From an NXT star lost in the main roster shuffle to the man of many names: the Top 100 Wrestlers of 2018 #50-36

Our countdown continues for the rest of the week and the next and today it moves onto the wrestlers ranked in the first part of the second half of our list! Let's check out the names!

50. Andrade "Cien" Almas

Almas seemed lost in the shuffle when he was called up to the main roster and despite a few solid matches hasn't really been given much to do still. He's got a ton of upside, but falls in the shadows of other heels on Smackdown Live.

49. Xander Killen

His babyface work at 3XW and CEW doesn't compared to his vicious heel promos in SCW, but Xander has started to make a solid name for himself as a top up-and-comer in Iowa wrestling and beyond.

48. Tyler Bate

He finishes the year becoming a WWE exclusive talent and it couldn't happen to a better guy. Bate has shown himself to be a classy sort at a young age and continues to be a talent with a huge future in the business.

Image credit: NJPW.

47. Evil

Hampered a bit by injury, the King of Darkness remains the most solid and stable upper midcard talent in New Japan. It seems doubtful he will ever move to the main event tier there, but he's got a solid future in any promotion he wants to make his home.

46. Nick Aldis

He held the NWA title for eleven of the twelve months of the year and defended it around the world against a great array of talent. He's playing the dastardly heel most of the time, but Aldis shows that he's a far greater talent than TNA ever let him show.

45. Fenix

Fenix is an amazing talent and one of the best high flyers in the business, but probably will never exit the shadow of his brother Penta El Zero Miedo. Still, he managed to main event ALL IN which may make him a likely target for All Elite Wrestling in the new year.

44. Xavier Woods

Woods comes out well ahead of his New Day brethren on this list, I suspect because of his entertainment factor. There's few stars as consistently fun in the ring as the Up Up Down Down star.

43. David Starr

To quote his introduction: "The cream in your coffee, your favorite wrestler’s favorite wrestler, the Jewish cannon, the physical embodiment of charisma, the most entertaining man in professional wrestling, the Bernie Sanders of professional wrestling, the best of the best, Mr Americanrana, Davey Wrestling, the 104 minute man, the main event, “he’s really good at Twitter”, the king of taunts, The Product" David Starr. It's an insane list for an incredibly talented star, a consummate journeyman wrestler whose grown into an internationally known superstar. He's starting off his New Year with a free match streamed to Youtube against Pac, which should get him off to an equally bright 2019.

Image Credit: WWE.

42. Alexa Bliss

Injury certainly hampered Alexa on this list, coupled with the fact that she'll never be the best wrestler on WWE's roster. She's incredibly skilled at building stories but her bell to bell performances have never matched many of the talents on this list. Still Alexa has a ton of talent to keep her going into the future, whether she wrestles again anytime soon or not.

41. Shane Hollister

Personal issues brought "The Shug" out of retirement, but his run since in SCW has been nothing short of magic. Hollister works a heavily strike based offense that allows him to look believable in conflicts with foes twice his size. An independent veteran, I encourage everyone to seek out his appearances in SCW in the coming months.

40. Dezmond Xavier

Like his tag partner Zachary Wentz (#64), Dezmond takes high-flying to another stratosphere, hitting moves I wouldn't think a normal human could ever manage. I suspect some of this is related to their work with CIMA and Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, but they've brought it to America and Impact with a fire that should lead them to big things ahead.

39. Flip Gordon

I don't think Flip was on many people's list of top stars last year. But after signing with ROH and becoming a major featured player on Being the Elite, he's risen to be a household name for a lot of wrestling fans. Flip's still young with a ton of upside and a lot of talent. With at least another year on his ROH contract, expect him to become a foundation of the promotion in 2019.

38. Gyasi (JAH-C)

Whether as one-half of Vicious and Delicious or on his own, JAH-C made a name for himself in Iowa and Minnesota this year. As he continues to expand his wrestling horizons, he and his tag partner will hopefully see a lot more traveling in their future!

Image credit: Photos by Manning.

37. JT Energy

Personally, I rank JT Energy as the talent with the most upside on the Iowa independents. He has mastered the art of being a heel at a ridiculously young age and only grows better with each and every appearance in the ring. He's now a regular for three Iowa promotions and made his debut for the biggest, The Wrestling Revolver. With more eyes on him in 2019, here's hoping he and his partner JAH-C can get a ton more bookings!

