Kurt Angle Names His Personal Favorite WWE WrestleMania

Kurt Angle, the Olympic Hero of professional wrestling, has had many epic moments throughout his illustrious career, from working the main event of WrestleMania 19 with Brock Lesnar to having a classic Street Fight with Shane McMahon at King of the Ring 2001. For all the iconic memories Angle has given the WWE Universe throughout his Hall of Fame career, however, the five-time WWE Champion had a particularly incredible first year in wrestling — Angle held three championships during his rookie year, and he held the first two, the WWE Intercontinental and European Championships, at WrestleMania 2000, where he ultimately lost both on the same night (despite not getting pinned). Describing the two-fall match between himself, Chris Jericho, and Chris Benoit, Angle detailed how special the event was for him, considering it was his first-ever WrestleMania.

"You knew something big was going to happen," Angle said during the latest episode of the "Kurt Angle Show." "All this stuff leading up to WrestleMania, all the promotions, all the commercials, all the talk of WrestleMania coming up, you knew something big was coming. It didn't disappoint. It was my favorite WrestleMania of all time because it was my first, it was very special, it was almost as important as my Olympic Gold Medal match."

Although WrestleMania 2000 did include Angle's debut on WWE's biggest stage, as well as the first of a celebrated series of tag team ladder matches between the Hardys, the Dudleys, and Edge and Christian, the event is remembered with disdain by many fans and critics, who cite the lack of singles matches on the card, the apparent disinterest of the Anaheim crowd, and the overcomplicated four-way main event between Triple H, Mick Foley, the Big Show, and The Rock.