WWE : 10 Wrestling Soul Mates of the Modern Era

Amidst the reunion of the Shield this past Monday on RAW, the meta-narrative of Dean Ambrose's departure allowed for a genuine moment of reflection between him and his brother Seth Rollins. The Architect termed the Lunatic Fringe as his 'Wrestling Soulmate'.

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In other words, Rollins sees Ambrose as the person who brings out the best in him whether they wrestle against each other or as a team.

Wrestling Soulmates thus are two opposing performers/teams who will forever be tied to one another, no matter the trajectory of their careers.

This doesn't mean that they are a tag team or ever even teammates, it also doesn't mean that they have the best matches against each other.

Wrestling Soulmates both define and transcend the very concept of rivalries and teams in pro-wrestling.

These are forces who gravitate towards one another regardless of circumstance or their relationships. In many ways, these are both equal and as different as chalk and cheese.

They are from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Ric Flair to Mitsuhara Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada.

They've emerged and evolved through generations from Terry Funk and Mick Foley to Trish and Lita, including many in today's era.

However, they are not Randy Orton and John Cena to Pentagon Jr. and Fenix. Good to great matches and extensive rivalries or team-ups don't make wrestling soul mates as much as that connect does, one's the audience can always bask in.

Here are ten such match-ups that define the term wrestling soulmates for the modern era.

Honorable Mentions

A piping hot tea party and a piping hot feud

The modern-day mantra of 'Fight Forever' means that there's a lot of extended rivalries across the years and promotions that have defined individual Superstars.

Yet great rivalries in quantity or quality don't always result in the opposing individuals/teams being soulmates. It takes a lot more.

Even then, there is still a few of showdowns that have earned the tag of wrestling soulmates but just couldn't make the final cut.

Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair: Best friends out of the ring, Lynch and Charlotte have teamed up and competed against each other several times.

They tie together perfectly yet despite WWE's current narrative path with the duo, it seems doubtful that even with their presence at the top of the Women's divisions they will always tie back to each other, unlike another horsewoman pairing.

Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly: The former Future Shock teammates and current Undisputed Era factions brothers have a long and storied history, yet it isn't one that has anything unique to it.

It especially doesn't hold a candle to other soul-mates simply on the basis that it is quite obvious despite his talents, that Kyle O'Reilly won't supersede Adam Cole as a big-time singles star.

Kairi Sane and Io Shirai: Undoubtedly from their time in the independents at STARDOM to NXT, Sane and Shirai have made their name individually but whether it's as rivals or budding faction mates as Threedom and now as the Sky Pirates, their dual signing by WWE and renowned best friendship makes these two eternal soul mates for life.

There undoubtedly a lot more wrestling soul mates and the vagueness of the term means that there is a lot of debatable pairings missing from the list as well as in it. So let's check out the top ten.

#10 The Miz and Daniel Bryan

On a pure wrestling basis, if anyone were Daniel Bryan's soulmate it is either Nigel McGuiness or CM Punk.

Yet if we're strictly speaking in the context of the modern era then no one embodies this better than the Miz.

Focusing much more on the idea of the soul mate encompassing everything in conflict and mirroring each other, then Daniel Bryan and The Miz fit perfectly together.

The brash cocky reality TV breakout The Miz is just as much a contrast to the indie purist and headstrong Daniel Bryan, as they are compatriots thanks to their distinct egos when it comes to the squared circle and performance art.

Ever since Daniel Bryan joined WWE, ironically as The Miz's protege; the two men have mirrored each other in both rise and fall and all else.

Their rivalry regardless of alignment though always restricted to Miz as the heel (so far) is a symbol of the different voices in pro-wrestling between management and fans.

Yet it goes beyond this, as The Miz and Bryan challenge each other's notions and values to the point of the extreme. The two are a fascinating pair, often finding their way to each other even when Bryan couldn't compete.

#9 The Usos and The New Day

Made from a different dollar, cut from the same cloth

WWE's inconsistent interest in tag team wrestling may seem to position New Day and The Usos as the best of rivals and nothing else.

Yet in many ways despite this distinction, The New Day and The Usos are most definitely more than just iconic rivals but real soul mates for a number of reasons.

They are in a weird way WWE's version of a spiritual sequel to the Freebirds and Von Erichs, the epitome of performers destined to 'fight forever'.

At the same time, the Usos and New Day are a composite of performers overlooked by management due to many reasons from the aforementioned tag team apathy the company has to possibly even race.

