The Broken Brilliance of 2016's Greatest Wrestler

"Wrestling Weekday, I knew you'd come!"

In 2017, TNA could not even make the list of the Top 10 Wrestlers of the year. But as the promotion puts their first star on the list, he comes in as the greatest star of the year.

Image credit: Matt Hardy.

Matt Hardy started 2016 with his second reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. But strangely, that might have been the low point of the year for him. His reign came with a heel turn and a new enforcer in Tyrus, but it never quite worked. The reign ended just a few weeks later with Matt's loss to Drew Galloway.

From there, he started a feud with Jeff Hardy and the true brilliance started to come forth. After two straight brutal losses to his brother, it seemed like Matt might be done with wrestling. But just a few weeks later, Jeff's old alter ego Willow appeared in the ring despite Jeff already being present. But after beatings at the hand of three different Willows, Matt revealed himself as the mastermind of the false form. He declared himself broken, a shadow of his former self obsessed only with the deletion of Jeff, a man he would now only refer to as Brother Nero.

He lost two more matches against Brother Nero, but Matt had one more battle in mind with his brother. The war would continue at Matt Hardy's personal compound, in a battle Matt dubbed "The Final Deletion."

And in one night, the wrestling world would change forever.


From there, the Broken Brilliance finally started to shine. Now the sole owner of the Hardy name, he brought the now "obsolete" Brother Nero into his fold. From there, the tag titles became their target, but it seemed clear this was still Matt's show. From appearances on just about every wrestling podcast still in character to promo after promo to premonition after premonition.

Over the course of the year, Matt became the biggest star in TNA by leaps and bounds, and arguably the most talked about wrestler in the world. He made King Maxel, Senor Benjamin, Vanguard 1 and even The Dilapidated Boat famous names in the wrestling world. An epic feud with Decay started the path to Delete and Decay.

He ended the year with Total Nonstop Deletion and the Tag Team Apocalypto. But Hardy's Great War is far from over.

"Delete! Delete! Delete!"

AJ Styles: #2 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

Last year, I rated AJ as the eleventh best wrestler in the world on my personal list. Through his second year in New Japan Pro Wrestling, he completely reinvented himself as an exciting star after years of mediocre booking in TNA, where he was arguably the biggest star in the company despite TNA's seeming desire to focus on anyone but him much of the time. Two IWGP Heavyweight Championship did far more for his career than any of the five world championships he won in TNA.

Then 2016 happened.

Image credit: WWE.

Opening the year against #5 wrestler on this list in front of 25,000 fans in the Tokyo Dome couldn't have been the worst way to kick off a year. While he didn't beat Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental title there, he did manage to steal the show even as he prepared to leave New Japan for greener pastures.

The 2016 Royal Rumble continued a streak of rumble matches lacking in well thought out booking, but the one thing it got right was Styles debut as the third man in the match. While it did no favors for Roman Reigns as the newcomer already had far more cheers than the supposed top babyface of the company, it cemented Styles as an important new player in WWE. He continued his battles with names on this list, battling #7 Chris Jericho in a series of show-stealing matches yet again.

From there, WWE showed they finally understood what they missed for all the years they didn't sign AJ to the promotion. Over the spring and summer, he feuded with the company's top two stars, barely losing to Roman Reigns in two title matches then turning heel on John Cena. Alongside The Club, he would go on to pick up multiple wins over "The Face That Runs the Place." When he finally beat Cena and Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Title, he even chose to mock Cena, dubbing himself "The Champ That Runs the Camp."

Since SummerSlam, AJ has dominated Smackdown's programming. It is hard to argue he's the best booked talent in the company today. He's been so impressive on the roster that he even was able to eat three straight losses to James Ellsworth without a bump in the step of his run on top of the WWE mountain.

While AJ turns forty later this year, he's barely lost a step in the wrestling ring since he was a young up-and-comer in the final days of WCW. One of the most seasoned stars in professional wrestling, if he stays healthy he could have an equally impressive 2017 with a place on the top of the Smackdown card very likely. Even if he should drop the title pre-Wrestlemania, AJ still has the potential to have an epic spot at that card, with rumors of Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement for one last match against "The Phenomenal One".

