New York Region, St. Lous Subregion: Second Round: (3) Kurt Angle vs. (14) Lex Luger

[klunderbunker]

The following contest is a first round match in the New York Region.

This match takes place in the Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri.

#3 Kurt Angle

Vs.

#14 Lex Luger

This contest is one fall with a 20 minute time limit. The match will take place in a 16 x 16 ring with no ramp leading to it. Any traditional managers for either competitor will be allowed at ringside.

As for voting, vote for who you think would win this match based on the criteria you choose. Some suggestions would be (not limited to): in ring ability, overall skill, their level of influence at the highest point in their career, ability to connect with the crowd, experience in major matches or simply personal preference etc.

The most votes in the voting period wins and in the case of a tie, the most written votes wins. There is one written vote per user, meaning if a poster make ten posts saying Bret should win that will count as a single vote. In the event of a second tie, both men are ELIMINATED, no questions asked. Only winners advance.

Voting is open for four days and all posts must be non-spam.​

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

The only argument someone can give for Luger is how, at one point, he was pretty dominant. Luckily for us, he's facing Kurt Angle, so that really doesn't give him an edge.

Luger was a big body. Outside of that, he has nothing against Angle. Kurt is a legit bad ass, and would take Luger apart. It wouldn't be a squash, seeing Luger was always booked to look better than he actually was. Even taking away my personal hatred for Luger, this goes to Angle. He's better at everything, he's done more on a bigger platform, and he's beaten as many (or more) big-time superstars.

Angle, easily.

 

[Shocky]

Kurt Angle, easy. I was hoping Luger would go far in this thing, but it wasn't meant to be, simply bad draw.

Luger had one helluva United States title run. That man single handily made that title worth watching in the late 80's. He beat pretty much all of the big names of that era in either WCW or the WWF. He's completely under rated in my book. That being said, no match for Kurt Angle.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Kurt Angle wins this match, it shouldn't even be close. Angle is so far above Lex Luger that it's almost enough to make me feel sorry for the so called "Total Package".

Luger did have a definite size and strength advantage and I have little doubt that he'd probably run over Angle for a little while. A few clotheslines here and there, a gorilla press slam, maybe a power slam and back suplex here and there as well. In the end, however, Angle's superior abilities would carry him through. I could see Luger putting Angle up in the Torture Rack only for Angle to slip out of it before Luger could really lock it in and hit the ankle lock in the center of the ring. Luger would try to get out of it, maybe even come close before being dragged back away from the ropes and Angle lying down on the canvass to really lock it in. Luger taps out at the 10 minute mark.

 

[Tastycles]

Luger was marketed as being some sort of American hero, whereas Angle actually was one from a sporting point of view. Luger was able to win the title in WCW, but spectacularly managed to fail in the WWF. Angle has helped to turn TNA into a proper promotion, and was far more successful in the WWE than Luger was in WCW. Luger isn't bad, but there's nothing he has in such abundance that makes you feel that Angle would be overwhelmed.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

The only stage of his career, I could have seen Lex possibly win this was during his WCW title reign when he had Harley Race in his corner. As Race is currently busy with Sammartino, he is SOL.

I could see this billed as a battle of American Icons and Lex operating as a face to the 'You Suck!' heel Angle, to enable some feeling of a possible upset but the Torture Rack would be countered with an arm drag, Olympic Slam and Angle Lock for the submission about the quarter hour mark.

 

[Teddy Irving]

Angle hands down.

 

[INDYjon22]

Angle is the far superior wrestler and while Luger may be able to get some near falls, this match will ultimately be won by Angle. If Luger wants to brawl, Angle can brawl. If Luger wants to wrestle, Angle can wrestle. If Luger wants to show off his guns, well then I will give him the win there. But this isn't Mr. Olympia and Angle will take the fight to Luger. Yes, Luger has some big wins on his resume, but Angle performs at his best in high pressure situations. This tournament will bring out the absolute best from Angle and he will not be stopped here.

 

[JGlass]

An American Hero vs. The guy who body slammed a foreigner on a US Battleship and was therefore an American Hero of sorts. As impressive as bodyslamming a fat Japanese dude is, winning an Olympic Gold Medal with a broken freakin' neck is an even greater feat.