These are men held back on several occasions, each team taking to it in different and similar ways.

For New Day it meant hustling and reinventing to take any job thrown at them and turn it into gold.

For The Usos, despite their heritage, it meant to struggle and evolve to become undoubtedly the premiere tag team of their era.

Both are often found separated when necessary but will find their way to each other and become rivals for eternity, yet so much more thanks to shared experiences.

Regardless of their feuds and clashing ideologies, these battle-tested veterans have tons of mutual respect after being through hell, fire and brimstone together.

#8 Samoa Joe and AJ Styles

Considering how far back their history dates, Styles and Joe might seem low on the list. This is simply because each one has managed to transcend their feud, friendship and all quite easily. Secondly, without their third wheel in Christopher Daniels, this one seems a bit off.

Sure Daniels is still wrestling just as these two men are, but it seems there is no moment in sight where the three might find themselves together in the ring.

It's especially sad considering the feuds and fanfare Styles has shared with Daniels through the years. Regardless, the two TNA originals are always going to find ways to get back to the dance, most recently in a fun callback to their rivalry before the Elimination Chamber.

If anyone knows how good Styles is and how to get to him, it's Samoa Joe. Their epic clashes have surprisingly translated well from their heydays to WWE.

Though it shouldn't really be so considering how the two men have often stated that it's an easy mechanical day when they go against one another, as they know what the other is going for in an instant.

Joe and Styles don't need any story or moment to get going together, throw them in the ring and its pure magic almost always.

#7 Sasha Banks and Bayley

As mentioned earlier, there is one pairing regardless of their standing in the WWE that defines soul mates for the women's division. A perfect sequel in its own right to Trish Stratus and Lita, Banks and Bayley will always stand together in the annals of wrestling history.

This is all the truer by the fact that they are now the first ever women's tag team champions of the new lineage of titles.

Banks and Bayley can never and I'm sure they will never want to, disassociate from each other thanks to the perfectly told arc of their rivalry and friendship in NXT. That WWE creative had nearly botched it doesn't matter.

Eventually, the cycle shall return and as is with any tag team, one day Banks and Bayley will find themselves on opposing sides.

This is when the real sparks will fly for a WrestleMania worthy feud, a spate of reunions and a trilogy of matches at the Grandest Stage Of Them All.

In all that there is nothing like the perfection and electricity of seeing these two in the ring together, that's what soul to soul chemistry is all about.

#6 Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll

Every good hero needs a dastardly villain

Every great hero needs a villain and no matter how many struggles each one has in their path, often times the two opposing rivals to come to clash once more. In wrestling lore, Marty Scurll is to Will Ospreay what Lex Luthor is to Superman. There's no better way to put it than that.

Most definitely they are neither one's greatest challenge, yet Ospreay and Scurll regardless of where they are, find a way to make it to the dance against each other at their level best.

Some might even suggest neither is the other's biggest rival and while it's debatable, the fact is their clashing personas as characters and the Superstar quality of their fights defined by the superhero-super villain formula makes them perfect mirrors.

The wrestling soul mate isn't just about the historic volume of the feud. It is as the larger than life world of wrestling, about the clash of identities.

Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper aren't the greatest of rivals but in many ways came to define one another during the rise of Hulkamania, Piper proving the perfect foil to the too the pure Hogan.

As Marty and Will try to transcend their personas and trajectories away from each other, they will find it impossible to not come to collision once more. It's the purest superhero saga; never-ending but always mesmerizing.

#5 Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins

"You are my wrestling soulmate..."-Seth Rollins to Dean Ambrose

The reason the discussion exists in the first place, on multiple occasions Seth Rollins has been vocal about what Dean Ambrose means to him in his career.

His first match against Ambrose ages ago on FCW, brought out in him something special and to this day he sees it as the turning point in their WWE careers.

There could have been no two different personas and wrestlers from the independents in the WWE together.

Where Rollins refined himself in Ring of Honor as the classic indie wrestler, Ambrose as Jon Moxley took the harsh path of defining his persona as that of a hardcore fanatic.

Yet the two bred themselves for the love of the business and that is what created magic in 2011 in that FCW ring.

It translated later when they united as two-thirds of an era-defining faction in the Shield. While WWE worked hard to make Roman Reigns the star of the group as they broke up, it allowed these two men to then build their own generational rivalry as a broken brotherhood spilled across years into Rollins final redemption and Dean's absolute revenge.

