From wrestling on velocity in 2003 to main eventing Summerslam in 2013 for the World title, here's where it all started. Kinda. It's John Cena taking on the beardless Bryan Danielson (now known as the "YES!" man, Daniel Bryan).
I sure hope Cena brought those banana pants with him!
MNM (Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro w/Melina) vs. Jon Moxley & Brad Taylor - Velocity (2006)
I've been watching the Best of the Indies series, Stories From the Streets: The Jon MoxleyStory by Smart Mark Video and thought I would look up this match mentioned early on in the interviews with Jon Moxley - a man now known as Dean Ambrose. The bout is Moxley's first dark match with the WWE where he tags with his fellow Heartland Wrestling Association wrestler, Brad Taylor (Brad Attitude). In the interview mentioned above, Moxley talks about how excited he was to get a chance to have a try-out match with the WWE and be where the big boys play. During the match you can plainly see just how amped up Moxley was for this little bit of spotlight. The tiniest, really.
All in all, it's not a bad match for what it is: a glorified preliminary match to make the champs at the time, MNM, look strong. But Moxley didn't care about that here at 19-20 years old and was just really in love with wrestling. Also in the interview, which was made pre-Shield/FCW (so, 2011), Moxley mentions that he has no plans of being with the WWE anytime soon.
Now he's already fought the Undertaker and pinned Randy Orton at Wrestlemania.
Bonus: You can pick up The Jon Moxley Story in DVD form from Smart Mark Video dot com. It's actually a three disc DVD that also features 14 Jon Moxley matches from CZW, IWA-MS, IPW, HWA, and wXw.