Asuka: #3 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

116 matches. 0 losses.

In sheer dominance, no one holds a candle to the woman once known as Kana. She has dominated the women's division of NXT since the year began. Not even Bayley's road to glory could slow her down. She dominated Bayley, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James over the course of the year. She handed multiple talents losses in under a minute.

Image credit: WWE.com.

And let's get this out of the way: Goldberg never looked this good as he dominated his way through WCW.

For while Asuka's win streak in NXT is impressive, perhaps it is her uncanny in ring acumen that should really get the most talk here. You can count on one hand the number of WWE talents as gifted as she is in striking and technical prowess. She can even pull out high flying moves when necessary although with her kicks and the Asuka Lock, she rarely needs to even think about the ropes.

At 35, she's older than almost every other woman on WWE's roster. (Only Tamina and the recently re-signed Mickie are older.) But though she's wrestling for over a decade, she's always worked a far more limited schedule than a regular WWE talent. Mixed with a style that looks aggressive but is built to limit much of the wear and tear a wrestler faces in the ring, she still has a lot of years ahead of her. With few injuries in her background, she seems built to be a dominant player in WWE well into her 40s.

Of course, when she arrives on the main roster will be anyone's guess. But in the mean time, expect her to be dominant on NXT until she's ready to be called up. And even if she loses the title, don't expect it to be by pinfall. WWE has triple threats and fatal four ways specifically to keep characters like Asuka dominant for many more months to come.

The 2016 Honorable Mentions List, Part Two

Tomorrow, we will return with the first of the top three, but today we take a look back at everyone else that made an impact in 2016. These figures all received multiple votes in our awards, but didn't quite earn enough to make it into the Top 10.

Image credit: WWE.

• Alexa Bliss: I would make a strong argument that Alexa earns a "Most Improved" award for the year. She showed tons of character on Smackdown Live and pretty much made that women's division competitive. Her feud with Becky Lynch has been nothing short of epic, and I look forward to her continuing her dominance in 2017. 
• Rosemary: TNA's resident mistress of decay has combined epic character work with her already capable in ring style, honed by years on the Canadian indies and in SHIMMER (where she played a very different character.) Joe Crowe sums her up wonderfully, saying, "She spews different colors of mist. And she, unlike almost all other big-league female wrestlers, has a character that goes beyond 'Lady who wrestles.'"
• Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson: It's no surprise there's crossover between the people that voted for The Revival and those who voted for Charlotte. Both of them have a lot of old school nostalgia at their base, but I personally think The Revival currently have a stronger game than the Raw Women's Champion.
• Seth Rollins: I can think of only a few big returns as bungled as WWE bringing back Seth Rollins. From his return as a heel to his turn against Triple H that hasn't shown any story progression (because that feud can't start until Wrestlemania season) to a series of so-so matches with Kevin Owens, he just could not get off the ground with Raw's weak booking. 
• Bobby Roode: Roode had a good first few months of the year in TNA as one half of Beer Money, but I doubt anyone voted for him for that. His Glorious arrival in NXT has revitalized his career. His song has inspired a great new character for him and he looks to have a strong 2017 in a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura. Of the names on this list, he's the one I suspect will rise the most on next year's list.
• Dean Ambrose: Dean seems like he'll never quite make this list. He's a solid in ring worker, but his gimmick and his go to spots have become stale as a babyface. Only Roman Reigns more desperately needs a heel turn in WWE. 
• Becky Lynch: Becky finally received a title in WWE, but her run as inaugural Smackdown Women's Champion was dwarfed by the rise of Alexa Bliss. As a babyface, she makes a far better underdog than she does a top dog which hopefully will mean a feud with La Luchadora in the coming weeks will give her some good in ring time without immediate rematch after rematch against Alexa.
• Sasha Banks: Last year's number one had some more great matches in 2016, but her year just couldn't compare to the previous. After a great Wrestlemania match, several of her matches with Charlotte were good but none seemed to be the game changing bouts she had with Bayley in the previous year. Still, Sasha could have a huge run in WWE still ahead of her, especially if she could make a move to the blue brand. 
• Tetsuya Naito: The leader of Los Ingobernables De Japon had one of the best years of any wrestler in New Japan. He won both the World Title and the Intercontinental Title, which he continues to hold as of this writing. While the return of Suzukigun might make Los Ingobernables play second fiddle for a bit, he's still cemented himself as a top star in the promotion and arguably a suitable replacement for Nakamura at the main event. Additionally, he has put up some of the best matches of any NJPW star in ROH where he's wrestled a great feud with Jay Lethal. 