And when we hit up kayfabe land, Kurt Angle is still the better competitor. Luger was a power dude, plain and simple, but he lacked the technical prowess that is necessary to beat a guy like Angle. Angle, on the other hand, has been able to take down guys who were bigger and better than Luger, including one wrestler that goes by The Undertaker. If Angle has what it takes to beat Taker, he has what it takes to beat Luger.

Angle wins.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Angle wins this. Luger is shit. He's overrated, overhyped, and very, VERY bad in the ring. Angle is in a league of his own compared to most wrestlers, but against Luger... Luger isn't in his universe.

Thing about Angle is that he's someone who can take punishment... and Luger may punish him for a few moments... but that won't last long. Luger will screw up, and Angle will take advantage and snap his ankle in under 10 minutes.

 

[jmt225]

Well, I had to vote for Lex Luger here. If the votes were closer, maybe I would have considered going with Kurt Angle, but there's no justifying that Luger should only get a couple of votes against anyone, let alone Kurt Angle.

I know Kurt Angle was the better wrestler, and that throughout his career his best matches and promos puts Luger's to shame (most of them, anyway), but still, man, how there not more Luger marks around this board?

Lex Luger had that rare "it" quality. It wasn't just his look, but he had charisma out of this World, and a presence that's impossible to give justice to by typing words on a keyboard. He was really like the next Hulk Hogan in the sense that he was the first guy to come along without any face paint who you still felt like was a true superhero. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but if you were watching wrestling when you were young and while Luger was at his peak, then you know what I mean.

Luger was a damn fine worker, too. Not as good as someone like Angle, but best believe the man could hold his own in a match. In fact, I'd say Sting & Luger vs. The Steiner Brothers at SuperBrawl is one of the greatest tag matches of all time.

Moreover, since a lot of people are voting kayfabe wise, I REALLY don't understand how Luger doesn't have more votes. Have you guys seen the man in his prime? Nobody ever walked through him. The guy has victories over Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sting, Stan Hansen, Barry Windham, Sid, Brian Pillman, The Great Muta, Masa Chono, and plenty of other huge, impressive names. I know Angle has defeated his fair share of legends, but does his list really match up to Luger's? I don't fucking think so.

Overall, Luger deserves some respect here, so I'm giving it to him. Sure, Kurt Angle perhaps 'should' advance, but not by a blow-out. An actual match between the two would have been really, really close.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Angle is superior to Luger on every level. Lex can flex his muscles all he wants, but against the best actual wrestler in the history of the business, Luger comes up way, way short.

Angle takes some early punishment from Lex, but once Luger leaves an opening, Kurt capitalises, nailing Luger with the multiple German Suplexes, pulling the straps down on his singlet and then once the anklelock is applied its all over.

Lex Luger taps out

Kurt Angle advances

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I guess I'm just not understanding why Angle is dominating this. Yeah, he's good and there is no doubting or denying that. But Luger isn't as shit as people are still running off the head about.

Lex Luger has defeated an equally great technical Wrestler; Bret Hart. It's because of that fact alone that I feel Luger would have more of a chance than he's getting.

This man was a Multi-time World Champion. He's had impressive victories over numerous names, including; Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Big Show, Nash, Yokozuna, and the list just continues on and on. Luger has beaten all shapes, sizes and abilities in this business and to simply say "Well, I'm voting against him because he's shit and always has been." is about the most naive statement a person could make.

Kurt Angle isn't unbeatable and he has had his fair share of bad losses to guys much less than he (or Luger) would ever be considered.

I know he won't win this one, and I'm shocked he won the First round match-up.. but my vote is going to Luger, based more so on the fact that he deserves better than what people are giving (and saying) of him.

 

[JXL]

As much muscles as Lex can create, he's still won't be any match against Kurt Angle. He's a machine that will not stop until you tap to the ankle lock. Lex has a history of being humiliated against superior technical wrestlers and it's not gonna change for him against an olympic gold medalist.

Angle slam, ankle lock in 5 minutes.

My vote: Kurt Angle.

 

[D-Man]

Kurt Angle wins here. Granted, he shouldn't be dominating like this, but I can totally understand why.

