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Your Current TOP TEN Man Wrestlers


DEAN

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It's the end of March and this is the top ten guys I've been digging the last 30 days.

10.  Kenou- Pro Wrestling NOAH.  Been really good in with the 50 year olds that have invaded NOAH.

9. Jake Lee- All Japan Pro Wrestling.  I've dug all the intermitten matches I've seen.  He is the male Barry Windham.  Yes.  He is.

8. Fresero Jr- Mexico Indies.  Since there is a plethora of indie lucha on the internet, he is one of the guys who always sticks out as a good rudo.

7. Demonio Infernal- Mexico Indies.  He is also a good rudo who tags with Fresero usually, though he is the Booker T of the two.

6. Shigehiro Irie- Strong Hearts.  He is GREAT in All Japan and really good in Colega.  I think he has wrestled more this year than anyone on earth.  According to cagematch.net, he has wrestled 49 matches so far!

5. Kento Miyahara- All Japan Pro Wrestling.  He so much better than  he is annoying.  The way he leaned into Irie offense a couple weeks ago was fucking legendary.

4. Jun Akiyama- Dramatic Dream Team.  I would assume Konosuke Takeshita has had a better month but nobody puts his matches on the internet, so the WILDY RESURGENT Jun Akiyama is my DDT winner.  Akiyama was doing comedy matches like a year ago, wasn't he?  Now he is bringing the main event style to DDT.

3. WALTER- NXT.  Finally, he is on my TV!  YEA!  Crush some motherfuckers!

2. T-HAWK- Strong Hearts.  Colega Pro was so watchable for a minute there and it was all because T-HAWK was on my computer screen.

1. Villano III Jr- Mexican Indies.  Great heat machine who somehow is over as a rudo.  Will bump like a psycho and is just fucking great.

So.  Who have you been digging?

 

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Okay, post-stabbing, here is my list. It will definitely not be as TRVE KVLT as Dean's because he has started once again to watch more wrestling than any human possible (don't stop!). I will try to do some deep dives though. 

Fujita -- See above.

Katsuhiko Nakajima -- Always liked him. Such a sneering grinning dick nowadays. He will also kick you directly in the face. 

Eddie Kingston -- This man should have a match and a promo every single Dynamite but now his ankle is "broken" so he can only do one, dammit. 

Timothy Thatcher -- Not a great promo, but love his style. Catch wrestling~!

Chris Dickinson -- Him and Timmy (what was that evil name that Ciampa came up with for him? Terrible Timmy?) would make a great tag team. Physically the only guy that screams "muscular pro wrestler" than him to me is Alexander Hammerstone. Bonus points for the Pazuzu references. 

Zack Sabre Jr. -- I have gone on a long NJPW hiatus since they went off my TV but I will leave him up here for promos alone, with no doubt he's holding up his end in-ring.

LA Park -- It's LA Park

Hijo del Vikingo -- I want to add another luchador but this year has been rough (I really need to watch more VIII Jr.). One of the best highflyers and if he had a bloodfeast match then he'd be way up there. Go seek out Demus under whatever bridge he lives beneath and have a match with him, kid! 

Cesaro -- It's Cesaro. Best utility player in the game. Hopefully getting a push. 

Darby Allin -- If his spine doesn't turn into mush he might go somewhere. 

I hope that's varied enough. Left off Bryan because he's Bryan, everybody knows. Speaking of which I'd have put Drew Gulak on if I'd seen a match of his since last year, when he had my favorite match of last year... with Bryan. List need more fat guys too but we haven't got a lot of Acey Romero doing much more than comedy skits and Tankman's been all squashes. 

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13 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Eddie Kingston -- This man should have a match and a promo every single Dynamite but now his ankle is "broken" so he can only do one, dammit. 

LA Park -- It's LA Park

I totally flaked on AEW.  But I guess the  guy I'm really digging is Kenny Omega, which is mostly the work of Don Callis.  Rey Fenix has also been pretty awesome this month too.

