The Kurt Angle Show - No Way Out 2006 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today’s show is about No Way Out 2006 and the build up to that show, which saw Kurt Angle facing off against The Undertaker! This event was the last stop of the road to WrestleMania 22.

The main focus of today, the 2006 No Way Out event, was held at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore Maryland on February 19, 2006. It was the eighth annual No Way Out pay-per-view. It was a Smackdown only event. 11,000 were reported in attendance that night - a sellout event. 218,000 bought it on pay-per-view.

(Did the pressure get stepped up whenever you had to do a single-brand show? It seems like some of the most memorable Smackdown main events from over the years came from single brand shows.)

There’s a big main event on the card tonight: World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship. That’s what we’re going to be focused on today.

But the event is also remembered for the feud between Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. It was the build in that feud that saw Orton say Eddie was in hell. Ironically, the same night on Smackdown, you tagged with Mysterio against Randy Orton and Mark Henry.

(What was your take on the way the Orton/Mysterio angle went?

At one point in time, I believe the company planned for you vs. Orton at Mania, right?

How did you feel about the change to the triple threat match, which happened on the Smackdown after this event?)

Before we start our journey today, let’s look at some news and notes…

News and Notes

We have to start with a major report about you  in the February 6 Observer. We will break this up into a couple of pieces so you can respond to each part. Dave Meltzer said, “the latest Angle neck injury appears to have stemmed from his 1/16 match with Michaels when he landed badly doing the Angle slam off the top rope. That move may be removed from his repertoire…”

(Did you hurt your neck in January of 2006 here? And was it the Angle slam off the top rope?)

Meltzer went on…”Most feel that he’s pretending not to be hurt publicly and to the office because he hasn’t had a title reign since 2003, which he believes is because Vince McMahon didn’t trust his durability to put him in that position. He hasn’t actually missed time in a long time, and has been pushing hard for 18 months that he should get the title, either on Smackdown or Raw…”

(Were you pretending to be less hurt? Had you been pushing for a title run?)

Meltzer continued…”As noted, he was mad Edge was picked ahead of him for Raw, but then he got the shot with the Batista injury, and then a week later got hurt himself.”

I had never heard this before finding this old report in research.

(Were you mad Edge got the title and you didn’t on Raw?)

“He’s claiming that even if he needs surgery, which he’s going to hold off as long as possible, he’ll only get the same minor surgery he’s had twice and would be back in two to three months as opposed to fusion and one year. He said surgery is safer than fusion. So if you’re wondering if he learned anything from his past recurring neck injuries, well, there’s your answer. He said this is the first time in his career he’s been allowed to be himself as opposed to “some dorky goof ball...some nerd.”

(Did you have a feeling at the time that you were getting to finally be yourself?)

It was in the news around this time that UPN was going to be changing into the “WC” network - which we know was actually the CW. But, what less people know is that around this time, WWE secretly came to an agreement for two more years of Smackdown on the new “WC” network, with the new contract expiring on August 29, 2008. WWE officials knew weeks ahead of time about the UPN changes even when local TV affiliates sometimes didn’t know.

(Did Smackdown getting a new two-year deal play any role in you coming over to the brand, which we will talk more about later in the build? Was there any feeling backstage about the network changing from UPN to the CW?)

Speaking of TV, there was a new contract signed with NBC for the WWE to produce more Saturday Night’s Main Event shows, starting with one from the Cobo Arena in Detroit on 3/18. The show was a mostly-Raw branded event but did feature John Cena and Triple H defeating the team of Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton.

(Do you have any memories of working the NBC special, working with the NBC crew, or being brought over to work this show so close to when you had just joined Smackdown?)

They advertised a huge announcement by Tazz at the 2/18 Nassau Coliseum show, which ended up being the ECW PPV show on 6/11 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan once again. It started with Striker running down the fans. Tazz came out for his announcement, but Striker wouldn’t let him talk. It ended with Tazz choking out Saiker and Heyman showing up and announcing the next ECW PPV show.

(Did you have any idea yet that ECW would be returning as a brand? How did you feel about the company investing in these shows?)