36. Johnny Impact / Mundo / Hennigan

Impact Wrestling still has issues at the top of the card despite a stacked roster. Impact still doesn't quite feel right as the top player there, which even Impact fans took note of when they voted Sami Callihan wrestler of the year. But the former John Morrison has an uncanny control of his own body, a great style in the ring and the abs of a god. It will be interesting to see what 2019 brings for him in Impact, Lucha Underground and MLW.

With that, we are now almost two-thirds of the way through our list! Have any talents on this list surprised or shocked you? Are any of these names ones you still need to check out? Hit me with your comments and let me know!

Lucha Underground Top 10

Lucha Underground has been a favorite of mine for years now, but I have never featured it in a Top 10 until today. Why? Because the weekly storytelling of the show makes it a bit harder to work out a list of the ten stars that consistently should rank as the highest in my viewpoints. But I want to share my picks here as fans continue to turn in their votes for the top wrestlers of the year. So without any more ado, let's go straight into the top ten wrestlers of Lucha Underground!

Image credit: Lucha Underground.

1. Mil Muertes: The man of a thousand deaths is a dominant force still in Lucha Underground, but he still seems to be missing a lot of the drive he possessed in the first two seasons. Already out of the latest tournament, he may be on a collision course with the returning Prince Puma soon.
2. Drago, Fenix and Aerostar: Though the reigning Trios champions are still dominant in their division, the Trios titles seem to have received a demotion this year. With Kobra Moon aligning forces against Drago, that could change. We may be in store for a war between the Snake Tribe and the Trios champions for several weeks to come. 
3. Pentagon Dark: Another man left rudderless (and off television) after his attack on Dragon Azteca and Black Lotus last season bit him in the rear this one. With two broken arms he's likely to miss the next ten episodes or so, which could jeopardize any more appearances on this list for some time.
4. The Mack: I'm still not sure why he's never really been given a driven storyline, but even as the friend of Sexy Star he's shined. He seems poised to become a stronger player in the company as Season Three continues, but he remains a match away from really accomplishing anything of importance.
5. Cage: The best of five series with Texano seems to move at a glacial pace, but Cage still seems to be the dominant force of the two hosses. He seems poised to have a bigger storyline going ahead on the show, especially if the demonic possession hinted at earlier in the season comes to be.
6. Black Lotus Triad: Doku, Yurei and Hitokiri backed up Black Lotus and allowed for a great set of matches with Pentagon Dark that left him broken. With Black Lotus herself still limited in the ring, this is the perfect way to continue her progression on television.
7. Matanza Cueto: He may have lost the Lucha Underground title, but he's still an absolute monster. With his brother losing control of him, he may become more terrifying without the title than he was for his full season with it. 
8. Rey Mysterio: The company treats him like their biggest star and everyone of his matches has been high profile. They have smartly kept him away from the title picture, but now he seems on a collision course with Matanza that could leave both men broken.
9. Sexy Star: She won Ultima Lucha to become the Lucha Underground championship only to have it taken away from her only days later by the Worldwide Underground. But Sexy is still poised to be a top star in the company, even if her time with Lucha Underground might be coming to an end sooner rather than later, much as her time in AAA has.
10. Johnny Mundo: Though he might not be where he is without the Worldwide Underground backing him, Mundo has put on some of the best matches of his career in Lucha Underground. He's proven himself to be a top star and here's hoping he continues to shine as the show continues through into the second half of the current season. 

Image credit: Lucha Underground.

National Day of Lucha Libre: Aerostar, Drago and Fenix in action!

Aerostar, Drago and Fenix are the only team to ever be Lucha Underground Trios Champions and Chikara King of Trios, yet they never found quite as much success in their native Mexico. But they could still put on great matches. Here's one against Zorro, Cuervo and Scoria.

Lucha Underground returns with style

This past Wednesday, Lucha Underground returned with all the flair it set up in season one for a revitalized, more focused season two on El Rey Network. The television based project has been truly unique among wrestling companies, focused solely on making what has already been called by some (including myself) as some of the very finest televised wrestling ever made. The Temple is a set unique in its own right and the cast of luchadores that populate it are some of the best professional wrestlers anywhere in the world.

