WWE: Five mat classics from before they were superstars [video]

Without a shadow of a doubt, if you watched this past WWE Smackdown LIVE, you’re hyped for AJ Styles versus Samoa Joe for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The combination of Styles’ idiosyncratic technical offence and Joe’s ground-and-pound power will make for what will surely be a modern classic. But, Summerslam isn’t going to be the first time these two international sensations have locked horns.

Before they made it to the WWE, they were young and hungry warriors rising to the top of Impact Wrestling, Ring Of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and the rest of the independent wrestling scene.

Indie wrestling has brought us some of the most talented and star-studded wrestlers in recent memory.

WWE wrestlers such as Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, and Dean Ambrose all laid their foundations by competing in gyms, basketball courts, and other small venues. These smaller wrestling promotions are so special to watch.

By immersing oneself into indie wrestling, you get to see the potential future stars of the sport in raw, innovative form. The following matches are the roots of the spectacular athletes that we see every Monday and Tuesday night.

 

Daniel Bryan vs Seth Rollins

What we have here is a technical masterclass, not unlike every Daniel Bryan classic. What makes this special is that we get to see Bryan fighting nastier and inventing more gruesome submissions as the match escalates.

Before he was The Architect, Seth Rollins designed a hardcore-punk attitude under the moniker Tyler Black.

We can see hints of the Seth we know and love today in that. For example, there is a spot early on in the match when he jumps off the apron to land a more primitive form of The Stomp on Daniel Bryan.

 

Ember Moon vs Ruby Riott

This is a recurring matchup that WWE Raw fans would be more familiar with. Moon and Riott have been trying to out-wrestle each other since the dawns of their careers. It seems that some people are destined to be rivals until the end of time.

 

Kevin Owens vs Shinsuke Nakamura

The fact that the crowd started chanting “this is awesome” before the bell even rang speaks volumes.

Watch this video if you want to see Nakamura and Owens showcase the more mind game-based sides of their respective styles, with a vocal audience that makes an exciting atmosphere.

At the time, Shinsuke Nakamura was the IWGP Intercontinental Champion of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Nakamura later went on to have classic bouts with AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Sami Zayn which demonstrated the impact of his strong style prowess to international audiences.

 

Asuka vs Meiko Satomura

Smackdown’s Empress Of Tomorrow takes on a 2-decade veteran and Mae Young Classic 2 entrant.

To put it shortly, Meiko Satomura is comparable to being the AJ Styles of women’s wrestling in Japan. That’s why it’s such big news that she will compete in a WWE ring this year.

As evidenced by her mean streak, the face paint marks a wildly different Asuka than the one we know now. Here, she is more vicious, yet darkly theatrical.

The combination of pure strong style wrestling with Japanese folk music makes this match border on avant-garde theatre.

 

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels

It’s a clash of the three most cutting-edge wrestlers who ruled the independent circuit in the late 2000s. If this was phenomenal nine years ago, that makes Joe vs Styles at Summerslam all the more intriguing.

 

“The Phenomenal” AJ Styles defends his WWE Championship against “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe at WWE Summerslam. Watch it live on 19 August, only on the WWE Network.