Keibler was all over the media this past week and is pretty much considered the star of "Dancing with Stars." At·press time she was in the final three, and had a TV Guide cover and several magazine features including Entertainment Weekly as well as talk shows like Larry King and Ellen lined up. Jerry Rice made the final three and there is really no way he's going to win, so it's down to her and Drew Lachey, who were the two who came in with the most dancing background. Hogan had a cameo on the 2/17 show talking about how proud of her he was.

(There were reports in 2009 that you were looking at doing Dancing with the Stars. What happened with that and would you have enjoyed it?)

The WWE put on a strong showing at the Nassau Coliseum and Meltzer reported that meant it was unlikely we would be seeing any Madison Square Garden shows in the near future. He wrote that WWE pulled out of MSG because it was too expensive to run with the attendance they were pulling. It was the longest gap in between wrestling shows at the Garden since the 1940s, even then.

(Was it disappointing for the performers to not be able to work at the Garden? Do you have any special or early memories of getting to work there?)

The company is opening up a new 12-man department in house in charge of marketing the PPVs and 24/7 directly. They had been working with Team Services, which are specialists in that field, for years. Team Services has also been working with UFC for years. In recent months, that had started to cause minor jealousy, combined with the feeling it's easier if there is a problem to have the people to change it in house; as opposed to having to set up a meeting in New-York. ·Time will tell if the outdated PPV commercials will come into·play. The commercials are done so far in advance that often they advertise the wrong thing. On No Way Out, even as late as show time, most of the TV commercials were listing Batista vs. Undertaker as the main event and Batista went down months ago

(Did you ever get frustrated by some of these issues or were they even showing up on your radar at the time?)

A story at the time indicated WWE was looking to add a men’s lifestyle magazine to their current line-up, which included Raw and Smackdown magazine. I don’t believe that ever happened but it seems like all of those men’s lifestyle magazines end up being a bunch of ads, anyway.

(Did you ever hear anything about a WWE Men’s Lifestyle/Fitness kind of magazine?)

Let’s talk about the Heart Throbs. There was an incident that took place on WWE.com’s web show, Byte This, where one of the team, Romeo, allegedly made vulgar sexual jokes. Of course, the company had a tag-team on Smackdown at the time called The Dicks. But after this show, Romen was terminated and then his tag partner, Antonio, voluntarily left the company in response. The show gets pulled down for a time and as we know, it eventually ended. But the company came out with a statement saying that it wasn’t just the incident on Byte This that led to them being released.

(Do you recall the Heart Throbs causing palpitations backstage or not fitting into the rhythm of the lockerroom? Did they just march to a different beat?)

On February 25, 2006, a historic venue was closed...the Pontiac Silverdome...where Hulk Hogan bodyslammed Andre the Giant in front of 93,173 fans at Wrestlemania 3.

(Have you ever seen that match? Maybe a future ad-free-shows watchalong…)

Speaking of history, earlier in the month on February 4, 2006, possibly the biggest match in UFC history up until that point went down on pay-per-view between The Iceman Chuck Liddell and The Natural Randy Couture. Fans were rabid at the show with Liddell getting the knockout victory and Couture actually ending up retiring.

Couture was an olympic wrestling alternate, so he hadn’t come close to achieving what you did, but he was making a major name for himself at the time and preparing to transition into Hollywood, too.

(Did you follow UFC at the time and were you still having some thoughts about “What If?” Did any particular star’s success make you especially interested?)

WWE usually does good business when it runs tours overseas but around this time, a tour to Japan didn’t go as well as hoped. Meltzer reported that the Smackdown crew went for two dates at the Yokohama Arena over a weekend, with a February 4 show drawing 8,530 fans. That was considered pretty respectable, from reports of a K-1 fight happening at the same time at the Saitama Super Arena. You teamed up with Undertaker that night to beat Mark Henry and JBL. But, the second night was where the disaster was reported. About 4,000 fans, inflated to be announced at 7,090, Meltzer said. The smallest crowd WWE ever drew for a show in Tokyo. That show was headlined by you vs. Mark Henry with Ricky Steamboat as the special referee! The show also had JBL vs. Undertaker. And at the time, Smackdown was considered the more popular brand in Japan.

