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Revision as of 15:14, 21 March 2007
Team ECK later known as Team RECK, was a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) heel stable consisting of Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian, and Rhyno. The stable lasted from mid-2000 to mid-2001. The name came from the first names from each wresler: Edge, Christian & Kurt Angle (Rhyno came to the front after joining). Established around the time when Kurt Angle won the King of the Ring crown in 2000, the group was known best for its comedic promos, which usually included either Edge or Christian, whose lingo went over with the fans. Although the team was very successful at getting over as the comic heel unit of the WWF in 2000-2001 without taking away from the individual characters, this stable had ostensibly come to an end around mid-2001.
At King of the Ring 2001, the four members of this stable took up all four of the semi final spots, guaranteeing Team RECK's victory in the King of the Ring tournament in the semi finals. Although this was a historical achievement, as no stable has ever controlled the tournament like this before, it was often overlooked because the stable self-destructed almost immediately after the fact.
Edge defeated Rhyno in their semifinal match, Kurt Angle defeated Christian in their semifinal match, and with interference from Shane McMahon, Edge beat Kurt to become King of the Ring. Around this time, the WWF Invasion storyline was working its way in, and Rhyno joined the WCW/ECW Alliance as an ECW member. Edge's victory started a rivalry between Edge and Angle that would build up and last for the next year (which resulted in Kurt Angle's current haircut), as well as was the basis for Christian's jealousy which led him to turn on Edge on the September 3, 2001 episode of Raw in E&C's hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Eventually, Rhyno, Angle, and Christian were all part of the Alliance, although Angle was in it as a mole, and outside a feud between Christian and Edge (who stayed with WWF) over the Intercontinental title, the members never really were involved in any of the same spots within that unsuccessful superplot.
Kurt Angle teamed with Edge in a match against Big Show/A-Train in December 2002.
None of the members ever allied again until late 2004 when Maven, who was appointed one-night only General Manager of RAW due to his team (Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, himself) defeating the team of Triple H, Batista, Edge, and Gene Snitsky the night before at Survivor Series, booked Edge and Christian to team up for the first time in over three years against Benoit and Shelton Benjamin, beginning a chain of events in which Edge and Christian became loosely involved in each other's feuds, teaming up several times until Christian was drafted to SmackDown! in the 2005 Draft Lottery.
The night after Unforgiven 2005, Edge and Angle teamed in an 8-person tag team match alongside Snitsky and Chris Masters against Matt Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, and WWE Heavyweight Champion John Cena. Unfortunately for them, the match ended in defeat when Edge was chokeslammed by Big Show, then pinned by all four of the opponents at once.
Also, since Rhino (and Christian Cage afterwards) joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), both Christian and Rhino have opposed members and associates of Jeff Jarrett's army, a status which has the tendency to bring them to working together against the main heel faction of TNA. However, at Hard Justice 2006, Christian made his heel turn when he betrayed Sting and cost him Jarrett's NWA Championship, and Rhino immmediately confronted him about it. Though Christian called Rhino "his brother" in a later backstage interview, their off-and-on alliance in TNA was put to an end when Christian tried to provoke Rhino into assaulting him with a steel folding chair, but then went on to do it himself when Rhino would try beating him up without the chair.
At the No Surrender PPV it was revealed that Kurt Angle would soon debut in TNA. On TNA's website several stars were asked for their reaction to Angle now being in TNA. Christian was the only one who responded in character, saying, “He’s probably trying to steal my thunder too, just like Sting. Kurt Angle is an average wrestler. Christian Cage is still the biggest star at TNA.”
Rhino and Angle ended up teaming together on a late December episode of iMPACT! against AJ Styles and Samoa Joe which quickly deteriorated into two individual brawls between each man and his rival on the opposing team (Rhino vs. Styles, Angle vs. Joe).