[2002-05-30-WWE-Smackdown] Edge vs Kurt Angle (Cage Match)

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a good TV match that got better as it went along. Angle was doing the old Buddy Rose trick of wearing a wig after having his head shaved, and was using Rick Steiner style headgear to hold it down. Every time he'd get tossed around the ring, it looked like his hair was standing on end. He won the match halfway through after a hellacious angle slam from the top rope only for Hogan to appear and throw him back in the cage. Such a Hogan thing to do. This had everything you'd expect from a TV cage match -- blood, bodies lying everywhere, big spots off the top rope. Entertaining stuff pretty early on after the collapse of the Invasion angle. 

[Calvin]

There's been some pushback on the idea that these matches are thought be underrated gems, but I'd say this and the Backlash match are worth watching. Angle wrestles this with a ton of hate, and Edge has a gusher of a bladejob that helps him feel like a convincing face-in-peril for once. 

***1/4