Season Two picks up with the reopening of the Temple, now controlled by Catrina. Her chosen champion Mil Muertes sits in judgment over the roster, high in his throne atop the Temple, watching over the action. But he also joined the action on Wednesday night as well.

Mil Muertes sits in judgment over the temple. Image credit: Lucha Underground.

The show kicked off with Vampiro in a mental hospital, recovering from the break that brought him into an unholy war with Pentagon Jr at the end of season one. Matt Striker pulls him from his stay and invites him back to the reopened Temple, now far darker under the controls of Catrina, Mil and the Disciples of Death.

The action kicks off with Fenix defending his Gift of the Gods title in a match that came to a shocking end. In a highly competitive battle with King Cuerno, the nefarious hunter played things fair and straight, winning a clean encounter with Fenix and taking the title that offers an automatic title shot against Mil Muertes. But it seemed a fix was in, as Cuerno has cut some kind of deal with Catrina to protect Mil from the Gift of the Gods title being used against him.

The second of the evening's three matches brought the former Trios champions back, but Catrina pitted them against one another for a shot at Mil Muertes' Lucha Underground title in the main event of the evening. Angelico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse all wanted a shot at the gold, but it was ultimately the scrappy Puerto Rican that beat her two male comrades to earn her shot against Mil.

But any thought of aid against the numbers game wasn't to come for Ivelisse. The Disciples of Death appeared and swarmed the ring, beating down Son of Havoc and Angelico and dragging them from The Temple floor. A tired Ivelisse was forced to fight the fresh Mil on her own. She fought valiantly but her size, her lost stamina and interference by Catrina were enough to allow Mil to pick up the win and retain his belt.

But Catrina wasn't done with her nemesis. She ordered Mil to decimate Ivelisse with another flatliner. Before that could happen though, Prince Puma made his return, knocking Mil away and escaping the ring with Ivelisse safe. Yet, Prince Puma did not come against the combined forces of Catrina alone.

As The Temple went insane, Pentagon Jr hit the ring and laid out Mil with a backstabber. As the chants of Cero Miedo rang down on the ring, he used his Fujiwara armbar to snap the arm of the Lucha Underground champion in the middle of the ring.

It was a show that was hard not to feel goosebumps by the hour's end. And that is the power of Lucha Underground. It's an hour of compelling television every week wrapped up by some of the best wrestling action on the planet. The action is intense and the storytelling never fails to shine through.

And even as the show came to an end, Dario Cueto and Black Lotus made their return with their own alternate Temple, one that seems designed to feed the bloodlust of Matanza. What this means for Catrina's future or the future of the true Temple will surely be revealed as the new season continues over the winter and spring.

Catch Lucha Underground every Wednesday on El Rey Network. Non-cable subscribers (like yours truly) can watch it every week through the Sling service, which also gives free replays of past episodes.

ESO-PRO presents the Wrestling Weekday Top 10 Wrestlers of 2015: Honorable Mentions Part 3

We continue to look at the people that didn't quite get enough votes to make it to the top spot on the Top 10 Wrestlers of 2015 list. Today we look at the four wrestlers that came in rated #27 to 30.

Image credit: WWE.com.

30. Summer Rae: When I started this list on Monday, I mentioned one name I felt was undeserving of being on it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Summer Rae. While she has been a solid managerial figure in WWE and did her best to liven up a miserable feud between Dolph Ziggler and Rusev that went on months past its expiration date, her wrestling matches on episodes of Superstars and Main Event have been anything but impressive. I actually had to verify she wrestled at all in 2015 as that's how little a mark she made as an in ring talent. But Joe Crowe ranked her as the fourth best wrestler of the year, saying “In her fights with Lana, it looked like she killed her twice, by knocking her off a chair, and then bending her 90 degrees with an Accolade. She helped Xavier play his trombone, and skeeved out when Dean Ambrose almost dived onto her. She delivered bits of fun all year.” And while I personally don't believe she ranks anywhere above the likes of Mia Yim, Ivelisse, Paige or Bray Wyatt, this list is nothing if not democratic, so welcome to it Summer Rae.

Image credit: AAA.

