From wrestling's #DRAW to the Queen of Spades: Top 100 Wrestlers of 2018 #35-21

The Top 100 Wrestler list continues the count towards the top wrestler of the year as this time we work our way right down to number 21! Next week, the top 20 kick off but first let's check out who just missed that distinction!

Sami made Impact his home and has torn his way to a major spot in the promotion in 2018.

35. Sami Callihan

Anyone watching Impact Wrestling knows that Sami has become something of the MVP for the promotion. He's been the catalyst of multiple storylines, even as he also wrestles regularly for Lucha Underground, multiple independents across the country and his own Pro Wrestling Revolver here in Iowa. Sami's carved out his own career in his post-NXT life and shows no sign of slowing down at all!

34. Joey Janela

Speaking of talents that have made major names for themselves on the independents without setting foot in a WWE ring, Joey Janela has made a name for himself for his insane style and his avant garde shows with Game Changer Wrestling. The Bad Boy showed off in front of an even larger audience at ALL IN. Whether that leads to a future with All Elite Wrestling remains to be seen, but he's got a ton of things ahead whether he's injured or not.

33. Tessa Blanchard

Arguably the most over female talent on the American independents, WWE flirted repeatedly with Tessa but never pulled the trigger on signing her. Their loss proved to be Impact's gain as the company rebuilt much of the Knockouts Division around Tessa in the second half of 2018. With good character work and talent in the ring to back it up, Tessa likely will have a lot more big matches ahead of her in the future.

32. Roman Reigns

The only full time wrestler to hold the WWE Universal Champion in the last calendar year, Reigns managed to put in some good showings even if his Hogan-esque beatdown into huge comeback style has grown stale. Yet it's out of the ring news that most shaped his life this year as he stepped down from the championship when he announced the return of his leukemia that he fought before his WWE career. It's a far greater fight than one in any wrestling ring and here's hoping he proves just as dominant.

Image credit: WWE.com.

31. Velveteen Dream

I don't want Velveteen Dream on the main roster anytime soon. But he's easily the best character worker on the NXT roster and has show at Takeover after Takeover that he's one of the roster's best in ring performers. Though he's fallen short of the NXT title now on multiple shows, he never comes out looking like he wasn't game to win it and he could continue to grow as a major player for the brand for years to come. His character should be able to transplant easily to a WWE ring as well, but if WWE has shown anything in recent years, it is an inability to handle the placement for their call ups. They've fumbled far more often than they succeed and a failed call up for Dream could kill the character dead in its tracks. Velveteen Dream could be the next huge main event star WWE needs, but only if the promotion realizes what they have before it's too late.

30. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura suffered an awful push to the main event in a seemingly endless feud with AJ Styles that answered the question, "Even WWE can't mess this feud up, right?" The two men never really were allowed to just go out and wrestle a great extended match and while none of their five(!) encounters were stinkers, his failure to win the title in any of them derailed his momentum. He did have a strong run as United States champion, but no one needs a brand change on the WWE roster more than Nakamura right now.

29. Marty Scurll

The Villain wrestled Kazuchika Okada to a standstill at ALL IN yet somehow managed to perhaps have the least eventful year of The Elite. He remains the only member of The Elite still active in ROH (for now) with several months still left on his contract in 2019.

28. Finn Balor

Fans of the first Universal Champion and former leader of the Bullet Club had a frustrating 2018. While Finn wrestled very few bad matches, he also received very little significant to do as part of the Raw roster. He could easily be moved back into a main event position for the company, but seems destined to an endless purgatory on the upper midcard of the product.

Image credit: WWE.com.

27. Mustafa Ali

The numbers on this list disagree with my personal opinion, but I believe no one had a better year of wrestling on the main roster than the man dubbed "the Heart of 205 Live." He entered the year as something of a midcarder still on that brand, but his brand rose with the sudden termination of Enzo Amore. His first pay-per-view appearance came at Wrestlemania in a loss to Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight title. From there, he consistently put on amazing match after amazing match but never managed to score the title. After making his Smackdown debut in an amazing match with Daniel Bryan, he moved permanently to that roster and now finds his incredible wrestling skills rewarded with a very similar position in a much bigger brand. It may be Sasha Banks' music, but it sure seems like the sky's the limit for Mustafa Ali in 2019.

