Steve Austin v Kurt Angle

[Loss]

Steve Austin v Kurt Angle - WWF RAW 01/08/01

 

Here is the review I did when I covered this match at TSM a while back:

 

Steve Austin v Kurt Angle ? WWF RAW 01/08/01

WWF World title

The buildup to this match was almost ridiculous, as even some main events on pay-per-view later in the year wouldn?t get the same hype. This was the result of a single elimination tournament and this episode of RAW was frontloaded ? and I do mean frontloaded ? with video packages and interviews to celebrate and promote this match. This would all be fine and dandy if the same match hadn?t happened just a few weeks earlier on the same show with the same exact finish to boot! That encounter and this encounter were only different in the hype they received and the amount of time the workers were allotted. It was the similarities between the two matches that was most telling ? Angle still had a lot to learn, Austin was better than he had been in years and HHH would always be the real winner in the end.

 

Both display limited offense, but Austin has a far better sense of timing and structure. As you?d expect, his most effective moves are Lou Thesz presses, clotheslines, stomps and vertical suplexes, but he brings a level of excitement and credibility to the match that Angle lacks. Angle is lost between moves, as he keeps returning to the well with the belly-to-belly suplex, and he doesn?t really pay attention to the crowd. When Angle is in control, the match starts to resemble a video game.

 

The most unfortunate part of this match is the finish. HHH returns and Angle is immediately thrust aside, showing the audience who Austin sees as more important, all the while burying both Angle and the WWF World title. Prior to the finish, Austin actually did a decent job of making Angle look like he deserved to be the champ, but any strength contained in the work is negated by overbooking. The last image of the match is one of HHH standing over Austin, and quite frankly, a match that received this much promotion needed a clean finish without the typical chicanery from the writers.

 

For all the matches they?ve had and all the time they?ve spent feuding, we still have yet to see Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle done right ? Austin as the ask-no-quarter, give-no-quarter redneck, beer-swilling son of a bitch (who the fans have the nerve to cheer not in spite of his disposition, but because of his disposition) versus Kurt Angle, the noble and somewhat tragic character who is booed for promoting more conservative values and patriotism, playing the hero to an audience that wouldn?t piss on him if he was on fire. It resembles a certain other rivalry in many ways, but we never saw that really exploited to its fullest ? it was instead a feud that relied on comedy and clich?s and did little to make Angle a major player.

Ok, now here it is revised:

 

The buildup to this match was almost ridiculous, as even some main events on pay-per-view later in the year wouldn?t get the same hype. This was the result of a single elimination tournament and this episode of RAW was frontloaded ? and I do mean frontloaded ? with video packages and interviews to celebrate and promote this match. This would all be fine and dandy if the same match hadn?t happened just a few weeks earlier on the same show with the same exact finish to boot! That encounter and this encounter were only different in the hype they received and the amount of time the workers were allotted. It was the similarities between the two matches that was most telling ? Angle still had a lot to learn, Austin was better than he had been in years and HHH would always be the real winner in the end. Both are mostly basic in the moves they execute, but Austin has a far better sense of timing and structure. As you?d expect, his most effective moves are Lou Thesz presses, clotheslines, stomps and vertical suplexes, but he brings a level of excitement and credibility to the match that Angle lacks. Angle is lost between moves, as he keeps returning to the well with the overhead belly-to-belly suplex, and he doesn?t really pay attention to the crowd. When Angle is in control, the match starts to resemble a video game. They briefly explore the theme of Angle being the better wrestler and Austin being the better brawler, but it's forgotten once Angle takes control and starts throwing repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. It's sold like he's being worn down by Ross, but Austin shouldn't know more suplex variations than Angle when he's in control, as earlier in the match, he does a gutwrench suplex, two vertical suplexes, and a belly-to-back suplex. The end result is the same, but variety is the spice of life, and it makes the match more interesting.

 

One bad thing about Steve Austin matches, at least as a babyface, that hampers him is that it's difficult for the audience to buy false finishes because all of his matches end in a stunner. That's more of a WWF-style problem than anything, as Austin showed many times in WCW that he was definitely capable of coming up with multiple finishers when necessary, but there are times where he performs a big move, and the crowd doesn't quite light up like they should, simply because they know the match isn't over. The best sequence of the match sees about seven consecutive reversals of Angle slams and stunners before Austin finally gets in the move, but this is when the match completely falls apart. That's nothing compared to the worst part of this match, though, which is the finish and outside interference. HHH returns and Angle is immediately thrown outside the ring, showing the audience who Austin sees as more important, all the while burying both Angle and the WWF World title. We also have William Regal running in with a pipe mid-match and trying to get revenge, only for Austin to fight him off. It was obvious he was there as a prop, so the pipe would have a logical reason to be there later on when HHH attacked Austin with it. Prior to the finish, Austin actually did a decent job of making Angle look like he deserved to be the champ, but any strength contained in the work is negated by post-match booking. The last image of the match is one of HHH standing over Austin, and quite frankly, a match that received this much promotion needed a clean finish without the typical chicanery from the writers. It also saddens me that Jim Ross gets so involved in Steve Austin matches and Kurt Angle matches, but he can't be bothered to do the same when guys like The Rock and Chris Jericho are outworking them later in the year. He's human and has his favorites, but he has always had his favorites, and before the Attitude era, he was always professional enough to call all matches with the same gusto and enthusiasm.

 

For all the matches they?ve had and all the time they?ve spent feuding, we still have yet to see Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle done right ? Austin as the ask-no-quarter, give-no-quarter redneck, beer-swilling son of a bitch (who the fans have the nerve to cheer not in spite of his disposition, but because of his disposition) versus Kurt Angle, the noble and somewhat tragic character who is booed for promoting more conservative values and patriotism, playing the hero to an audience that wouldn?t piss on him if he was on fire. It resembles a certain other rivalry in many ways, but we never saw that really exploited to its fullest ? it was instead a feud that relied on comedy and clich?s and did little to make Angle a major player.