WM 19 Angle question

With Joe/Lesnar heading towards what we all hope will be epic, the tie that binds them is they might be Kurt Angle’s top 2 "non-Benoit" opponents. That got me wondering about Kurt’s neck issues and if he could get in there with these two today. Back at WM 19 there were rumors he was going to miss the show because of his neck. What was the plan if he absolutely couldn’t go? Who would Brock have faced? My choice would’ve been Benoit who was coming off the RR03 Standing ovation and had a nothing tag match at Mania. Was there a plan B is Angle was out of the main event of Mania?

​Darn good question. There was a very real fear that Angle wasn’t going to be at the show, and they did that episode of Smackdown where he defended against Brock Lesnar in what was presumed to be the emergency title switch, but Eric Angle took his place for the switcheroo finish and Kurt kept the belt after all. I don’t recall if they even had a backup plan, because they were in a pretty big panic about Angle suddenly needing neck surgery before the miraculous Dr. Jho saved him. Benoit seems like a good guess, though.​