Whenever people talk about the best wrestlers in the world, Roderick Strong's name often gets overlooked. That's a shame, because he has consistently been great for about a decade and a half at this point. He finally has the platform he deserves every week on NXT on the USA Network.
Now that people know more about Roderick Strong, they might be surprised to find out about his past work. We aren't just talking about his seemingly endless list of accomplishments either. He has competed against some of the biggest stars in the industry and a lot of them will probably come as a surprise to most. Below, you'll find a list of Strong's noteworthy opponents.
10 Shinsuke Nakamura
Roderick Strong and Shinsuke Nakamura both currently work for WWE. They also had their time in NXT overlap a bit. Yet that's not where these two wrestled one another. Their match came back in 2015 during a crossover show between Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
During May of 2015, the two companies came together for a tour called Global Wars. One of those shows featured a clash between Strong and Nakamura. It turned out great and was one of the hidden gems of the year. If you find a way to catch old episodes of ROH TV, it aired on that program.
9 Nigel McGuinness
If you only know Nigel McGuinness as a commentator for WWE then you missed out on one of the greats. During the 2000s, you could count the number of wrestlers on McGuinness' level with one hand. He was something truly special and a legendary rival of guys like Daniel Bryan.
Nigel McGuinness' best accomplishment was holding the ROH World Title for 545 days. During that reign, Roderick Strong was one of the guys to challenge him. He was ultimately unsuccessful, but it was a stepping stone for Strong as he ended up winning the title several years later.
8 Matt Hardy
Get ready to see a lot of entries like this on the list. Matt Hardy is someone who theoretically could wrestle Roderick Strong tomorrow since both are with the WWE. If they did, it would surprisingly not be the first time they stood across the ring from one another.
Back in 2005, Matt Hardy was fired from WWE and went on a short stint of appearing across independent wrestling promotions. The main one was Ring of Honor. While there, he faced Strong at Punk: The Final Chapter, which is a show most notable for being CM Punk's final match with the promotion. This is only available if you own the DVD of that event.
7 Seth Rollins
Fans may have turned on Seth Rollins in recent months, but one thing has always been clear — wherever Seth Rollins goes, he becomes a top star. Under the name Tyler Black, Rollins debuted in Ring of Honor at the tail end of 2007 and was a top contender for the ROH World Title within months.
Rollins finally captured the ROH World Title in 2010 and was ultimately signed to WWE while holding the gold. His final show was Glory by Honor IX, where he defended the championship against Roderick Strong. It was on that night when Strong won it and reached the top of the ROH mountain.
6 Shingo Takagi
Shingo Takagi has taken New Japan Pro Wrestling by storm since arriving in the fall of 2018 and joining Los Ingobernables de Japon. He dominated the junior heavyweight division before moving up to face heavyweights and has had some of the best matches of 2019. But Takagi had a long career before this run.
He spent most of his time as a member of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. They had a working agreement with ROH long before New Japan did. Back in 2006, it led to Strong and Takagi sharing the ring on a rare occasion. Strong teamed with Austin Aries and Delirious to battle Takagi, CIMA, and Matt Sydal at Final Battle 2006.
5 AJ Styles
This is the only entry on the list from Roderick Strong's short stint with TNA. He competed there near the end of 2005 and some of 2006. While there, he was part of their highly-touted X-Division. That meant clashes with the likes of Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles.
Disappointingly, Styles and Strong never had a big pay-per-view match. Their one-on-one encounters were confined to episodes of IMPACT!. Still, they were very good matches. However, they were also on opposite ends of several tag matches in both TNA and ROH.
4 Drew McIntyre
Here's a match that took place in three different companies, yet you still might not know about it. Drew McIntyre became the "Scottish Psychopath" during his impressive run through the indies after WWE let him go in 2014. He crossed paths with Roderick Strong on multiple occasions.
For one, they collided in EVOLVE and their Steel Cage match there is currently available for free on YouTube. Their other meeting came in PWG. At their Bowie event in 2016, Galloway challenged Strong for the PWG Championship in a very good main event. They also did have one match in NXT.
3 Kurt Angle
To be fair, if you read up on history, you probably know about this one. Back in 2005, Kurt Angle was running his Kurt Angle Invitational. Each week, he'd invite a random competitor to try and survive against him for an allotted time frame. Among the challengers were Eugene and Nunzio.
On one fateful episode of SmackDown, a then-unknown Roderick Strong answered the call. He did better than some but this still wasn't much of a match. Still, it's pretty crazy to think about it. Before Kurt Angle retired, Strong did face the legendary Olympian at least once.
2 Kazuchika Okada
Since 2012, Kazuchika Okada has reigned as the top guy in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He won his first IWGP Heavyweight Title that year and since then, he's been unstoppable. Okada now has won it 5 times, holding it for more than a combined 1,700 days, and set all kinds of records.
You may be surprised to know that Roderick Strong, who never wrestled for NJPW, has wrestled Okada. It was back in 2015 during ROH's Field of Honor event, held in a small baseball stadium in Brooklyn. Strong and Okada had one of the best matches of the year that not many people saw.
1 Daniel Bryan
Back when he was Bryan Danielson, there weren't many wrestlers more dominant than Daniel Bryan. His Ring of Honor World Title run lasted 462 days and he successfully defended the championship more than anyone else in history. One of his most prolific challengers was Roderick Strong.
Strong proved to be one of the most difficult opponents for Danielson. He could match him on the mat but he would brutalize him with chops. Danielson's chest would bleed and be beet red during their encounters. In fact, their one time sharing the ring together in WWE came during the Greatest Royal Rumble and Bryan's chest ended up the same way. One of their matches lasted nearly an hour. It's a classic that we'd love to see relived one day.