Naito does evil like no one else. Image credit: NJPW.

That's the complete list of everyone that fell below the Top 10 line. With it, you may be able to determine your guesses for the top three wrestlers of the year. Any ideas? Share them in the comments below!

Charlotte: #4 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

Full disclosure: Charlotte is the highest ranked wrestler on this list I didn't vote for myself. While she was dominant in the Raw Women's Division through 2016, I didn't feel her in ring work was really as good as it could have been. If anything, I still feel like Charlotte has regressed since moving from NXT to WWE.

Charlotte very rarely was seen without Dana in her corner in 2016.
Image credit: WWE.com.

But this vote isn't just about me. Every other person that voted gave her a rating, most within their top five wrestlers. After just falling outside of the top ten last year, a strong argument could certainly be made for Charlotte's inclusion in the 2016 list. She wrestled at every single Raw or dual brand pay-per-view of the year. Her only pay-per-view loss was a tag match against Bayley and Sasha Banks, and even then Dana took the pinfall instead of her. And while she traded the title with Sasha on multiple Raw matches over the year, she's remained undefeated in singles competition on pay-per-view.

Of course, like all Raw heel champions, she depends solely on shenanigans to pick up the majority of her victories. While I don't hate the idea of heels cheating by any means, often Raw champions start to feel like Russo booked events with their endless need for cheap endings.

Contributor Joe Crowe—who ranked Charlotte as the top wrestler of the year—might best describe her success in the list. "For a wrestling history geek, it's just neat to see a legacy wrestler do well. But Charlotte doesn't try to be cool, she tries to be an old-school heel. I dig it."

Clearly, Joe was far from alone and that's why Charlotte deserves her place on the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016.

The Top Ten returns next week with the top three wrestlers of the year, starting with the highest ranked female wrestler on the list!

Shinsuke Nakamura: #5 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

"Fight forever!"

Those were the words chanted at Shinsuke Nakamura during his very first WWE match, an NXT bout two days before Wrestlemania between himself and Sami Zayn that lasted over twenty minutes. The bout was a match of the year contender smack dab in the middle of one of the best cards anywhere in wrestling in 2016.

Image credit: WWE.com.

But it wasn't Nakamura's first great highlight of 2016. That actually came on January 4th while still working for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He and AJ Styles put on the match of the night at Wrestle Kingdom 10 where Nakamura barely edged out the Bullet Club's leader to retain the Intercontinental title. Styles' show of respect post-match actually proved the catalyst that would have the rest of the Club turn on him and Styles leave the promotion for WWE himself.

Nakamura wrestled several great farewell matches for NJPW shortly afterward before he traveled to America for his NXT debut. He quickly became dominant on NXT television, where he successfully won every match he was in from March until November. He beat Zayn, Tye Dillinger, Austin Aries and Finn Balor all on his way to taking on Samoa Joe in August to win his first NXT championship.

Of course, Samoa Joe would also hand him his first loss, but Nakamura bounced back with two more big wins in the month of December to secure his place as NXT champ. Now he seems poised to ring in the new year in incredible ways for the brand.

Nakamura's unique charisma and aggressive in ring style make him one of the most interesting figures to watch on WWE television. Coupled with some great if often simple productions around him (look no farther than the Lee England Jr. violin solo at Takeover: Brooklyn II) and he shines like a star.


He's also one of the few stars I suspect will make a major splash on the main roster in 2017. The sky is truly the limits for the King of Strong Style, a man I doubt has seen his last entry in the year end Top 10 in 2016.

