News of Kurt Angle's WWE Hall of Fame induction last week shook the wrestling world to its very core, not only because the Olympian will take his rightful place among the immortals, but it means fans will be seeing much more of him on WWE programming soon for the first time in over a decade.
Angle left WWE in August 2006 and went on to have a whole other career for himself in TNA. It was always understood Angle would be back in the good graces of the company eventually, but in his absence, there were many matches we could have seen involving the Olympic gold medalist but didn't.
If Angle does indeed return to the ring for one last match/run in WWE this year, the dream matches he could contest with Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Rusev could finally come to fruition. But this list will look at five opponents he can longer go up against as they are no longer on the active roster.
#1 Alberto Del Rio
WWE is often criticised for its inability to create new stars, but after Kurt Angle left WWE, it wasn't as if the promotion didn't try. Alberto Del Rio was a prime example of an individual that they fully invested in but his push simply didn't pan out the way they had hoped.
Although Del Rio fizzled out fairly quickly in WWE, he had his fair share of great matches with the likes of John Cena, CM Punk and Edge. He worked with almost everyone on the roster, and the matches he could have had with Angle would have been wonderful.
This match will actually be happening at an upcoming WCPW event, but both guys are past their prime and thus this would have been a much better bout years ago when Del Rio was at the peak of his superstardom in WWE.
#2 Jeff Hardy
Interestingly enough, for all the years they spent in WWE together, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy contested only one match against each other on an episode of Raw in 2001. Other than that, they were largely separated by the Brand Split and not once did their paths cross.
It's a shame, too, because you know this would have been an awesome feud for Hardy during his time on top in 2008 and 2009. They could have contested a strong series of matches that would have solidified Hardy as a star if he were to beat the Olympic gold medalist.
At the very least, they wrestled in TNA on a number of occasions and each of their encounters were excellent. But imagine how much better those bouts would have been had they happened on a bigger stage in WWE.
#3 Batista
Similar to Jeff Hardy, Batista was separated from Kurt Angle by the Brand Split more often than not. When Batista was sent packing to SmackDown in the 2005 WWE draft, Angle went to Raw, so they were never able to feud.
Batista took on almost every notable name in his ascent in WWE from Triple H to Shawn Michaels to The Undertaker to John Cena. Angle had always been the one notable name that alluded him and had they done battle, who knows what the outcome would have been.
In 2014, Batista returned to WWE following a four-year layoff, but Angle was still in TNA at that point, so the match never happened. It's unlikely Batista will be back in time to wrestle him if he was to have one last run, and even at this stage, the match wouldn't be half as good as it could have been a decade ago.
#4 CM Punk
CM Punk vs. Kurt Angle is a feud that virtually writes itself, with both men constantly claiming that they were the best wrestlers in the world. And yes, Punk calling Angle out on Twitter all those years ago would have just added fuel to the fire.
Ironically, Punk debuted on the same show that Angle wrestled one of his final matches. They barely missed each other, and in Angle's absence, Punk climbed the ladder of success in WWE and became one of the biggest stars not named John Cena in the last decade.
Again, the chances of this highly anticipated matchup ever coming to fruition at this point are slim to none. Punk retired from wrestling upon his abrupt departure at the onset of 2014 and hasn't looked back, so this will probably remain a dream match.
#5 Daniel Bryan
Aside from CM Punk, few stars in WWE can boast that they were the best wrestler in the world at the peak of their popularity, but Daniel Bryan was undoubtedly among those elite athletes. He came into WWE with a tonne of buzz in 2009, well after Kurt Angle was gone, and made a name for himself all on his own.
One of Bryan's greatest strengths was that he could get a great match out of almost anyone, and when he did clash with a fellow exceptional wrestler, magic ensued. His classic contests with CM Punk proved that, and a Bryan vs. Kurt Angle series would have been equally awesome.
Bryan sadly retired from active competition last February, but you have to know that if Angle was going to wrestle one last match for WWE, the man who headlined WrestleMania 30 would have been at the top of his list of potential opponents.
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