29. Drago: He's a real life dragon that wrestles. As Joe Crowe puts it describing his exit on the Lucha Underground season finale: “Did he just leave the Lucha Underground temple by transforming into a dragon? Yes. Yes, he did. ” Seriously, Drago may have the best gimmick in all of professional wrestling. He put on amazing matches in every appearance on Lucha Underground, from his best of five series with Aerostar to his title match against Prince Puma to his hardcore battle with Hernandez. Only a handful of talents had a better year in the Temple than he did.

Image credit: WWE.com. 

27. (2 way tie) Sting: He only wrestled three matches in 2015 and two of those were losing efforts, but his profile was huge as he took on Triple H and Seth Rollins. And while his in ring career may very well be over after a vicious buckle bomb by Rollins, Sting finally showed that he had all the ability in the world to main event in WWE even at 56.

Image credit: Lucha Underground.

27. (2 way tie) Mil Muertes: Richard Evans was the only person to choose Muertes and you can see his comments in his own article, but just for the gimmick alone, the masked Ricky Banderas deserves to be on this list. While Banderas certainly used supernatural gimmicks during his runs in Wrestling Society X and TNA, it wasn't until Lucha Underground put a mask on him and paired him with Catrina that he finally was allowed to shine as a "1000 Deaths". He dominated the end of Lucha Underground and his feud with Fenix was the stuff of legend.

The honorable mentions return on Monday with a look at some of NXT's top talents, one of Ring of Honor's hottest new star and a man heavily in the news in the first few weeks of 2016!

The original Sin Cara and a gaggle of Lucha Underground stars in action

Fenix and Pentagon Jr made a name for themselves in the United States as two of the most compelling figures in Lucha Underground. Angelico made a name for himself as well with a cocky swagger and a regular habit of pulling off insane stunts, while Jack Evans returned to American television to out cocky him.

All four men are also AAA regulars, where Angelico and Jack Evans are actually a long time tag team. (Sharp eyed Lucha Underground fans might have noticed their matching tights despite never appearing together.) In the insane three way tag team match below, they would take on two teams that put Lucha Underground stars with established lucha veterans. Pentagon Jr teamed with his regular Mexican tag partner Joe Lider (a 5 time AAA tag champion) while Fenix recruited Myzteziz, better known to American fans as the original Sin Cara or Mistico.

With that many high-flying superstars in a match, it was bound to be an epic contest between six crazed competitors.

Some of the greatest news ever...

Via one simple graphic on one tweet, Lucha Underground made it clear they're returning for a second season. Finally we will learn what the future holds for the reigns of Mil Muertes and the Disciples of Death, whether Fenix can use his Gift of the Gods status to unthrone his arch-rival, and how long it will take Angelico and Pentagon Jr to find their well deserved place in the Lucha Underground title picture.

No return date is set outside 2016, but I would expect it to hit early in the year.

Chikara King of Trios Preview

Before my neck surgery, I made tentative plans to attend this year's Chikara King of Trios. It looks like another amazing tournament from a company famous for putting on amazing tournaments. With a huge group of talent in place, I expect it will be as big or bigger than last weekend's Battle of Los Angeles in California. Chikara continues its tradition of running the show in Easton, Pennsylvania, a great site with tons of room for them to jam the thousand plus fans that will show up for the three day affair.

This year, the regular factions of Chikara were rearranged due to the Challenge of the Immortals tournament. Instead of most of Chikara's regular trios, the teams are based around the COTI teams, which leads to break ups of long running groups like The Osirian Portal and The Colony. I'll run down all the teams as I look at their first round tournament matches.

Battle of Los Angeles takes over Reseda this weekend!

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla consistently puts on some of the best wrestling in the world from their homebase in sunny Reseda, California. The company has become a local hotspot with celebrities and those in the know flocking to their burgeoning business. Every year in late August or early September they throw one of their two annual tournaments, the single elimination, 24-person Battle of Los Angeles.

This year they have brought their widest range of talent ever into the event with names from the UK and from Mexico (via Lucha Underground.) In fact the tournament has so many Lucha Underground stars that an all lucha final could actually happen. The company usually uses the tournament to set up their regular talents or new stars they plan to use regularly, but there's two things you can be sure of in PWG: 1. expect the unexpected and 2. know the Young Bucks will always win the tag titles back.