Next time, we will look at the very first talent to get a number one vote in the list and the only multi-generational star in the Top 10.

Kenny Omega: #6 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

I am actually a bit sad that more wrestling fans aren't familiar with the impressive credentials of New Japan regular Kenny Omega. Though he makes sporadic appearances in Ring of Honor, he's mostly an NJPW stalwart. The Canadian has been a Japanese regular for a decade now, speaks the language and has become the key player in the Bullet Club in the wake of Styles, Gallows and Anderson's disappearance.

Image credit: Senor Lariato

In the process, he's done things gaijin wrestlers don't normally do. Now his sudden shot into the main event isn't necessarily abnormal. AJ Styles basically debuted to win the World title. But the shots he's received are very different. He beat ace Tanahashi to become Intercontinental champion, only to drop it to Michael Elgin. He feuded with both men for most of the summer and scored numerous victories over both, albeit without recovering the title.

But the most impressive feat of 2016 was his victory in the finals of the G1 Climax. The world's most prestigious tournament has regularly featured outside stars, but rarely do they reach the finals. In 26 previous G1 tournaments, only two non-Japanese stars ever made it to the finals: Rick Rude (in the only single elimination version of the tournament) and Karl Anderson. Neither won. Kenny Omega broke that drought, becoming the first North American star to ever win the prestigious tournament. In the process, he was also the first gaijin to ever main event a Wrestle Kingdom. While that event held earlier today falls out of the purview of the 2016 award, just his movement towards that event was impressive. He scored victory after victory over NJPW champion Kazuchika Okada in multi-man matches leading towards the event.

This is all very impressive for a wrestler that wasn't even considered a heavyweight in NJPW until January 5th of 2016. His rise has been astronomical and he backed up every ounce of it with impressive in ring work, both on his own and as a trio with the Young Bucks. The three men won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag title twice in 2016 and remain the only team to successfully defend it more than once.

Omega ended 2016 as arguably the best in ring worker in the world and the second highest man on the NJPW roster. Despite a loss today, he seems poised to make even bigger strides in 2016.

Next, we will look at a very different Japanese star, one that made major waves in two promotions this year.

Chris Jericho: #7 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

It's actually a bit hard to write about our number seven pick in the yearly top 10. Chris Jericho has been an icon of wrestling for over twenty years now, with almost eighteen of those in WWE. He's won a ridiculous number of titles, stood atop the WWE on several occasions and even main evented a Wrestlemania. But for the first time in quite awhile, he showed in 2016 why he was a living legend (with all apologies to Larry Zbyszko.)

Image credit: WWE.com.

After a solid showing in the 2016 Royal Rumble (where he entered sixth), he went on to an extended feud with AJ Styles that would steal the show on multiple pay-per-views. Most people expected him to leave after his feud with Styles ended, as Jericho has regularly worked only the months around Wrestlemania, but he re-upped his three month contracts to continue his run, first feuding with Dean Ambrose, whom he lost the Money in the Bank match too only a few short weeks after being impaled on a bed of thumbtacks.

From there though, his rebirth really took off. With The List firmly in place and a friendship with Kevin Owens forming, he would soon help his fellow Canadian as Owens fought to retain his WWE Universal title.

These awards are based on in ring work, but I honestly think some of Jericho's best work has been outside regular matches. His backstage segments have been stupendous and The List is responsible for numerous comedic segments like only Jericho can do. (Though I would take more references to "armbar".)

Let's be honest: Jericho is in the twilight of his career. At 46, he's still in impressive shape, but a body can only hold out so long. I doubt his current run will last all the way through 2017. But Jericho's ever present work to reinvent himself continues to make him one of the most compelling figures on WWE television and that was more than enough to score him a spot in this list.

Next up, a Japanese superstar finally gets on the list, but it's probably not who you suspect...

Samoa Joe: #8 in the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016

Image credit: WWE.com.

Last year, Samoa Joe wasn't able to crack even the Top 20 wrestlers of 2016, ending the year in a tie with his perennial rival in the first half of 2016, Finn Balor. But while Finn lost half his year to injury, Samoa Joe put on amazing performances night after night atop the NXT card.

