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What's the story?
The Shield may be the greatest faction of the modern era. However, they were a member short for their big match at TLC.
When Roman Reigns went down with an illness, Kurt Angle stepped into his shoes and put on an amazing performance. Angle told The Wrestling Estate that it was an honour to team up with The Hounds of Justice.
In case you didn't know...
Kurt Angle returned to WWE after more than a decade as an inductee into the Hall of Fame Class of 2017. A few nights later, he was made the General Manager of WWE's flagship show, RAW.
While he's primarily been an authority figure on RAW, Angle made his in-ring return with The Shield to take on The Miz's villainous group in the main event of the TLC pay-per-view. He even picked up a big win.
The heart of the matter
The Wrestling Estate interviewed Kurt Angle, and The Olympic Gold Medalist dubbed The Shield one of the most popular factions of all time:
They’ve done an incredible job. Ever since they’ve come up from NXT, they’ve been legendary. It was an honor for me to team up with them.
Kurt Angle went on to say that he was honoured to be a part of the unit, if only for a special occasion:
It was awesome, I had a lot of fun that night. I didn’t have to do much. If you saw me walk out, you kind of saw the fan boy smile on my face. (laughs)
Angle's fans were just as elated as he was, with how the match played out.
What's next?
We're certain that Kurt Angle will step into the ring again. It could be during the culmination of the storyline featuring his kayfabe son, Jason Jordan. It could even be a match with his longtime adversary Triple H with whom Angle's been teasing a lot of tension of late.
Author's take
How can you not like Kurt Angle? He's a man who's always happy to be wrestling in front of his adoring fans.
His match with The Shield wasn't a classic, but for what it was, it was a milestone match, giving many fans the chance to see their favourite in action yet again.
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