I watch ROH every week but sometimes fast forward through it unless Rush and family are wrestling.  I'm digging Kenny King the last few weeks.  There a batch of vanilla guys who are in the Pure division that I couldn't point out a line up.

I can't watch MLW without a crowd.  I pretty much just watch the women in WWE unless WALTER appears on my screen, so I fast forward through more wrestling than I watch on TV.

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Somehow I've stuck with MLW. There is ambient noise from a bar or something right next door so it's not as bad as TNA where you can hear a pin drop. As far as ROH goes I think Dalton Castle is an honorable (heh) mention. Shit, what about Rush or Dragon Lee? 

I would have also liked to put somebody from Championship Wrestling from Hollywood on there (besides Dickinson, who is freelance anyway [and what has Freelance been up to?!]) but I always end up erasing their DVR for some reason. I should listen to you guys and fucking keep up already. 

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10- Ever Rise WWE- This is probably cheating since it's two guys but love those dude. They don't get much ring time but they are always entertaining

9- Eddie Colon- WWC: No crowd WWC is a tough watch but Eddie has been great since his return. Feuding with his brother and Cousin and beating up jobbers every week.

8- Jey Uso- WWE: Been killing it on Smackdown with Roman. Every match he has is at least good

7- Jon Moxley AEW- I liked him as Ambrose in WWE but his AEW run has been incredible. Glad he is with Kingston now

6- Timothy Thatcher WWE- Been injured lately but his matches are must see. Especially the ones with Ciampa

5- Eddie Kingston- AEW- Not much needs to be said. Incredible promo and good matches

5- WALTER- So glad he's on the main NXT even if it's just for a a couple weeks

4- Rey Fenix AEW- My favorite guy in AEW. Best flyer in the game

3- Sheamus WWE- He just has one banger after another. Works incredibly stiff. Need him vs WALTER for the NXT uk title

2- Daniel Bryan- WWE Continues to be great. This feud with Roman has reignited something in him

1- Roman Reigns WWE- The best wrestler in the world IMO. The heel run is legendary.

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Ricky Starks - just exudes “I need to watch this guy”

Sheamus - agree with Tim. Is he the sneaky top 5-10 guy in the world right now? Like you don’t actively think about Sheamus, but all he does is put on clinics.

Darby Allin - Cool as fuck

Eddie Kingston - yeah

Fenix - yeah x2

Roman Reigns - untouchable right now. Probably my overall #1 seed.

Montez Ford - Love this dude. Needs to break out as a singles. That frog splash!

Big E - Best work of his career 

Wardlow - best squash guy in wrestling and bad ass look

Don Callis - Kenny sucks, but Don is so good. I wanted to pick a manager here and it was close between Callis and MVP.

Edited by For Great Justice
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Other than the occasional match that gets posted here, I pretty much just watch NJPW and AEW for current wrestling these days. For obvious reasons, I haven't been hitting any live shows, so no Osaka indie guys on this list, sadly.

Also, my list is more "who am I excited to watch next" than "who has been the best this past month."

Fénix

Irie (it was his birthday yesterday!}

Minoru Suzuki

Tomohiro Ishii (#s 3 and 4 are probably influenced more by their G1 clubbering masterpiece than by anything they did in the NJ Cup, if I'm being honest)

JD Drake (the absolute star of AEW Dark, in my opinion)

Bear Country (my current favourite tag team)

 King (easily the best promo guy in wrestling right now)

Shingo (he should have won the Cup)

Jon Silver (get better soon Meat Man!)

 

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I love LA Park; on MLW at least ever since they came back he's looked shot to hell. I don't know if he's just mailing it in as there's no crowd or if age has caught up to him but he seems to be barely mobile and it makes me sad as before the stoppage he was the highlight of the show.

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Guest Jimbo_Tsuruta

Reigns, Kingston (give him the belt Tony!), Shingo, Allin, Sheamus, WALTER, Bryan, Callis, Fenix, Suzuki

Edited by Jimbo_Tsuruta
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1. WALTER - No bigger "oh shit" threat in wrestling now that Lesnar drained all his good will. He's like AJ Vader, Hansen, and Williams all rolled into one.