(What do you remember about the Japanese trip here in early February? Memories of working with Ricky Steamboat in the referee sense? How cool would a fantasy match have been between you and he in the primes?)

Bruce Prichard is the person who spearheaded the idea of Paul Birchall as a babyface, with the idea of trying to build him into the next early 90s British Bulldog. The company is already doing great in the UK, so a full fledged top British star would put them over the top. Meltzer said “I  guess the feeling is Regal has been around so long it can't be him.”

(What did you think about the pirate gimmick? How happy were you that they didn’t give you something like this in 1999?)

Let’s talk for a second about the ratings. Both Raw and Smackdown numbers have been up in January, with huge increases after the Edge title win and considering the demos of the increase, Flair in main events may mean even more. Right now the show is up 8.6% from the prior January numbers, with much of the increase coming in Males 35-49, which would likely be prime Flair fans (football fans as well, but when you compare January to January, fact is, as hot as “24” is, Raw ratings went way up starting when “24” debuted, showing its crossover audience with Raw is statistically negligible. Smackdown is also increasing, largely due to consistently strong numbers pulled by Rey Mysterio segments, but it’s still down 16% from the numbers the show averaged last year in January (3.59).

So it’s a weird time because the ratings are up a little, but they’ve been dropping steadily since 2001.

(Why do you think that happened? Did you see this as a break-out period for Edge or Rey Mysterio? And did you ever watch 24?)

Mick Foley was on WWE.com’s old web show, Byte This. He talked about people he would like to wrestle and brought up Edge, Hogan...and our Olympic Hero, Kurt Angle. And noted if he was to wrestle you, he would need to know especially ahead of time so he could get into good shape.

(Did you ever hear any talk about doing a special match between you and Mick or one of his personas back then?) (Note: I believe you did face off at TNA Victory Road 2009)

The Build

So to get started in the build here, we have to go back to the year 2000. Kind of like the old Conan O’Brien segment, but not really. We’re looking at your rookie year. Next week, we will have a full show on the subject. But, you had won the King of the Ring tournament, captured the Intercontinental and European Championships and were en route to a WWE title match at SummerSlam. But before that could happen, at Fully Loaded 2000, you faced the Undertaker. He beat you with a pretty crazy looking Last Ride powerbomb, which was a newer move at the time.

(Undertaker looked better than ever here when you and he first mixed it up in 2000. Did that make you feel like you had done a good job and accomplished your mission?)

Four months later, you were WWE champion and your first pay-per-view title defense was against the Dead Man. This time, you were able to score the win with some chicanery involving your brother Eric.

You also had a feud in 2002 on Smackdown involving a triple threat match against the Rock at Vengeance for the undisputed title. But after that, you both seemed to stay away from each other for the next three or four years.

(Was it always planned to have a big match between you and Undertaker again?)

As a reminder, the year begins with you as a heel on Raw. You’re feuding with John Cena and work an elimination chamber match on January 8 at New Year’s Revolution - a match that Cena won but a night where Cena lost the title to Edge afterward in the original Money in the Bank moment. But, it’s during this time that you’re managed by Daivari - quite the odd pairing when you look at it on paper.

(Was the idea here that you needed all the heel heat you could get, since a large contingent of fans always want to cheer you no matter what?)

But then-world-champion Batista was put out of action with an injury - a legitimate tricep tear. On the January 13 edition of Smackdown, you make an unexpected and win a 20-man battle royal to determine the new World Heavyweight Champion. It’s a complete shift and a major Smackdown moment and the fans still want to cheer you.

They’ll get to because after Davairi costs you a match against Shawn Michaels, you fire him. The effort to portray you as a heel is dropped. You’re pretty much a baby face, although as the Wrestling Machine, you’re still vicious.

(How would you describe your character’s evolution in January, 2006? Was this done on the fly because of Batista’s injury? If not for that, the rumors have always been you would have been programmed with Undertaker - but at Wrestlemania. Is that true? Who would have won?)

