| From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com Insanity Year End Section
We should have just called this category the "Kurt Angle Goes To TNA Award." It wasn't even close in either voting. Perhaps the most shocking thing about 2006's Most Shocking Moment is that staff and readers chose the exact same first, second, and third place votes. Weird. So, 2006's Most Shocking Moment Goes To: Angle Goes To TNA Readers
Reader Comments: "Truly a "Holy Sh*t" moment. I couldn't believe it at first. It was a big move and they kept it secret, when nothing is kept secret anymore." "No one saw this coming. TNA did an amazing job of keeping this under wraps, particularly in an age where nothing in wrestling is kept secret anymore. For the first time TNA really seems like it could become a legitimate threat to WWE’s virtual monopoly." "Sure there were rumours, but it didn't take away from the excitment that came from Angle jumping ship. For the first time, it actually really felt as though there was a war going on between WWE and TNA and wrestlers wanted to switch between companies. Christian's jump was big, Angle's jump was huge and certainly didn't fall short of the hype that TNA had made about it."
Staff Comments: "Most of fans thought that Angle was both under a no-compete and that he needed time away from the ring. His appearance at the end of a TNA PPV both served as the biggest shock of the year and the best cliffhanger ending to a show in recent memory. " - Mike Da Silva "The Kurt Angle jump was amazing. When you couple it with the Vince Russo in TNA story from a few days before, it made for a shocking moment. The best surprises in wrestling come when you're expecting a let-down. A new writer would have been a huge letdown. A new Olympic hero was the exact opposite." "Whether he was out-right fired or he worked Vince into firing him, Kurt Angle's immediate release and jump to TNA was by far the most shocking moment of the year for me. The vast majority of wrestlers normally who leave WWE have no-compete clauses in their contracts, making their appearances in other companies underwhelming when it finally takes place (Rhino or Team 3-D, anyone?). Angle's jump was almost immediate. "Nothing in 2006 compared to this moment. Nothing. For years now, we have expected the minor players in the two companies to switch sides. No one if any major significance that can sway fans from watching one product to another. Until Kurt Angle had a complete and total breakdown and forced WWE to release him, unconditionally, from his contract. It was shocking because everyone knew Kurt Angle was one of, if not the, best wrestler ever. His in ring abilities, when healthy are unrivalled. So for him to sign with the competitor was a total shock considering you would think that the number one wrestler in the world would want to wrestle for the number one company in the world. There is a lot of backstory to this moment that I am not going to get into now, but TNA caught lightning in a bottle with Angle and that may never happen again." © Copyright by WorldWrestlingInsanity.com WorldWrestlingInsanity.com is not
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