He so dominated the top of the NXT roster that he was the only wrestler in any promotion to fight in the main event of every pay-per-view / special event for the company. His feuds first with Finn Balor and later with Shinsuke Nakamura dominated NXT storytelling for much of the year. While he lost in two title matches at NXT Takeover events, he went completely undefeated on NXT television for the year before his Osaka loss to Shinsuke Nakamura was aired in December.

2016 was easily the Samoan Submission Specialist's best year since the peak of his TNA run in 2008. And he did it while likely wrestling in front of crowds far larger than TNA ever gave him, with crowds ranging up to 15,000 fans for his main event spots at NXT Takeover. He effectively accomplished everything he could on the developmental brand, winning the NXT championship on two occasions, making him the first person to ever hold that belt more than once. He handed Shinsuke Nakamura his first loss as well, even if Nakamura came back to dominate him at the end of the year.

2017 should bring more glory for Samoa Joe as he looks towards a main roster debut. Smart money puts him on Smackdown, perhaps even as soon as the Royal Rumble. A dominating performance there could spell great things for his future with the biggest wrestling company in the world.

Next up, we look toward a long time star that experienced a latter day career renaissance in 2016.

Kevin Owens: #9 in the Top Wrestlers of 2016

The first repeat appearance from last year's Top 10 list dropped seven spots from his #2 finish in 2015. But while Kevin Owens didn't have the astronomical rise in 2016 that he had in 2015, he has been one of the most consistent wrestlers on the WWE and later Raw roster in the last year.

Image credit: WWE.com.

From his dominating run as Intercontinental champion at the beginning of the year to his renewed feud with Sami Zayn to his new BFF relationship with Chris Jericho and his rise to WWE Universal champion, the former Kevin Steen has put on solid matches week in and week out on television and on pay-per-view.

In my opinion however, many of his accomplishments have been mired by the terrible writing typical of Raw. Since the brand split, Smackdown simply became a stronger brand and it takes a ton of star power to overcome the mess that is that broadcast.

But Kevin Owens has always shown an ability to stand out from the pack. He did it in Ring of Honor, to the point the company had no choice but to rehire him and give him the championship. He did it in NXT where he immediately became the top star, albeit in a short run. And he did it on Raw in 2015, taking his first onscreen win against John Cena.

It's hard to separate Owens' championship success from his
partnership with Chris Jericho. Image credit: WWE.com.

Unfortunately, his rise to WWE Universal champion also came with the typical chickenshit heel exploits it seems Raw's writing team requires for all their heel main eventers. While he and his partner in crime Jericho have done their best with the material, it is hard to argue the staleness of the material hurt Kevin Owens's ranking this year. While last year he received multiple first place votes, this year his highest ranking by any contributor was fifth place. Only a consistent showing in the middle of the Top Ten on multiple lists brought him to the Top 10 at all, and then just barely. He didn't even make my personal Top 25, coming in at the 28th spot right behind Xavier Woods.

But the one thing wrestling fans can be sure of is that Kevin Owens will continue to try and make every match he wrestles compelling. Here's hoping in 2017 he's given a lot more to work with than the same stale finishes.

Tomorrow NXT gets their first star on the list, a talent that is anything but a developmental star.

Johnny Mundo: #10 Wrestler of 2016

Last year, I was allowed to write some great pieces on two of my Lucha Underground favorites, Prince Puma and Pentagon Jr. (now Pentagon Dark.) This year, only one Lucha Underground performer made the Top 10, but he's a talent familiar to many fans and one that truly did have his best year in wrestling in 2016.

Image credit: Lucha Underground.

You might know him as Johnny Nitro or John Morrison, but to me he's definitely Johnny Mundo.

While not all of his 2016 appearances on Lucha Underground television were actually filmed in 2016, the calendar year cannot be looked at as anything other than impressive for the Mayor of Slamtown. He opened the year with a win over Dragon Azteca, Prince Puma and Rey Mysterio for the Lucha Underground Trios title. Though he lost them at Ultima Lucha Dos, he went on to beat Sexy Star for the Gift of the Gods title, again for the Lucha Underground title (which she won only a week before during Aztec Warfare III) and a final time to retain her title. He didn't manage any of those wins without sly tactics, but Mundo is a world class heel by any measurable rights.