At the 2006 Royal Rumble, you defeated Mark Henry in what was a period where Henry was being pushed as a main event guy, really, for the first time ever. There were even rumors of having him beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania that same year. Anyway, after you defeated Henry, the Undertaker showed up in a freaking chariot and things went crazy. He messed with the lights, shot lighting at the ring, and caused the ring to collapse into the ground while you were standing in it. You had a look of terror on your face. Tazz says “Holy shit.” This was the end of the show, too, so it really left a big impression.

(When did you find out that the Undertaker and you would be programmed together starting at Royal Rumble?)

(Was it at all crazy to have the electricity shooting out of the ring, and explosions, and the ring collapsing? Or did you feel pretty safe about it all?)

As February 3’s Smackdown rolls around, Michael Cole asks that same question as the Undertaker comes out. Cole says it may be one of the greatest match-ups in the history of Smackdown: The Olympic Gold Medalist vs. the Deadman who has his sights set on another championship. Undertaker says you possess the one thing he desires...the World Heavyweight Championship. And then, your music hits. It’s your classic theme - which I point out because within the next few weeks, you’ll have a new version. You’re also wearing what I must assume is the replica Olympic Gold Medal.

“Undertaker. Let me make one thing very clear. You’ve proven time and time again here in the WWE to be unstoppable. But I've proven time and time again to be the best in the world. You make people scream. I make people tap. You may be the Phenom, but I’m a wrestling machine. And looking at us, we obviously don’t have a lot in common except for one very crucial thing: when that bell rings, I don’t have a soul either. I’m just as unrelenting and unforgiving as you are. And at No Way Out, I don’t plan on resting in peace. I plan on breaking your ankle in pieces.”

Undertaker tells you at No Way Out, you will rest in peace. Then, his bell hits and he vanishes.

(If you had been at the 1996 Olympics and that happened, what would you have done?)

(Jokes aside, this was a great promo. Who came up with it? Did you and Undertaker go over this before doing it in front of the crowd? The intensity was unmatched!)

On the February 10 edition of Smackdown, The Undertaker defeated Mark Henry (w/ Daivari) by DQ in 13:18). It was a pretty long match and as we sort of already talked about, Henry looked strong here. But the match ended when MNM interfered and started ganging up on Taker. You ran out and first, you German Suplexed Mark Henry. The crowd reacted with a big “OOH.”

(Do you have to be careful not to throw big guys on top of your own head during one of these? I’ve always thought of this as a move that you can concuss yourself with if not careful...)

Henry eventually gets the upper hand on you before Undertaker kicks him out of the ring. Teddy Long makes a handicap tag team match for the next week.MNM and Mark Henry against the tag-team of Undertaker and Kurt Angle...oh my! Before we get there, though...

After the show went off the air, in a dark match, you defeated Mark Henry and Undertaker in a Triple Threat Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

(I know someday we will cover your feud with Mark Henry more, but, what did you think about seeing him get his chance here in 2006 to be at the top of the card? It seemed like you worked hard to help him in your matches.)

The February 17 Smackdown is the last stop before we get to the pay-per-view. It was taped on 2/14 in Norfolk before a legitimate sell-out audience of 6,300 fans paying $245,000. We know what the main event will be, but before that, there is a backstage segment where you get in Rey Mysterio’s face and give him some encouragement - a pep talk, as the WWE Network labeled it. You ask him if he will let Randy Orton tell him he will never do something. You say never say never and that a lot of people said you would never win the Olympics with a broken freaking neck. Then you say, it would be your honor to face Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania.

(Looking back, it would have been pretty awesome to get a one on one match between you and Mysterio. Did you have any interest in seeing that match?)

The main event arrives with you and Undertaker teaming up.

You come out to your music, which at this point in your career, is different. So, let’s talk about that since we’re getting into the details on everything else! This theme has the percussion hit several times at the beginning, almost like it’s repeated, but then the part where fans chant “you suck” plays anyway. I never understood this edit.