2. Finn Balor - I was apprehensive when he came back to NXT, but WWE hasn't had an ace this good since Austin's heyday.

3. Kenny Omega - There are few more overused and inaccurate descriptors in wrestling than "next Shawn Michaels," and ok, Kenny's way too far along in his career for that, but he is doing a damn good job combining on-screen and off-screen 97 HBK into one character right now.

4. Santos Escobar - Has made the CW title look like big deal. He has the look and skill to go much farther.

5. Rey Fenix - Best offense in wrestling.

6. MJF - Tough to imagine a better douchey heel.

7. Eddie Kingston/Jon Moxley - Yeah, I'm putting them together, because their double promo segments are what I care about.

8. Daniel Bryan - Old reliable.

9. Tomasso Ciampa - Somehow his matches and angles usually end up being among the best on the show.

10. Miro - He's been laying low, but few can flip the switch from clown to killer better.

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Similarly to Gordy, my scope is quite limited to NJPW, some AJPW and Australian Indies, but this is the list of my top 10 given that context. No real order to it besides number 1 though. 

1. Hiromu Takahashi - my vote for best of 2020 (so many great matches with Ospreay, Ishii, Despy, Lee, Eagles to name just a few) and looked to be carrying that into 2021 until another unfortunate injury. So charismatic and unique, if he was a bit taller and a heavyweight I think NJPW would have their new ace (and they still might)

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Go Ace! I don't think he'll ever fall off my top 10, Tanahashi got me back into wrestling in 2012 after a few years off. He was the first Japanese wrestled I ever really hot into back in 2003. Hoping he has a great NEVER title run, looking good so far.

3. Shingo Takagi - maybe the best in-ring wrestler in New Japan at the moment (sorry Ishii!), would love to see him go the next step but fear he'll fill the Ishii role.

4. El Desperado - Super under rated finally getting some of the spotlight. Don't care what Meltzer or anyone else says, the BoSJ final was my match of the year, the unmasking part was boss.

5. Jake Lee - Only guy keeping me invested in All Japan, really hoping they pull the trigger on him soon or they'll risk Goto-ing him. Would actually love to see him mix it up with some of the New Japan guys sometime.

6. Jeff Cobb - Cobb is a beast! Been a huge fan of him since Lucha Underground. Tour of the Islands is my favourite move too.

7. Slex - it's hard to rate the Aussie scene after being switched off for so long. Slex is one of the guys I think has all the tools to make it big somewhere (signed to RoH at the moment). The recent matches with Brooks and Moretti are worth looking at, as well as his 2019/2020 feuds with Brooksy and Gino Gambino.

8. Dangerous Tekkers - My favourite  tag team, love their chemistry and their feud with Golden Aces gave the IWGP tag belts some credibility and focus. Hope they win them back soon.

9. Robbie Eagles - A highlight of the Sydney scene, had a great BoSJ (besides the Wato match). Still get goosebumps from the 2.9 count from his match with Gino. Hope he can get back to Japan again soon, but stay away from the Empire.

10. Ritchie Taylor - Probably better Aussie options but Ritchie is a local Melbourne guy who gives it everything no matter if it's a big MCW show or infront of 50 people in Geelong. Really good match with Tommy Knight from the first DMDU show is in the matches thread and his stuff with DCT in MCW is worth checking out. Not to mention probably the nicest guy in Aussie wrestling. 

 

It was hard cutting that down to 10, apologies for the long post!

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1. Daniel Bryan. The GOAT.

2. WALTER. Big man chop fucking shit out of puny insects.

3. Roman Reigns. Run of his career as the Tribal Chief and The Head of the Table.

4. Hiroshi Tanahashi. Amazing he's still going strong at his age. Hope he gets a long reign with the NEVER Openweight Championship.