26. Brian Cage

He's not a man, he's a machine. So goes his catchphrase in Lucha Underground and if you look at the number of matches he wrestled around the world in 2018, you would definitely agree. A regular on both Lucha Underground and on Impact, where he spent several months plowing through the competition on the road to the X Division title, he enters 2019 as the contender to Impact's top title. His size, charisma and amazing abilities make him a talent anyone could build a promotion around, so I won't be surprised to see him at the top of Impact going into their run on Pursuit.

25. Hangman Page

I started 2018 not quite understanding why Adam Page even was a member of the Bullet Club. Sure, he joined mostly so Adam Cole could have a second during his run, but his continued presence proved odd when New Japan had Chase Owens to serve as the Bullet Club fall guy when necessary. It was Being the Elite that cemented Page's place in the wrestling world, starting with a rather silly story revolving around WWE kidnapping him that inadvertently lead to Jimmy Jacobs' termination from his writing job at WWE last year. Since that time, he's cemented himself as the weirdo loose cannon of the bunch while getting himself over with solid matches on cards across the country. His battle with Joey Janela at ALL IN was incredibly fun for anyone that watching the web series and probably terribly confusing for anyone that hasn't.

24. Chris Jericho

The Alpha wrestled only five matches in 2018, yet somehow made the year one of the most eventful of his career. He returned to New Japan in a brutal match with Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome in January, but turned his attention towards Naito for much of the rest of the year. A spot in The Greatest Royal Rumble proved his only WWE in ring appearance, but from there he went on to beat Naito for the Intercontinental title and defend it against EVIL. He made a shocking appearance at ALL IN that involved an insane flight schedule just to make a couple minute attack on Kenny Omega after Omega's match with Pentagon before facing Omega again in the six man Bullet Club versus Alpha Club match on his own cruise event. An eventful year with some great matches, proving the 48 year old star is still an expert at reinvention.

23. Ronda Rousey

For a talent that just debuted at Wrestlemania, Rousey's run in WWE can only be described as impressive. She hasn't wrestled a bad match in the promotion despite limited training time in advance. And while WWE has certainly been careful to book her well, she's done it while wrestling a lot more matches than the other current UFC crossover talent on WWE's roster. Her push might be a bit harder than it needs to be, but that only serves to set her up for a greater fall when she does finally drop the title.

Image credit: WWE.com.

22. Kairi Sane

Kairi Sane was a talent few knew well before she won the Mae Young Classic last year. Since that time, she's put on great match after great match with every appearance on the NXT roster. Yet her career seems defined by her feud with Shayna Baszler, the woman she beat at last year's classic and a woman she's wrestled three times since. She beat Baszler for the title, only to drop it back to the Queen of Spades, which probably is why she falls right behind...

21. Shayna Baszler

Real talk: I think Baszler is an over-pushed talent on NXT. She's very skilled, but her push on NXT television feels like it's at the expense of way too many talents with just as much if not more upside. That being said, only one female talent appeared in every Takeover title match over the year and her name was Shayna Baszler. Her 2019 may be defined by her partners in the Four Horsewomen, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, as both get their own NXT time as WWE starts the slow build towards Horsewomen versus Horsewomen.

A few names surprised me on this section of this list. Did anyone fall higher than you expected? Or lower? Let me know in the comments below!

We conclude this week and the first four-fifths of the list with the Queen of Spades, but will return Monday with the next ten names on the list!

In the end: thoughts on ALL IN two weeks removed

I talked about the importance of ALL IN a week ahead of the event. Now almost two weeks removed, I finally can talk about ALL IN as an event.