(Do you remember why they changed your music here? Eventually, they would change it to preclude the part that fans chant “You Suck” to, but that was after this).

Another detail we can talk about here is your pyro. When you first got pyro, there would be four blasts that went off in a row, with the last one being the biggest. Now, there’s a rapid-fire of blasts followed by one big giant blast at the end.

(Any insight on why your pyro was changed or, maybe evolved, into this? This seemed more intense, which fit your Wrestling Machine persona at the time more. Did you have a preference?)

The match starts with some disagreements between you and Undertaker about who will start the match. Taker starts but you make a blind tag on Undertaker, adding to some tension. There’s a moment where you both start beating up on Mercury and Nitro while looking at each other, sort of trying to out do the other. It’s great stuff. Eventually, you win with the ankle lock on Nitro at 15:40. But to try to one-up you, Undertaker hits a chokeslam on Henry. Then, he calls for the tombstone. You say “No way.” But, somehow, Undertaker hits a tombstone on Mark Henry. You face off as the show comes to a close.

(What do you remember about getting to team up with Undertaker here? And how about that tombstone? That was legitimately impressive, right?)

After the cameras stopped, you defeated Mark Henry, Randy Orton & The Undertaker in a Fatal Four Way Match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship

The Event Itself

WWE NO WAY OUT 2006 POLL RESULTS

• Thumbs Up (79.5%)
• Thumbs down (14.7%)
• In life middle (5.8%)

BEST MATCH POLL

• Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker 150
• Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio 17

WORST MATCH POLL

• JBL vs. Bobby Lashley 106
• MNM vs. Hardy & Tatanka 49

Let’s walk through the match. Meltzer would write, “Match started slow. The first big spot was Angle whipping Undertaker’s knee into the ringpost and doing a figure four around the post. Haven’t seen that move in years.”

(That’s an old page out of Bret The Hitman Hart’s playbook, who was getting ready to go into the Hall of Fame in a few weeks at Mania. Is that where you took inspiration for this one from? Who suggested it?)

Meltzer thought the funniest line of the night from Tazz was, “Angle’s one of the best of all time That’s a fact in my opinion.”

Undertaker hit you with a legdrop on the apron. But, when he tried to follow up, you snatched him and put him in an ankle lock on the floor.

(Over the years, you’ve put the ankle lock on from, to borrow a phrase, “outta nowhere.” From countering HBK’s superkick to Hulk Hogan’s leg drop, do you have a favorite Ankle Lock moment?)

You worked on the ankle until Undertaker caught you with a triangle choke. Dave Metlzer wrote, “Boy did that crowd need an education process because the first time he put it on, nobody reacted to it. It’s okay, by the end, they figured it out. It’s all about the education process. I think both guys really liked the idea of working with each other because Undertaker is such a big fan of real fighting and Angle is a fan of making his matches look real, so they’re on the same page with their ideas.”

(Did you both work on the match ahead of time or come up with ideas ahead of time with a lot of MMA stuff in mind?)

Undertaker threw you into poor Tony Chimmel. After Chimmel took the bump, you gave Undertaker an Angle slam through the English announcers table. Undertaker at one point was about to be counted out but you broke up the count.

(Meltzer questioned if that made sense. But, when I watched it, I saw it as if you were so into the competition, you wanted to settle the match without any BS. What about you?)

So the next part of the match was a little bit freaky. You and Undertaker are fighting on the outside. Undertaker whips you into the ring steps and part of the broken table catches you in the throat on the way down! Meltzer said it was seven kinds of scary. It was pretty scary but you came back pretty quick.

