john cena vs. bryan danielson (WWE velocity, 2003)
and he did it in a very powerful statement of an outfit. which he was right to do
(edit: the original video i linked of this match seems to have been taken down. i replaced the link but the video is unfortunately much lower quality)
finally got around to watching this match after having known about it for like 7 years and it was a very pleasant surprise, i had a lot of fun with this little 4 minute match. knowing it was on velocity i was expecting this to be a showcase of john cena but danielson gets a lot of offense in, and the crowd loves him too. can only imagine what would've happened if he joined the company around this time
loved danielson's selling in this match, particularly the throw into the corner and the lariat. it's also fun seeing a few of their signature spots show up so early in their careers
velocity is such a funny little show. why on earth are josh mathews and ernest "the cat" miller on commentary together? it's a very odd pairing that works about as well as you'd expect it to
maybe i gotta look more into early lesser known appearances by people who would later go on to become stars