The show started out with an interesting opening bout. MJF and Matt Cross came in without a match and they answered the reason by facing each other one on one. This was smartly done after the Over Budget Battle Royal on the pre-show. The two men played a rather simple story: the cocky heel working the arm against the high flying veteran. But the simple battle allowed them to keep the crowd hot as they built up to a fine shooting star press finish.

The first Bullet Club appearance came from the celebrity wing as Stephen Amell emerged to face Christopher Daniels. Unlike other matches, the announcers over-looked the whole "framed for murder" angle from Being the Elite. Yet the two men spent the match showcasing how naturally gifted Amell is an athlete. His wrestling was far from perfect, but with Jerry Lynn as ref and the ring veteran as his opponent. Ultimately Amell's anger would prove his undoing as he brought a table into the match only to go through it. A Best Moonsault Ever served as the final nail through the coffin to give him his first wrestling loss.

Don Callis left ringside to allow injured Women of Honor Tenille Dashwood and Mandy Leon to join commentary with Ian Riccaboni and Excalibur. This was my first time seeing Dr. Britt Baker in action. Chelsea Green came in working a combination of her indie and her Impact personalities with a great Two-Face look. The veteran Madison Rayne and the arguable queen bee of indie wrestling Tessa Blanchard rounded out the four corner match. Tessa comes off a title victory on Impact just days before, so the young powerhouse already came in with momentum. Yet much of the match served as more of a spotlight for Baker and Green. Those two women seemed the primary focus, with only Rayne getting the short end of the stick in storytelling. Ultimately Tessa powered through for the win and showed why she deserves every ounce of attention on her right now. WWE made a huge mistake not signing her when they could, as I suspect she's going to make huge waves through wrestling into 2019.

Brent Tarring was the only commentator I wasn't familiar with coming into this match. Turns out he worked on OVW, in fact calling Cody's very first match. His arrival served to intensify the big fight feel as we moved into the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title match against Nick Aldis. Both men came with an entourage, Cody with his wife Brandi Rhodes, DDP, Tommy Dreamer and Ray "Glacier" Lloyd. (I won't pretend how happy that last name makes me.) Aldis came in with Jeff Jarrett, Shawn Daivari and two men that have become key to NWA: Tim Storm and Samuel Shaw.

Suddenly the pitch of the arena picked up as a fight months in the making was happening. The announce team and the crowd didn't hide from the importance of Cody making a run at the title his dad held on three separate instances. Instead they pushed that narrative as the two men brutalized each other in a mix of modern wrestling and old school Southern style. Cody wrapped himself in a crimson mask as the two battled, but neither man would fall to the other's finish. Ultimately, he would turn a sunset flip attempt by Aldis into a deep cradle to score victory and become the next NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion.

I've read a few complaints about the placement of this match as fourth on the card, but I really think it serves this bout well. While this is arguably the most momentous match on the card, Aldis and Cody don't bring the insanity of the later matches on the card. Their straight up styles work well together, but would have seemed like a bit of a slow down after any of the other matches on the card. By placing it here, it feels like a huge bout but also sets up the fact that from here out, this is a true supercard, filled with dream matches and big bouts for the rest of the night.

Hangman Page went into easily the biggest match of his career against a star also appearing on his biggest stage ever, Joey Janela. Page admitted publically to the murder of Joey Ryan, a long running story on Being the Elite 48 hours earlier. He expressed a hatred for anyone or anything called Joey. Hangman Page came in as a man possessed. His current storyline might be somewhat silly, but it has done wonders in giving him a full-fledged character to build his character around. He showed that several times in the match as both his boots and the infamous phone found their way into the match. He picked up his win after putting Janela head first through a table.

Of course the story for Page continued as a wall of men in penis costumes opened the return of Joey Ryan. Ryan brutalized Page once again before his army carried him from the arena. That's a sight you will never see in WWE.

Two storylines from Being the Elite combined in the ROH championship match. Flip Gordon snuck into the Over Budget Battle Royal to win his way onto the ALL IN event. Meanwhile, Jay Lethal suffered an injury that caused him to routinely delve back into his Black Machismo personality. Brandi accompanied Flip to the ring, while Jay Lethal came to the ring in a classic Macho Man jacket accompanied by "Leaping" Lanny Poffo, his "brother from another mother". Lethal had some fun character work, especially confusing Brandi for Miss Elizabeth repeatedly. We even gave a few Mega Powers references between the two stars.

