20 Best Matches From WWE's 'C' Shows

5. John Cena Vs. Daniel Bryan - Velocity

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oZQjNtRk0sc

Ten years before their classic SummerSlam encounter, Daniel Bryan and John Cena met on an episode of Velocity. Cena was still squarely in his Vanilla Ice phase here, wearing banana yellow jeans. The future Yes Man is still an unknown, going by "Bryan Danielson", and he's wearing  trunks that look concerningly like tighty whities. 

It's a testament to both perforners that they have little trouble getting the crowd invested in what's otherwise your standard Velocity jobber fight.

They start by trading holds, essentially negating that obnoxious "Cena can't wrestle" talking point years before it became a thing. Cena controls a good deal of the match, but Bryan gets a surprising amount of offense in. 

Granted, Cena hadn't reached his final form yet, but still. It'd be like Sheamus showing up on Main Event to eat European uppercuts and knee strikes from, uh, Tyler Breeze? Not sure who the 2015 equivalent of Anonymous Jobber Bryan Danielson would be, but you get the idea.

Both guys look like stars here, but Cena picks up the win with his antediluvian Protobomb finish because it's still 2003, Limp Bizkit themes are still a thing and tiny bearded socialists don't win at wrestling yet.

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Long-time fan (scholar?) of professional wrestling, kaiju films and comparative mythology. Aspiring two-fisted adventurer.