9. Luke Harper
These days fans know Luke Harper as the deranged member of The Wyatt Family who'll just as likely hurracarana you as he will use a powerbomb, but when he debuted in CHIKARA he couldn't be further from that character. Harper debuted by a stroke of luck, he was visiting friends at a 2007 CHIKARA event and one of the scheduled wrestlers no-showed. At the time, he was known as "The Right Stuff" Brodie Lee, a happy go lucky giant who saw himself as a cruiserweight. Harper must have impressed in his debut, as he was invited back two months later and quickly became a regular member of the roster. He adopted the more serious gimmick of "Big Rig" Brodie Lee, who was more of a trucker character. Although he was defeated in his very first match, he then went undefeated for the better part of a year. During his time in CHIKARA, he was part of several stables most notably The Roughnecks, with Eddie Kingston and Grizzly Redwood. As a team, Harper and Redwood would feud with The Colony, The Throwbacks and even each other. After signing with WWE, he had his independent farewell match against Eddie Kingston for CHIKARA's Grand Championship, and is now one of the few people to keep their independent gimmick largely intact after signing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZkxAOTDH3Q