10 Wrestlers You'll NEVER Believe Shared The Same Ring
8. Daniel Bryan & Kamala
Kamala was never the most athletic of workers - he was a terrific and iconic presence - and looked cooked working as an Undertaker Monster of the Week in 1992 some seven years before Daniel Bryan broke into an unrecognisable industry. Kamala himself was years removed from his prime terrorising the southern territories as a not inconsiderable drawing card.
Styles, eras, worlds, personas: so much collided when Bryan Danielson defended his ROH World Title against Kamala for Liberty States Wrestling in 2006. A strange affair - a proto-irony indie scene comedy match graphic - Kamala introduced Mr. Danielson to another part of the game long thought gone.
He wouldn't do the job.
Bryan didn't give a f*ck. Likely very amused that this was simply happening, he was game for crafting a spectacle and threw himself across the full breadth of the ring in eye-bulging fear to put over the idea that there was still a monster under the husk that was Kamala's body.
A seriously impressive exhibition in body language and mastering the space between moves, Danielson winced even before he locked up for a test of strength and hammed it up for the cinch, giving nothing away before he had to give it away.
Tearing down the stage curtains to create the illusion of the old chaos, the joke dragged too long - but it was more entertaining than the punchline that was itself.