Actually, it's not all that surprising. How many times have wrestlers put their careers on the line and lost? I think of Alundra Blaze, DDP, Nash, and Goldberg in WCW. And then of course recently Flair (and I mean Mania 24, now Halloween Havoc in 94).

Ten or fifteen years ago it would have been obvious that Joe would win but these days they like to swerve fans to the point that they keep us guessing. I mean, it could have been Joe loses, then breaks his word and returns as a heel.

Heck, a potential angle would have been Kurt winning the match, and then Joe destroying him afterwards. And I mean destroying him as in Edge/Orton obliterating Flair about a year back but turned up several notches. Or how the Outsiders took apart WCW that one time with ball bats, and hurling Mysterio into a trailer. Basically, have Kurt having to be carried to the back and be out for a few weeks. This would either result in an instant double turn or the beginning of two turns. They could have even had Karen run out in defense for ANgle from Joe adding in the angle concerning Karen and showing she cares about Kurt. That would add (possibly) more symphaty regarding Kurt.

Joe would have had the sore loser type deal and would have begun a heel turn in which he would interrupt matches taking out his frustrations on various wrestlers (using chairs and the like to add emphasis). He would have had a bit of an outsider stigma because he wouldn't have been 'part' of the company. When this would happen, Cornette would have him escorted out, etc, etc. However, to add to it all, Joe would come BACK later in the night. Of course, he would take out the most sympathetic/beloved characters (to hopefully avoid fans getting into his rebel-like attitude). THe hope woudl be the roster would be pretty shaken up (think nWo style), especially those whom can't defend themselves as well, with regards to what Joe might possibly due to them.

Perhaps to add some time in between, maybe someone like Sting would try to reason with Joe. He might even have it that he has gotton Cornette to offer Joe a new contract only for Joe to obliterate Sting putting him out for a while (remember, Sting is part-time so this would be good for Sting). That would add heel heat just because people are generally behind Sting.

Eventually, he could goad Angle into a match with him, perhaps the icing on the cake being him putting Karen in the choke sleeper (Karen would be talking with Style and saying she still cares for Angle, effectively ending that angle. At that time, Joe will attack). Angle would go nuts and demand Joe be back in a match with him, hence bringing Joe back. Joe would win the title as Angle would be distrated/Joe's new mean streak, and both men would be freshened up.

Joe might then feud a bit with the returning Sting while Angle might go on to feud with Styles (who during the whole Joe-Karen thing, instead of stopping Joe, just walked off).