His success cannot be pointed out without also talking about his Trios tag partners Jack Evans, the long time indie star that's years in Mexico are finally paying off with some great work on American television, and PJ Black, the former Justin Gabriel and now "Darewolf", another talent showing he was so much more talented than WWE ever let him give fans. Perhaps his most amazing ally is Taya, the Canadian wrestler turned veteran luchadora. She's been a true revelation in the last two seasons of Lucha Underground, almost as much as Mundo's career renaissance.

Mundo's only issues in Lucha Underground now is a lack of depth remaining in his opponents. He's wrestled almost every tecnico in the company and a decent number of the rudos as well. But Lucha Underground is always about surprises and I suspect he'll bring a few more in 2017.

Tomorrow we continue the list with the first repeat talent from last year's list, a man that continued an impressive run towards the top of his promotion in 2016.

The 2016 End of the Year Honorable Mentions List

For the next two weeks, The Wrestling Weekday will look at some of the best wrestlers in the world, the men and women that shaped the industry in 2016.

Tomorrow, the list actually starts to get into wrestlers that earned multiple votes before the Top 10 list starts full speed ahead on Tuesday. All remaining vote getters, the ones that fell short of the Top 10 but received votes from multiple sources, will be revealed next week.

But for now: on with the first list of Honorable Mentions, presented in point order from lowest to highest.

Image credit: WWE.com.

Sami Zayn did not have a spectacular 2016 clearly as he received only a single 25th point vote. He stands alongside James Ellsworth, an ignominious spot if ever there was one, and Hallowicked, a talent I might have ranked much higher if I was anywhere near to caught up with Chikara in 2016.

I expected The Miz to get a bit more support because of his great work on Smackdown Live in the second half of 2016. He just missed my list and perhaps failed to make a few others as well. Similarly, only I was impressed enough by Baron Corbin's work in 2016. Admittedly he only had a few great weeks in NXT at the beginning of the year and his impressive work since Survivor Series with a huge lull in the middle, but he is decidedly a talent that grew exponentially in the year. He's easily one of the best WWE developmental talents without an indie background ever.

I also was a bit surprised that I was the only person to rank the Cruiserweight Classic winner TJ Perkins at all and that he came in behind Randy Orton in points total. NJPW's Katsuyori Shibata and TNA's Lashley both came ahead of him on my list though, as both showed amazing growth in ring and, in Lashley's case, character-wise in the year.

Andy Sheets gave the only votes for Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, two talents that just barely missed my list. He also gave a vote to Tomohiro Ishii, a man that fell out of the NEVER division in NJPW early in the year but had a few great showings for ROH as their Television champion.

Sami Callihan (or Jeremiah Crane for certain fans) did amazing work on the indies and in Lucha Underground this year, showing why WWE seriously missed the boat with Solomon Crowe. I can see him entering a few more folks radar in 2017.

A bunch of tag team wrestlers got single votes as well. Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable only received votes from yours truly, while John Morgan Neal gave Heath Slater and Rhyno their only props. Other talents that made their most significant strides as part of a tag team in 2016 also fell in this place, such as Bray Wyatt or Brother Nero, Jeff Hardy.

I thought Rich Swann deserved a place on the list here as well, as he's the man that seems to have lit a fire under the Cruiserweight division as 205 Live kicks off. Dalton Castle and Pentagon Dark (#10 in last year's poll) get similar rankings, I expect for similarly great character work backed by strong in will skills.

Much like Sami Callihan, I felt Cody Rhodes deserved a place on this list. He's electrified audiences in huge ways since his time as Stardust ended and he took to basically every non-WWE wrestling company. He may have lost his last name (a real poor move by WWE in my opinion), but he's showed why he deserved a higher spot on the card than he ever received on the WWE stage.

