Kurt Angle wins the World Heavyweight Championship January 10, 2006

Kurt Angle won the World Heavyweight Championship Tuesday night at the SmackDown television taping in Philadelphia.

In one of the most shocking moments in recent SmackDown history, RAW's Angle walked out from the locker room area and into the SmackDown ring to compete in the Battle Royal ordered by General Manager Theodore Long.

The addition of Angle to the Battle Royal clearly caught many Superstars off guard, and he became an immediate target of the SmackDown roster. In fact, Mark Henry even slammed Angle through the announce table at ringside. Angle was able to withstand the attack, however, and in the end Angle last eliminated Henry to be crowned the new World Heavyweight Champion.

Afterwards, Angle celebrated in the ring while the audience in Philadelphia looked on in total amazement.

Of course, the crowning of a new World Heavyweight Champion was ordered after an injured and emotional Batista was forced to surrender the title earlier in the night due to injury.

Be sure to watch SmackDown this Friday night on UPN to watch this truly historic event unfold.