In various media interviews last year, Kurt Angle and Undertaker expressed a desire to work with each other at WrestleMania. The storyline would have seen Undertaker win the belt from JBL and defend it against the Olympic Gold Medalist at the WrestleMania PPV. However, despite their backstage stroke, Vince McMahon had another idea in mind.
The WWE Chairman had become a huge fan of JBL as a champion and wanted to preserve JBL’s run through at least WrestleMania (he actually originally proposed for JBL to hold the title until Summerslam 2005, but some believe Summerslam might be too long). He also wants to push John Cena as SmackDown’s new face, so figured this would be the perfect opportunity to elevate a wrestler and feature a man who he feels has been a successful champion.
Kurt Angle was subsequently placed in a ‘dream match’ scenario against Shawn Michaels; Undertaker will wrestle Randy Orton.