10 Reasons Kurt Angle Deserves His WWE Hall Of Fame Induction

5. His Work Outside Of WWE

This may have been a bit of a hindrance in the past, but WWE has been increasingly more accepting of other promotions over the past couple years.

IWGP has been mentioned on Raw, PROGRESS Wrestling footage was all over the UK Tournament and in NXT, a few of the top stars are currently former TNA main-eventers in Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe and Eric Young. That means that WWE is more willing to accept and appreciate outside ventures in the business. Long gone are the days of the company pretending that no one else existed. While Angle will probably not mention “TNA” by name in his induction speech, it's certainly nothing he should be ashamed of. In fact, it should absolutely further solidity his case for entry.

It was Angle who helped legitimize TNA (as much as they were ever legitimized) when he signed with them back in 2006. Perhaps only the signing of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff can top the buzz he brought the company. He was the first major name from WWE to come to TNA, and it briefly felt like big things were in store for them. Blame creative and management on their failure to capitalize, as Angle gave it his all every night. While other former stars coasted along in the company, he was still trying to deliver the best match on the show, and truly looked invested in his storylines.

Just looking at his overall contributions to the business, Profightdb has Angle listed with 78 pay-per-view main events to his name, which puts him at 6th all time (Triple H tops the list at 119). That shows how important he was to the promotions he was competing for. After TNA, he's taken part in a few high-profile indy shows, and proved that he’s still an elite worker as he nears 50. If he’s medically cleared, hopefully he has a couple more matches left in him to really go out on top.