The culmination seeing the two come together, break apart once more and come together again.

As Ambrose rides into the sunset, its only fitting Rollins gets to acknowledge the weight on his heart of what his brother means to him.

The Shield might have been the Roman Reigns vehicle but there's no denying its the tragic but hopeful love story between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

#4 Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada

There's a sense of pitchforks coming out, considering how low this is on the list. Yet the truth is Tanahashi and Okada represent a quick generational change in New Japan.

If Tanahashi had it his way, the Kota Ibushi could have been at his place as a three musketeer long ago.

Instead, while much of his early rise reflects in feuds with Shibata and more importantly Shinsuke Nakamura. Tanahashi for many fans today ties to Okada, as much as the Rainmaker is defined by their feud.

Yet there's that sense that the two are balancing a rivalry and clash of generations more than anything else.

Sure Okada and Tanahashi do gravitate towards each other on many occasions, including now forming a respectful bond and possible tag team. Yet, their relationship is a singular feud of an upstart challenging an icon. It's a standard torch passing narrative.

Unlike the others on this list, there isn't any real mirroring or contrast to their personas; they're two versions of top guys any company would be lucky to have.

Okada has as much chemistry with Omega in the ring, while funnily enough ideological clashes stem between Tanahashi and Omega.

Yet these two are forever soul mates as they are a generation gap defining rivalry that goes on till the end of time, something no promotion has ever truly boasted off.

A microcosm of the never-ending continuity in pro wrestling.

#3 Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa

It's a testament to NXT's storytelling that despite probably sharing many locker rooms across the independent scene, it is in NXT that truly Gargano and Ciampa became a tag team and so much more.

Their multi-year long narrative on the NXT brand proves the power of wrestling as a narrative art form. From the thrown together team succeeding beyond belief to the heart-aching betrayal, the rabid feud and the tragic fall of Gargano.

Their reunion is fresh and dark but with a hint of redemption for Gargano, unfortunately, cut short by a horrible neck injury to Ciampa.

It leaves this tale incomplete, but as mentioned before the never-ending long-form narrative of wrestling means that #DIY will find one another again someday.

It's one of the most potent and cinematic tales in professional wrestling history, where the lines of heel and face blur to reveal complex characters.

At the core it is the heart and soul of the two performers, playing this maddening dance that makes them the ultimate reflections of one another.

#2 Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Fight forever was a chant perfectly created for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Brought up together from Canada into the independents as the closest of friends and eventual partners, the former duo of Kevin Steen and El Generico took ROH and PWG by storm including winning the tag team championships.

However, as it often does, fractures formed giving us the ultimate heel version of Steen to combat the underdog from the underground.

The duo came to highlight the latter years of ROH's past decade, in timely battles of epic proportions all building to a ladder war at Final Battle. The feud and their friendship are so hot, it has carried over to NXT then WWE.

Despite many feeling that Owens has gone way beyond Zayn, who was in fact signed before him, there isn't a moment where Owens has been able to outrun this partnership.

That for any second after Zayn's return by his friends' side, there is a fear that they will fight again means how explosive this relationship is. It's artistry of a higher order between brotherhood and hate, trumped only by one coupling defined by pure love.

#1 Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi

Whether because of the ties of friendship or for the shared passion of the craft, pushing the innuendo and subtext aside; there is no greater dalliance in wrestling history than that between Omega and Ibushi.

The Golden Lovers may often stray far from another, with broken hearts and wounded pride just as part of their legacy as unbridled love. The two men cannot be divided from one another and their careers.

Most importantly there is a part of every fan that believes, the Golden Lovers shall ride once again and again.

Though competitively the two men haven't fought as much in the ring as the others on the list, nor is their tag team as classic as revisionist history may have you believe.

Yet, the Golden Lovers are a whispered memory of what the drive means in this business for the performers a part of it.

To both men regardless of their conflicting career choices, pro wrestling is an art form, a performance that can bring a higher rush of spirituality like no other.

It all begins with the legend of when Omega saw Ibushi wrestle in a video and deemed it his destiny to compete with this man.

It has since built into a fruitful relationship, not just between the lovers but fans as well. The LGBTQ subtext of the narrative sees Omega-Ibushi as a unique and beloved arc of its own, the drive for the same goal makes it wrestling at its finest.

Regardless of their ties of friendship or the mirrored passion of the craft, the truth is this is a bond of two souls destined to fight and love forever. After all, isn't that what soulmates are.

Edited by Alan John