Kofi Kingston and Big E both made last year's list (at #8 and #5 respectively), but only got one vote this year. Ricochet (a.k.a. Prince Puma) fell similarly, dropping to only receiving a single vote after ranking at #7 last year. Just ahead of them was the final member of The New Day, Xavier Woods, who fell just short of the 2015 list but through increased in ring presence really cemented himself as a strong third member of The New Day in 2016.

Image credit: Lucha Underground.

We close out today's list with a few of the folks that ranked in several folks' Top 10 positions. Lucha Underground's Cage and NJPW's Kushida and Kazuchika Okada all made Andy Sheets' list in the #8, #7, and #6 spots respectively. Joe Crowe named Goldberg as his sixth best wrestler, an impressive feat for a man with two minutes of ring time in 2016. But they were an impressive two minutes, we all must admit. I ranked Finn Balor at #6, higher than I expected most people to do so, but I was shocked to see him make no one else's list. The first WWE Universal Champion dominated NXT in the first half of the year and impressed on Raw for the month he was on television. It still amazes me he didn't get props from anyone other than yours truly. Finally, Jeff Yelton gave a fifth place vote to ROH's Adam Cole, saying “The two-time ROH World Champ has come from being a bland good guy to a great heel. And he can go in the ring. I keep wondering when WWE is gonna call.”

With this list I have revealed all but twenty names that received votes in the 2016 Top 10 Countdown. The ten final Honorable Mentions will be revealed next week, but for now, stay tuned for tomorrow and the reveal of the #10 wrestler in the world today, despite almost all of their acclaim coming from one tiny venue in Southern California.

Reminder: Get your votes in for the year end Top 10!

Next week, we kick off the year end Top 10 countdown of the best wrestlers in the world! Remember to get in your votes between now and the extended final date of December 25, 2016 to help determine who best deserves the top spot as wrestler of the year.

Email your list of up to 25 wrestlers, ranked from 1 to 25 (tag teams must be listed as individuals) and leave them in the comments below or email them to wwfmegs{at}yahoo{dot}com.

You decide... time to vote in the Wrestling Weekday's Top 10 wrestlers of 2016!

Last year, The Wrestling Weekday debuted its inaugural edition of the year end Top 10, a master list of the greatest wrestlers of 2015. This year, it returns in bigger and better fashion as we again team up with the fine folks at ESO-PRO: The Pro Wrestling Podcast to bring you the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2016.

The process is simple. All you have to do to vote is to send me your list of top wrestlers anywhere in the world. Your list can be as short as one or as long as 25, but it needs to be ranked in order of best to worst. Send your choices to wwfmegs{at}yahoo{dot}com (or leave them in the comments below) and I will tally the fan choices as well as my own top ten to give a full list of the top stars of 2015.

The only requirement for a wrestler to be eligible for the list is if they were active in the calendar year 2015 as an in ring worker. Promotions, gender and age are not limited, just as long as they wrestled a match at some point in the year 2015. Wrestlers should be rated on quality of match rather than out of match promos or shenanigans, all though those can be taken into account as an overall reason for your choice. Tag teams and units must be listed separately on this list. If you feel they had equal levels of performance in your list of twenty, please put them one after another.

Though it is not required, any commentary on the wrestlers you chose and why you chose them would be appreciated, as it will be included as thoughts on the wrestler in the final Top Ten list.

In order to have the proper time to tabulate fan input, I ask that all votes be received by Sunday, December 25.

The Top 10 list will kick off on December 26 and run for two weeks as we cover all the great talent that made 2016 another great year in wrestling.

The Top 10 Wrestlers of WWE, February 2016

Another pay-per-view and the big Raw after it have both fallen into the past and that means it is time to take a look at the Top 10 Wrestlers in WWE for the month. It has been an interesting month filled with weird pushes and negative reactions, culminating in a Fastlane card with solid in ring action but poor storytelling. Coming from that, here is this writer's choices for the best ranked wrestlers in the company. As a reminder, the rankings are followed by a two number code. The first number is their listing in the last Top 10 while the second number is the number of lists they've been on.

Kevin Owens continues to be a key player in WWE's midcard.
Image credit: WWE.com.