by Erin Anderson
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

[Author's note to Liz: you rock. Thank you.]

Last night on Smackdown!, something finally broke between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar when we saw Lesnar turn on Angle and side with Vince McMahon. We knew it was coming -- the tension had been mounting, with all signs pointing to Kurt finally making the turn. Instead, we saw Brock align himself with Mr. McMahon. I didn't find it too surprising, since we had far too many clues of Angle's heel turn for it to be true. For reasons I don't fully understand, that's something a lot of people in the IWC haven't been happy with.

Why? The obvious answer is because Kurt Angle is such a strong heel. We've only seen him as a babyface briefly in the past few years; once for a short stint against Austin during the invasion angle, and for all of a week when he took the title off the Big Show (where he was really only a face by default, considering his opponent). His track record as a fan favorite isn't all that impressive, and that has a lot to do with Angle's personality.

For lack of a better term, Kurt is a dork. He's goofy. Despite what he told John Cena, he probably is the whitest man in the company. "Cool" simply eludes him. Because of that, Angle is damn easy to make fun of, and we love that in a heel. He's got unparalleled amateur wrestling credentials to boot, and he knows it. He loves to brag about them, and for that reason, he's also easy to hate.

You've got a textbook heel here, but WWE has decided to keep him as a face for his upcoming feud with Brock Lesnar. And that is the smartest move that the company can make.

Sure, Kurt is one of the best heels in the business. But he's already proven to be a bankable babyface since his return from neck surgery. He knows that he's good, but also knows that he's a dork and embraces it, and that makes him all the more endearing. I'm beginning to think that Angle is channeling the spirit of Mick Foley every week.

But doesn't his personality make Kurt a bit of a joke as a main-eventer? Not really. We still know that he's a badass in the ring and take him seriously as a competitor. It occasionally comes through in his promos, too: remember his rap competition with John Cena? We got ten minutes of hilarity from our Olympic hero, but he shifted gears in half a second once Cena got pissed. He stepped right in his face and cut him off with a deadly serious, "What you gonna do, Cena?" that drew some oooohs from the live audience. All the goofiness outside of the ring and intensity inside of it -- the things that make him so easy to boo -- also make him easy to cheer. The fact that he does have a lighter, more entertaining side to him only makes him that much better as the champion, because he's still all business in the ring but can make us laugh the rest of the time.

But while Kurt works well as a face, Brock just doesn't have the charisma to pull it off. Kurt can get away with acting goofy and happy; Brock can't. Lesnar's taken a few steps to becoming better on the mic, but he can't compete with Kurt Angle when it comes to verbal skills. But Vince McMahon -- Brock's new partner-in-crime -- can. Whether you like Vince or not, he's a great heel with some impressive mic skills.

Now, we've got a strong face against a monster heel with an excellent mouthpiece. The ideal choice for that mouthpiece would be Paul Heyman, but his past history with Brock makes that impossible. Vince is the next best thing, and if we have to see him on television, at least he'll serve a good purpose: keeping the Lesnar-Angle feud from getting stale.

Despite both men's talent in the ring, we can only see Babyface Brock v. Heel Angle so many times before we get tired of it. Bringing in Vince and turning both competitors brings a certain degree of freshness to a months-long battle. And even if it doesn't, who cares? Let me make a comparison: Angle and Chris Benoit, another competitor with extraordinary mat skills, have clashed more times than we can count. Even so, the last time they had a big one-on-one match (at this year's Royal Rumble), they stole the show, had the crowd massively behind them, and gave us what has so far been the best match of the year. The feud held up every time, and the same can happen with Angle and Lesnar.

Lesnar isn't exactly like Benoit, but he's still one of the few men in the company who can go toe-to-toe with Angle when it comes to mat work. For months after his debut last year, we saw what a monster Lesnar can be in the ring. We know that he's incredibly strong, and we know how ruthless he can be. What we didn't see until he faced Angle was his mat-wrestling ability, and even then, we've only gotten a little taste of it. A continued feud with Kurt will bring out that largely untapped facet of Brock's in-ring abilities. And even better, we'll get to see something that doesn't show up very often in WWE today: you know, actual wrestling.

I want to see Angle and Lesnar go at it again, and the recent storyline developments last night only make the feud that much more interesting. And even though I'm one of the biggest advocates for Vince's removal from the shows, it's not going to happen as long as he's the man in charge. We can't take Vince off our televisions, but at least now we're getting the best possible use of him.

And with that, I'm outta here! No, really. Tomorrow I'll be heading out to San Francisco for a week, so you won't get a column from me next Friday. Don't worry; I think I have a pretty good (and funny) replacement for you.
  

E-MAIL ERIN
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Erin Anderson is an Atlanta native and a student at Georgia State University. Since writing about wrestling didn't go over too well with her English professors, she vents here at Online Onslaught.

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