Favorite Active Wrestlers

While my initial response to Styles' winning the IWGP title when it happened back when was cynicism, seeing in it the total dissolution of the promotion of Fujinami into a Japanese answer to ROH, it didn't take seeing too many performances to realize he'd clearly improved from the already good wrestler I'd had some familiarity with. That said, even with showings as great as the MiSu match, I really had no idea just how fucking good this guy was till the Roman series, which comprised two brilliant matches the highlight of which were his tour de force. Then followed his heel turn and he's just stunned me again and again. He excels in really every facet of pro wrestling, but what puts Styles just a slight bit above the others in the huge collection of world class workers that comprise the modern wrestling scene is simply his ability to have great matches; AJ has killed it match after match with fantastic performances year round. It was slow coming, but I see it now; "Phenomenal" is no mere moniker.

I just love watching this guy. Zack's mat wrestling is just the most fun thing; the tricky reverals, the spectacular blocks, the dizzying smoothness, the way he plays so much with individual holds, god it's a joy. I still remember watching him and TJ Perkins go on the mat, and having a visceral response like that of newer pro wrestling fans seeing head drop suplexes for the first time. Not to say he's all just sheer flash, though; he's shown against Gulak and Thatcher both the ability to work a more applied technical style, basing entire matches around mat wrestling and succeeding beautifully. He also rules at finishing stretches, often incorporating his love of Japanese wrestling with the same skill he does with his love of British wrestling. He's a guy who wrestles with peerless beauty, understands with a keenness really no Japanese wrestler in a long time has what big bombfests need, and has in the span of two years put on numerous classic; this is the start of a future all time great.

The best worker from Japan today, and more broadly of this generation. Being super babyface in NXT by virtue of being Japanese, he's not able to play the arrogant asshole he was in Japan that let him bring out the most of his obscene charisma, his mannerisms instead now working to endear him more, but this is hardly even a price to pay when he's now getting to have great match after great match. Every big match he's had this year has been great, with the two Samoa Joe matches really standing out as some of the better matches this year

I gave it more deliberation than a man with a job, college, and a shit ton of things to do ought to, but I finally came to this conclusion; Brian Kendrick is the greatest character wrestler today, and one of the best of all time. At his core is a great wily veteran, but more than this is the man who's lost what once made him him with age. He's an unabashed heel, yet he's forced always to fight from under, not in the sense of stooging, but in being dominated and outclassed. He's forced to scratch and claw to create any open, and to exploit with every ounce of violence and intelligence he can muster till he can finally wrench the neck back. He's as mean as Finlay and as villainously smart as Ogawa. His ring work is brilliant, as well, being a master of focused control, and able to pull of flash submission teases with a real deftness. I mean, this is a man who used a Burning Hammer and managed to not only not make it annoying (fuck you Dan Maff) but absolutely brilliant

It is unfair to talk about Riddle's first year in the same terms as other wrestlers', since he came in as an accomplished MMA fighter with a fleshed-out personality he'd grown accustomed to playing before a camera, but still, what a fucking start! He's had lots of really good matches, being both a great indie dream match guy and an ultra legit MMA practitioner turned pro wrestler. His match with Thatcher is one of the best matches of this year, a deeply brutal war told entirely through wrestling.

Also, I've always imagined myself as someone who'd have become a frat boy were someone to have stopped me from becoming a narcissistic windbag, and Riddle's entire character makes me regret somewhat not having become a bro. I mean, it's almost certainly for the best that I didn't, but I can't deny, smoking weed and playing Zelda in a "No Fat Chicks" shirt with Matt Riddle sounds obscenely fun.

He's one dimensional, and has blown a lot of matches, but the highs he's capable of make him an elite among elites. Thatcher is a master of applied technical work, of imbuing grappling with not only intensity and violence but also a rich psychology. He's also one of the best strikers today, possessing a sickening European uppercut and gnarly headbutt.

Another guy I just love to watch wrestle, Yehi is a truly singular wrestler, combining an excellent technical acumen, wild, distinct charisma, and unorthodoxy Michael Cole wouldn't be wrong in calling such. I love Yehi for his ability to pull out shit I haven't seen; brutal stomps, weird strikes, crazy high impact moves, it's all so fresh and unique. He's clearly preparing to be one of the great indie workers of this generation, and when he's this good already one really has to anticipate his development

While a lot his offense is pretty weak and his moveset leaves me cold, Ambrose's charisma is off the charts. It's a Shinjiro Ohtani/Sinsuke Nakamura level of sheer personality, and makes him fun to watch by virtue of it. He's also excellent in playing his neo Funk character, coming across as real madman alternating between trying to wrestle and trying to win a sanctioned brawl. Besides his charisma, he's also one of the better sellers today, being incredibly expressive and able to sell a damaged limb with such ease and consistency no other wrestler has ever shown. Oh, and he bumps like a nut. And he rules at FIP as perhaps no one else today.

I discovered his work recently and fell in love, and now he's back! He killed it against Chris Hero and the rather lame Ethan Page, so ring rust is clearly no issue. I don't know what he's been up to, but I pray I get to see at least one more big match Togo classic like the Honda match

My immediate response to Mike Bailey was "holy shit this kid rules", and while watching a few random matches has revealed that he's young and on the overambitious side, that sentiment still holds. He has amazing strikes, is ludicrously athletic, and has this really endearing babyface charisma about him; while I'm deeply sad to see he was banned from the country while on his roll, this means I might get to see him wrestle Dick Togo!

I finally decided to give up on my cynicism towards modern wrestling and just accept that the times have changed, and one of the best things to happen as a result was accepting that the modern puro resu slugfest is not going to stylistically resemble Hashimoto vs. Kawada, because there's a LOT to enjoy about Ishii's take on it. His offense is solid though unspectacular, and while I won't call him uncharismatic because he's simply not, I often struggle to buy him as the ultimate badass he tries to portray, but man is he great at dramatic pro wrestling. He just so gets how to build exchanges, and how to straddle the line between selling (which he does excellently) and no selling.

I've seen plenty, but I'm really unsure as to where I stand on Shibata. At times he's this spectacularly charismatic badass with ultra-violent strikes who puts on hugely dramatic sprints (see: his classic against Honma at the 2014 G-1 Climax), while at other points he comes across as clown marking out for his own character. I could just be mistaking the faults in the trappings of modern puro resu for his own failings as a worker, though I really feel I need to dig deeper to know for sure.

All the performances I'd seen him give in WWE were really frustrating, as he seemed to shake off everything that made him a major contender for the title of best Japanese worker of his generation and become a generic ethnic babyface. That said, if Nakamura's quick ascension and Ibushi's stint in the CWC are any indication, they're clearly fine just letting Japanese guys be Japanese guys since styles have become more homogenized, so assuming he's not completely broken down, I see him shortly doing some of his best work.

One of my favorite wrestlers ever, and a major contender for most in-ring charisma of any wrestler. I avoided his NOAH work because everything I saw showed him working against his strengths in traditionally "big" matches when Suzuki's a guy who, like Thatcher (though not as limited due to having an amazing character and just being so many levels above), only gets his match, but, if his 2012 masterpiece with Tanahashi is any indication, Gedo has a better understanding of how to book matches with him.

His excellent 2015 PWG match with Zack showed he'd clearly leveled up a good bit (which was quite impressive because I was always a fan), but how dissappointed I was with some other performances kind of killed my interest. Still, I'm sure he has it in him to come through with similar excellence, especially now that he's got road agents to keep him from doing shit like knocking out referees then trying to hit his finisher or going 40 minutes for the sake of delivering on a match's importance