened. It's kind of surreal seeing Jannetty in the WWE in 2005. He was 45 years old when he wrestled this match and looked every bit his age, but still managed to put on a fantastic showing against Angle. This was the second Angle match I've enjoyed from 2005 after he went off the boil a bit in 2004. He's a guy who can take a flimsy premise like teaching Shawn Michaels to tap by submitting Marty Jannetty and make it seem utterly convincing. I also appreciate the way he works spots into his matches that the crowd have no interest in, but ignores the need to pander to the crowd and keeps working his match. Phenomenal intensity. People were excited for other Jannetty matchups, but he went and blew it. I'm sure his stint would have fizzled out one way or another, but this was a heck of a one night performance.