#FiftyMatches: "WCW Is Back In Business!"

Booker T v. Buff Bagwell

WCW Championship

Monday Night Raw
July 2, 2001

"WCW is back in business!"

- Scott Hudson

It's not often that you see World Wrestling Entertainment take a backseat to another organization. In the long history of Monday Night Raw, it's happened on only two occasions I can recall. The first, was on February 24, 1997. The World Wrestling Federation brought in Extreme Championship Wrestling to help fill out an episode of Raw. At the time, ECW was promoting the first pay per view event in its history, and the two organizations had a mutual adversary in World Championship Wrestling.

#FiftyMatches: Kurt Angle, Pro Wrestling Prodigy

Kurt Angle v. Shane McMahon

Street Fight

WWF King of the Ring 2001
June 24, 2001

"Have you ever seen an athlete quite like Kurt Angle?" 

-Paul Heyman

In 1996, Kurt Angle was already recognized as one of the best amateur wrestlers in the world. He had won a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships. However, despite an amateur career that also included a Pennsylvania State Wrestling Championship as a senior in high school, two NCAA Division I Championships and four national championships, he was just another face in the crowd to most Americans. That all changed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.