5 most bizarre WWE match stipulations in SummerSlam history
SummerSlam has an illustrious history in WWE. The first event took place in 1988 and has become a key part of the annual WWE calendar. It is considered one of WWE's top four pay-per-views of the year.
There have been several high-profile star-studded matches over the years such as The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan vs. Shawn Michaels and John Cena vs. Randy Orton. On the flip side of that, there have been some very questionable stipulations that came straight out of the bizarre box.
That being said, let's take a look at five bizarre WWE match stipulations in SummerSlam history.
#5. Kurt Angle's Olympic Gold Medal on the line at SummerSlam 2005
In 2005, Kurt Angle introduced his 'Kurt Angle Invitational' where he invited wrestlers to compete against him. The stipulation was that if Angle was unable to beat an opponent within three minutes, he would surrender his Olympic Gold Medal.
An Olympic Gold Medal is one of the most prestigious sporting achievements one can win, and it was now being used as part of a storyline. During one of the invitationals, Angle came up against Eugene. Angle was unable to beat Eugene and lost his Olympic Gold Medal. Eugene was theoretically an Olympic Gold Medalist.
Kurt Angle got his revenge at the SummerSlam pay-per-view where he made Eugene tap-out to win his Gold Medal back. After the match, Angle made the referee present him the Medal just like he received it at the Olympics.
Eugene confirmed in an interview on WZWA Network’s Insiders Edge Podcast that he was hand-picked for the feud:
"They were grooming Kurt to wrestle Cena for the title and they wanted Kurt to become a vicious heel. And Kurt was like, ‘I couldn’t get any more heat than beating up Eugene,’ so he wanted to wrestle me. He picked me out of the whole roster, which I thought was really cool. But he had ideas. He wanted to do a lot of comedy. The ideas he had were really great," Eugene said.
It was a bizarre stipulation having the Olympic Gold Medal on the line at SummerSlam, considering just how prestigious a Gold Medal is in the world of sport. The feud did its job in cementing Angle as a heel further throughout the remainder of the year where he went on to feud with John Cena.