WrestleMania Rewind : WrestleMania 19 - Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle

The granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is just about a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.At WrestleMania 19, WWE witnessed the rise of a new phenomenon when Kurt Angle faced off against Brock Lesnar. The WWE officials were high on Lesnar ever since his debut and all of that built up to this WrestleMania main event.To make the stakes even higher, Vince McMahon introduced the WWE Championship into the mix. It had all the potential to be a torch passing encounter and here is a look at how things turned out in the end.

#1 The build-up

The buildup for the Lesnar Angle clash started at Royal Rumble. Angle was the heel champion back then and defended his title successfully against Chris Benoit. On the other hand, Lesnar went on to win the Royal Rumble setting up a match between the two at WrestleMania.

However, Lesnar and Angle clashed for the championship before Mania. Lesnar earned a championship shot at Angle after defeating Paul Heyman in a steel cage match (Read that one more time if you want).

The match took place at SmackDown and instead of playing it clean, Angle had other ideas. Angle switched with his brother Eric just before the match. Later, Kurt switched again and won the match to keep his title intact.

Lesnar lost out on his opportunity to claim gold before Mania but it worked in favor of him for the longer run. After seeing what Angle did with his brother, then SmackDown General Manager, Stephanie McMahon made the rules stricter for WrestleMania.

With all the outside interference kept out due to Stephanies decision, the match was sure to focus on the two performers rather than the over booking.

#2 The Match

Now, before we get into the match, take a moment out for respecting Kurt Angle. Why? Well, he wrestled the match with a broken freakin' neck. He found out about the same months before WrestleMania but still decided to wrestle.

The fans were legitimately worried about the well-being of Angle but thanks to Angle’s determination, we got to see a classic. Lesnar was known for his brutal style in between the ropes and every time he dropped or threw Angle, everyone skipped a heartbeat.

It was a to and fro match despite Angle’s neck but it was not Angle that the fans were worried about in the end. In what proved to be a moment of madness, Lesnar went to the top rope and did a freakin' shooting star press.

A 300 pound Lesnar doing a shooting star press, it was a classic moment. But Lesnar’s plan flopped big time, he did not get proper air into the move and landed on his neck. Concerns of the fans son shifted to Lesnar and the big question now was ‘Can Lesnar finish the match?’

The answer ended up being a big ‘yes’ thanks to Angle (again). He walked Lesnar through the rest of the match and Lesnar won the title with his trademark F-5.

#3 The Fallout

After the WrestleMania showdown, Angle was taken out of television due to his neck injury. Lesnar also suffered multiple concussions and to let him heal, WWE organized a tournament to determine the new No. 1 contender.

John Cena went on to win the tournament and became the first challenger for Lesnar. Cena however failed to win the title and Lesnar then feuded with Big Show. Lesnar dropped the championship to Kurt Angle later in the year in a Triple Threat match that also had Big Show.

This led to another great match between Lesnar and Angle. The stage was SmackDown and Lesnar regained his WWE championship in a hard fought Iron man match.