10 WWE Superstars And The Angles That Made Them Famous

WWE is flooded with familiar names, but what stories made those names famous?

steen generico
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One of the biggest changes in World Wrestling Entertainment over the last few years has been the abandonment of a 100% home grown policy. In years gone by, if you'd made your name outside of WWE then the chances were you weren't going to be on their radar. Indy stars came tainted to a degree, even those working in a relatively larger company such as TNA.

Fast forward to 2016 and all this has changed. If anything, there is an assumption that the biggest names outside of WWE will make it to NXT at some point, the promotion that has somehow turned into an internet fans fantasy booking dream. The list of wrestlers who made their name outside WWE now grows larger every month.

All of which means a large number of the individuals that the WWE Universe enjoys have long careers behind them before they even make it to NXT, let alone Raw or SmackDown. It is fascinating to reflect on these pre-WWE careers, and to look at the angles and stories that helped them stand out.

So from genre pioneers to invading stables, here are 10 WWE superstars and the angles that helped them get noticed.


10. Drake Wuertz & The Tournament Of Death

steen generico
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Funnily enough, the man I will start with isn't a WWE superstar. If you're looking at the face above and struggling to remember where you recognise him from, worry no longer; that is the face of Drake Wuertz, current WWE referee.

Before officiating in WWE under his real name, Wuertz was known to the wrestling world as Drake Younger, and let me tell you something about Drake Younger: he was insane. Younger made his name in Combat Zone Wrestling, a company known for its hardcore leanings. One of the biggest annual events for CZW is the ominously named Tournament of Death, to give you an idea of the company.

Drake Younger made his first appearance in the tournament in 2006, making it all the way to the final before losing out to Nike Gage in a Light Tubes, Panes of Glass & Fans Bring the Weapons match, which sounds like it was a technical classic. Younger would return the following year and go one better, winning the Tournament of Death by defeating Brain Damage in a Divide & Conquer 200 Light Tubes and Lumberjacks Deathmatch. 

Younger would stand tall in CZW for a few years, winning the Todd Petty Invitational in 2008 to become the first wrestler to win both a technical wrestling tournament as well as a deathmatch one. 

Younger signed off with CZW by winning Best of the Best XIII, besting Biff Busick in the final. He is still the only competitor to win both Best of the Best and the Tournament of Death. Now he's a referee. 

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.