5. Shingo Takagi. Might well have had the best match at Wrestle Kingdom 15 against Jeff Cobb. Was definitely in my NJPW MOTY so far vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Beginnings, *****. 

6. Cesaro. So under appreciated by the WWE. Should be a multi time world champion.

7. Eddie Kingston. Promo master.

8. Ray Fenix. Best high flyer around, the way he uses the ropes.

9. Zack Sabre Jr. Technical wizard. One of my favourites who I don't mind losing so much in expectation for his post match hissy fits.

10. Don Callis for his promos and commentary. The Invisible Hand.

Honourable mentions to Hiromu Takahashi, Minoru Suzuki, Paul Heyman and Finn Balor. Balor might make my top ten. Will think on that.

Edited by The Natural
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I honestly think WALTER is the best wrestler in the world right now. 

Aside from that, Danielson, Reigns, FTR/Revival, MJF, McIntyre, Cesaro, Thatcher and Randy Orton (yes, I'm serious) are very high on my list. 

If I go the @odessastepsroute and name classic wrestlers I currently consider my favourites: 90ies Kawada, SMWs Studd Stable (Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden), 96/97 Steve Austin, 95-97 Bret Hart, Ron Wright (especially as a promo), Harley Race, Midsouth Duggan, WALTER & Danielson stay on. 

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I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to Park. He is tagging now so he can rely on his son more. The cursing promos with subtitles are still great though, and they usually involve him cooking food or yelling at Contra to stay out of his refrigerator, so there's those. 

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2 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to Park. He is tagging now so he can rely on his son more. The cursing promos with subtitles are still great though, and they usually involve him cooking food or yelling at Contra to stay out of his refrigerator, so there's those. 

Last I checked, he still did topes- so he still brings the danger.

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Kento Miyahara

Jake Lee

Kaito Kiyomiya

Walter

Zeus

Roman Reigns

Finn Balor

Kota Ibushi

Shingo

Jay White

In lieu of a long write up, these are the guys who I know I have to watch their matches, go out of my way to catch. Honorable mentions go to Tomohiro Ishii, Jun Akiyama and Jon Moxley.

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10.TIE Christian Cassanova/Daniel Garcia-Cassanova is now in WWE land. Him and Garcia just had a great match at the last big Limitless Show.

09.Johnny Swinger-Impact He is the main reason I don't miss Impact each week.

08.Vladimir Koloff-Indies all over the deep south,No not the old dude. This guy was trained by Alabama Doink,don't hold that against him. And is one of the best in the deep south in the ring and on the mic.

07.Derrick King-CWF Memphis The best guy they have on the current Memphis TV wrestling.

06.Dirty Doug Wyzer-Limitless Wrestling How can I not love a dirty hobo that wrestles in a modified Ultimo Guerrero mask?

05.Bu Ku Dao-MLW Been singing Dao's praises since 2012 when I saw him in Powerslam and Wildkat. Love that he is on nationwide tv and they didn't make him change his name.

04.Rey Fury-Indies all over the south,Yea I know Rey is kinda unknown outside the deep south. Look him up on Youtube.

03.Jon Gresham-ROH The best thing in ROH this past year.

02-Danny Limelight-CWFH and AEW Dark/Elevation Solo or in a tag team Danny is just a blast to watch.

01-Nick Stapp-CAPW and Limitless Just had an amazing match on last weeks Limitless

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1 hour ago, bobholly138 said:

(...)

07.Derrick King-CWF Memphis The best guy they have on the current Memphis TV wrestling.

(...)

I guess some things never change. From what I have seen, he was the only reason to watch Power Pro more than 20 years ago.

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21 hours ago, Robert s said:

I guess some things never change. From what I have seen, he was the only reason to watch Power Pro more than 20 years ago.

Yea the first thing I asked Dustin Starr when we interviewed him before CWF Memphis started was "Do yall have Derrick King". And he of course said yes. They also got Precious but I doubt most people outside TN/MS know who Precious is.

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