Austin Region, Third Round, Ultimate Submission: (2) Kurt Angle vs. (10)Antonio Inoki

[Gallops77]

This match I think would see one submission fall. Both guys over their careers were tough as nails and both can slap a submission on anyone at any time. You could argue for either to win this one. Is Angle seeded a little high? Definitely. But it is what it is.

Angle wins this one with the sole fall. Inoki doesn't tap. He passes out in the Ankle Lock in the closing seconds of the match.

I would vote Angle.

 

[NSL]

KO'ed from blunt force, by Hulk Hogan no less.

Less, in fact. It was the Shota guy you named as a gold medalist that Inoki beat. Inoki only had a chance to beat him, because he was knocked out in the first match, and was awarded a rematch for it...in his own company. Sounds a little fishy, to me anyway.

I think everyone has made it pretty clear that Angle and Inoki would each tap, given the kayfabe environment of the tournament...but does Angle tap a second time? I doubt it.

 

[Bernkastel]

Less, in fact. It was the Shota guy you named as a gold medalist that Inoki beat. Inoki only had a chance to beat him, because he was knocked out in the first match, and was awarded a rematch for it...in his own company. Sounds a little fishy, to me anyway.

I think everyone has made it pretty clear that Angle and Inoki would each tap, given the kayfabe environment of the tournament...but does Angle tap a second time? I doubt it.

That was to further a feud. Inoki got his win back a few weeks later. If anything that shows how good a money maker Inoki was and why any promoter would certainly book him forward to the next round. When has Angle ever lost to further a feud? If anything he's been the guy that was transitional champ made to further someone else. He was never a top star in a major company. He is exactly the type of opponent that would be built up to lose to Inoki in a match setting that highly favors Inoki.

Kurt has tapped numerous times in his career and was never as dominant or protected in kayfabe as Inoki was. You should be asking if Inoki would tap, and the answer is no.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Inoki went undefeated for years and never left the spotlight while Angle had a few main event runs where he lost to all the top guys and mostly worked the midcard and tag team divisions in between those runs. How anyone could vote for Angle over Inoki is absurd. This is Big Daddy vs. Jeff Hardy all over again.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I love Angle. I really do. In terms of a combination of technical ability and raw power, there is no better in-ring performer than Kurt in my eyes. His match with HBK at WM21 might just be my favourite match of all-time, along with Hart/Austin. But I honestly can't vote for him over Inoki, and I feel the main thing working against Angle is, surprisingly enough, the match stipulation.

Angle's best work and biggest success within WWF/E, ironically enough, came when he was a heel. This is the time period he was defeating the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H, among many others. While he definitely had success in his face runs, it was his heel runs that left his lasting legacy on the business; there's a reason "You Suck!" was so popular for the majority of his run. It's therefore safe for me to say that prime Angle was heel Angle.

With regards to an ultimate submission match, which combines the durability one needs in an Iron Man match with the necessary of submissions in a typical submission match, both stipulations strongly favour the babyface, particularly with regards to a decisive match, which I consider matches in the WZT to be, not feud enhancers. And Inoki is a guy who, to my knowledge, was almost exclusively a huge baby-face. If Rikidozan were the Lou Thesz of Japan, Inoki was the 80's Hulk Hogan; wildly beloved and victorious in almost all of his major feuds.

I have enough confidence in Angle as a wrestler and performer to say he will get a submission, maybe two, out of Inoki; as a testament to Angle's expertise in submission wrestling; after all, he's made several other huge stars such as Undertaker, HBK and Lesnar, among others. However, given that Angle's prime was as a heel, Inoki's was as a face, Inoki's expertise in submission also, and the bias that faces are given in these kind of matches, I think Angle taps the mat more than Inoki in this match. It pains me, because I love Angle, but Inoki is not only the more likely wrestler to win this stipulation, he's also the more decorated in terms of wrestling accomplishments and influence.