When it comes to submission specialists in WWE history, there are few wrestlers who outrank Bret “The Hitman” Hart, the Canadian legend whose pro wrestling acumen earned him five WWE Championships, two Tag Team Titles, and two runs with the Intercontinental Title, among others. As WWE approached the mid-1990s, Hart quickly became the biggest star in the company and was armed with his submission finisher, the Sharpshooter.

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But what about Kurt Angle? An actual, in-real-life Olympic gold medalist, Angle has tremendous wrestling chops and has made more than a few opponents tap out to his signature Angle Lock. Both guys are great and each has a strong case for both being WWE's best submission wrestler.

10 Bret Hart: Sharpshooter

It’s amazing to think that, at one time, Bret Hart didn’t have the Sharpshooter in his repertoire -- his finisher used to be a piledriver -- but he didn’t actually learn it until the early 1990s when he embarked on a singles run.

Innovated by Riki Choshu and used by Ron Garvin and Sting, the move became iconic in the hands of The Hitman -- so much that use of it by Hart-adjacent stars like Natalya and Tyson Kidd was treated like some sacred family submission move.

9 Kurt Angle: Angle Lock

On the other hand, Kurt Angle has his own iconic submission finish, the ankle lock that he calls the Angle Lock (although often it would just be called the Ankle Lock). Just like Hart with the Sharpshooter, Angle didn’t innovate the move as Ken Shamrock was using it in WWE a couple of years before him.

However, he did make it his own. In fact, it has become so associated with Kurt Angle that most fans would consider the Ankle Lock “his” move more than anyone else’s.

8 Bret Hart: Trained In The Dungeon

When discussing Bret Hart as a submission specialist, it’s important to talk about his training. Like much of the Hart family, Bret learned his trade at the hands of his father, the technically minded Stu Hart, in The Dungeon, the wrestling school Stu ran in the family basement.

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There, Bret Hart learned the craft via Stu Hart’s notoriously rough teaching style, which involves being put in legitimate, painful submission holds. As a result, The Hitman has some serious submission wrestling credentials.

7 Kurt Angle: Amateur Training

Kurt Angle didn’t train in the Hart Dungeon and never got around to having an MMA career like he often mused about, but his status as an actual Olympic Gold Medalist amateur wrestler can’t be ignored.

This kind of training not only gives Angle a sense of legitimacy, but it also informs Angle’s mat-based wrestling in the squared circle, as he expertly moves his body to get into position to lock in a submission.

6 Bret Hart: Sharpshooter Specialist

Bret Hart had a sleeper hold and a figure-four leglock in his repertoire, but his main thing was the Sharpshooter, and he was an expert in it. While some fans may balk at the idea that a “submission specialist” only really used one submission finisher throughout his career, it’s really a philosophical thing.

Is it more important to learn lots of submissions for the sake of variety, or to be really, really good at one?

5 Kurt Angle: Multiple Submissions

For those fans who prefer variety in their movesets, Kurt Angle had more than just the Angle Lock in his pocket. He could also pull out rear naked and triangle chokes, and for a period he used Bob Backlund’s Crossface Chicken Wing as a big signature move.

These were, of course, in addition to his myriad of suplexes as well as his signature Angle Slam, used by other wrestlers as the Olympic Slam.

4 Bret Hart: Worked The Legs

Bret Hart was a master of pro wrestling and knew that a submission maneuver was only as good as the work you put into the parts of the body that said submission targets.

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The Sharpshooter involves the back and the legs, so The Hitman would do his best to work both throughout the match, particularly with his special figure-four leglock around the ring post. While not every maneuver in Hart’s moveset was suited for targeting purposes, he always made sure to work towards the Sharpshooter.

3 Kurt Angle: The Grapevine

The thing about Kurt Angle’s Ankle Lock is that it was often pretty easy for opponents to turn over and kick Angle in the face as a reversal. But Angle had an awesome variation of the move when he really needed to get a dude to tap out.

Rather than stand with the guy's foot in his hands, he’d get on the ground and grapevine his legs around the opponent’s leg. It looked great and often ensured a win.

2 Bret Hart: Beat Bob Backlund

Bret Hart has solid training and a killer finisher, but what has he accomplished as a submission wrestler? One of his greatest achievements as a submission specialist happened at WrestleMania XI as Bret Hart took on Bob Backlund in an I Quit match refereed by Roddy Piper.

At this point, the aging but still spry Backlund had already cemented his legacy as one of the longest-reigning WWE Champions, but Hart got Backlund to submit using the legend’s own signature submission, the Crossface Chicken Wing.

1 Kurt Angle: Beat Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin

Kurt Angle scored some serious and shocking submission victories during his career, getting some of the greatest wrestlers of all time to tap out like The Undertaker, the notably pain-resistant Mick Foley and Brock Lesnar (twice!).

But his biggest achievement in this realm has to be against Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring 2002, making Angle the first wrestler in WWE history to submit Hulk Hogan. Similarly, he managed to make Steve Austin tap out clean with an Angle Lock at Unforgiven 2001. Hart only ever got Austin to pass out.

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