The only factors that put Luger ahead of Kurt Angle in this matchup would be on overall appearance and possibly mic skills. I know that most people think Angle is great on the mic but he really isn't. He's about average at best. Now, that doesn't mean Luger was a "Ric Flair" or "Rock" on the mic, either. However, Luger's promos were effective during a time when WCW and organizations of the NWA didn't put a lot of focus on promos in the same way that the WWE and TNA had done for Angle. Regardless, Luger found a way to shine. So besides that, Angle should defeat him.

Kurt Angle is no fucking joke. He's a legitimate beast of an athlete and has put on more memorable matches in just his TNA tenure than Luger had during his entire career. Not to mention the fact that Angle's star power shined in the WWE and elevated TNA to new heights when he joined the promotion.

Although Luger had a chiseled physique and edges Angle in the category of appearance, that doesn't mean that Angle didn't have the look. From day one in the WWE, Angle had the "it" factor. He was a natural in the ring, had a great look, and the resume to back himself up.

Angle edges this one out.

 

[Dark Horse]

JMT and Will almost made me feel really bad for voting for Angle, like it was mean of me to vote for Angle, because what they are saying about Luger is correct. However I just can't push myself to vote Luger over Angle.

Will made a great argument about the names on Luger's record and that should definitely be taken into consideration. No slouches there, basically all legends.

JMT's point about him really having the "it" factor and being a Hogan-esque character is also very true. I was a kid when he was at his peak and he really did have that Superhero aura.

Still, Kurt Angle is just better where it counts in determining a winner.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

It's funny. You know some of these fights would in kayfabe be far closer than the voting is going to reflect. I guess it's because unless it's that borderline like Christian and The Miz in the last round, people don't have the option to vote proportionately so they'll vote for the guy who they know is marginally better. Because everyone does it, the match turns out a landslide when in actual fact it may have been rather competitive, but there you go. Thankfully, I'm not suggesting this match is one of them.

Luger had a remarkably successful career for a guy who was as unremarkable as he was. He was obviously a poor in-ring performer who never really improved much, he also wasn't amazing on the talking side of things, he certainly lacked that certain thing separating the good from the great. And yet more or less consistently for over a decade the man was a main event/upper mid-card wrestler. That's an unappreciated feat, how he remained there so long I mean of course. His best run was his WWF 1994 super-run as the American patriot, but that didn't last for very long in all honesty.

But here it comes. Lex Luger drew Kurt freakin' Angle. For me, looking at some of the past winners, Kurt Angle has a good a shot as anyone to win the entire tournament this year, he probably ought to. He was the highest paid guy in WWE when he left for TNA, at a time when Undertaker, HBK, HHH and Cena were all employed, that's a feat in itself. He's been everywhere and done everything, and then done it all again. The Kurt Angle of now could wrestle rings around Luger. One of the few guys who can still keep tabs on A.J. Styles in the ring and he's over the 40 year mark, supposedly 10 year after his prime. He is quite frankly a machine. Let's not forget legit tough either, won the gold medal with a broken neck, his street fight with Shane McMahon, the state he was in at his WM match with Lesnar as examples.

The voting may not be as close as it ought to often, but there is no doubt Kurt deserves to clear the muscle-bound road-block of Lex Luger without having to reach too deep into his arsenal, he can save that for the big guns later on in the competition.

 

[PsychoBlack]

I voted Angle. My reason is not because Luger is shit, but because This is the type of feud Angle has built his career on. Plenty of big name guys have fallen to Angle: Lesnar, Austin, Jericho, Rock, HHH, RVD, Undertaker, Benoit, Styles and the list goes on. Lex falls into that category of superstar.

I used to love Lex when I was a Kid and in a kayfabe sense i can't see that many people decisively beating him but Kurt Angle is one of those guys he's just a beast.

 

[LigerBomb]

Pure (blundering) Power vs. Pure Perfection.
Ok. I admit it. As a kid I was a mark for the Lex Express. More because I was a xenophobe than anything else but whatever. My childhood hate of immigrants notwithstanding, I'll have to side with the three I's and their virtuous defender on this one.

Not only did I enjoy his work in-ring work more but even his comedy character was damn impressive. He had —has? Is going to TNA and toilet bowling your personal and professional lives some form of post-modern meta-comedy I wonder?—great comedic timing.

Comedic timing is not an easy feat by the way; just ask John Cena about it some time.

Anyway, yes, Kurt gets the nod.