(Did that feel like it might have been a close call moment? Obviously, you guys couldn’t have planned for the table piece’s edge to hit you in the neck…)

You quickly came back. When Undertaker was on the top rope, you ran up and did a belly to belly off the top for a near fall. Undertaker came back and went for a choke slam but you rolled it into an ankle lock (another creative transition into it). Undertaker nearly made the ropes but you pulled him to the center. They pushed the idea that Undertaker has never tapped in his life. Undertaker was lasting forever in this…

Undertaker got out again, used a choke slam but  you kicked out. Taker went for the last ride but you did a Toyota roll into a sunset flip and back into the ankle lock. Undertaker got out after a long struggle again. You used another Angle slam, Undertaker kicked out, and sat up, but was put in another ankle lock. Undertaker kicked Angle to break it. Undertaker kicked out of ANOTHER angle slam, then he did another triangle choke and Angle teased tapping. They did the spot where the ref lifted Angle’s arm and it went limp twice but not the third time. Angle then teased tapping but then flipped over while still caught in the triangle with a jackknife cradle for the pin.

Kurt Angle pinned the Undertaker in 29:37 to retain the world title. This match was great. ****

(Once again, Kurt Angle steals the entire show. How much did you enjoy this match?)

(Who came up with the idea of countering the triangle choke into a bridged pin?)

(Was the idea here kind of that you couldn’t beat the Undertaker, but he also couldn’t beat you, and it took a moment like this to end the match?)

In his match review, Meltzer asked an interesting question I thought it might be fun to ask you…

Has anyone asked a question why someone is on his back applying a triangle, the ref doesn’t count ap infall on them. That used to be the entire rationale of why the guard can’t be used in pro wrestling 50 years ago when jiu jitsu vs. pro wrestling worked matches were held, because holding guard, the guy on the bottom was being pinned. Well, that’s food for thought for another day.

(Do you agree that holding guard should mean getting pinned in pro wrestling? Or do the rules need to be adjusted to more MMA style than traditional amateur wrestling falls?)

About the event itself...Meltzer said...

There weren't any big surprises, but an excellent main event with Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker paced a strong No Way Out...The WWE's final PPV show before Wrestlemania meant the results were either going to be predictable, or kind of stupid, when it came to the major matches. As is becoming the pattern for WWE PPV shows, the undercard wasn't much. In some ways. fans are now more than ever into "stars" as opposed to "matches," and thus undercard matches unless there is a really charismatic performer, or they put a main event match on early, aren't going to get much response. Even though it was a full house and WWE has more business momentum now than at any time in a good four plus years, the crowd was cold for most of the show. But you got three good matches. Chris Benoit beat a well less than 100% Booker T to win the U.S. title in a solid match. Randy Orton pinned Rey Mysterio in what appeared to be a toned down match, and Angle pinned Undertaker by flipping into a jackknife pin while caught in a triangle in the show stealer. The match was based on Undertaker continually not tapping and escaping the ankle lock, and to a much lesser extent, Angle doing the same while caught in the triangle. After the match, Undertaker told Angle that he had his number, obviously building for a return, which is scheduled for 2/27 at the double taping at the MCI Center in Washington, DC, which is probably where the Mark Henry interference finish that everyone expected on this show (and appears to have one time been planned for this show) may be taking place.

(Overall, give us your thoughts on No Way Out 2006? Good show?)

(Did you feel like the pressure was on you and Undertaker to make the entire PPV with your match? Any thoughts on Meltzer’s comments about how the fans didn’t dig undercard matches without a major star in involved?)

You did return to the MCI Center on February 27. The Undertaker defeated you via disqualification at 28:42 when Mark Henry, with Daivari, interfered and attacked the challenger as he had you covered following the tombstone; after the bout, Henry assaulted Taker on the floor before eventually hitting a splash from the Spanish announce table onto Taker on the regular announce table, smashing it.

(This basically gets the Mark Henry/Undertaker feud set up. Did you have any issues appearing to have been beaten twice by Undertaker at this point? Were there plans for more matches down the road between you two?)

On the house show circuit after this event, and in dark matches at TV tapings, you worked a lot of matches with Mark Henry but, also, quite a few multiple-person matches - like fatal four-ways - involving Henry, Taker, and Randy Orton. Eventually, Rey Mysterio starts to work his way into those matches. All of that is on the build to Wrestlemania 22, which we will cover in an upcoming episode. But it makes me want to ask…

(Were plans still in the air for Wrestlemania at this point in the year, February/March? When did you find out the final decision for it to be a three way match?)