And that was really what this match was about. It showed why Lethal deserves far more praise for his work around the world and why Flip deserves a higher place on the ROH card. Ultimately, Lethal retains, which leads to maybe the weakest bonus segment of the night, where Bully Ray assaults both men leading to Colt Cabana coming out and hitting a Shield style powerbomb with Gordon and Lethal.

In a dream match for myself and many others, Penta El Zero Miedo took on Kenny Omega. This one proves hard to describe, but both men brought the A games they were knew for well ahead of this match. Both men destroyed the other, but with the IWGP Heavyweight champion in this battle, the winner seemed clear from the start. Omega hit the One Winged Angel for the decided victory after a hard fought contest.

Of course, his night wasn't done. After the lights went out, Penta was back on his feet, only he grew a couple inches. A disguised Chris Jericho assaulted Omega and landed two codebreakers before he promised to see the champ on the Jericho Cruise.

The semi-main event was designed as a star-maker and Marty Scurll didn't disappoint in his role. He went toe to toe with Kazuchika Okada in an epic encounter that builds beautifully on both men's move sets. The All In umbrella to stop the Rainmaker was inspired, as was Scurll following it up with a Rainmaker of his own. Ultimately, Scurll showed his toughness and Okada took him seriously, as he delivered two straight Rainmakers to get the pin over The Villain.

The main event was truncated for time because of the broadcast, but honestly, it doesn't show. The six men are perfect for a fast paced match, so each team throwing all of their biggest bombs at the others in an eleven minute car wreck actually worked rather well. While I'd like to have seen more spots with Kota Ibushi and the Young Bucks jelling, ultimately they put on an impressive match with Rey Mysterio, Rey Fenix and Bandido.

In the end, I suppose one can look at ALL IN as just another pay-per-view. But it was also a one shot for the ages and a huge money-maker for a ton of talents and a ton of Chicago businesses. It remains to be seen if the event will be repeated next year or not, but I'm hoping we will see it again.

The world needs shows that can rival WWE's draw. Cody and the Bucks proved that was possible without sacrificing great wrestling and solid storytelling.

ALL IN: the most significant wrestling event in the last 15 years

A lot of words have already been written about ALL IN, the Young Bucks and Cody-produced mega-show. It sold an unprecedented 10,000+ tickets, unheard of for an indie show up until this point in history. It continues Nick, Matt and Cody's slow change of how wrestling storytelling works. And its card has been named incredibly underwhelming by a ton of critics.

I'm not going to break down the card too much, because I am not sure I will even be watching the show live on the 1st as I have a bunch of other Labor Day weekend plans. But all the critics that have ran down the card have missed the point. ALL IN sold out its entire ticket base without a single match announced. Just the roster of talent managed to do that. Being the Elite, the weekly show the Young Bucks produce every week, scores over 200,000 views every week from a subcriber list of approximately the same size. All it took was one twentieth of that base to make this event a rousing success.

Of course, those same people might decry that the same feat can't be repeated if ALL IN doesn't produce the biggest card possible. This of course ignores the fact that ROH and NJPW have just repeated the over 10,000 number for yet another show without a single announced talent. That show will come Wrestlemania weekend and will be at a venue that served as a WWE stronghold for four decades, Madison Square Garden. Times are changing, folks.

I question how many of these critics actually pay that much attention to the work the Young Bucks have put into the build on their weekly show. It always seemed likely the card would be built around matches for every member of the show's cast. Hence Cody fighting Nick Aldis for the NWA title, Hangman Page fighting Joey Janela, Marty Scurll getting a match against former IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada, the Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi teaming to take on a lucha trio consisting of Bandido, Rey Mysterio and Rey Fenix, and of course the once in a life time bout between Penta El Zero Miedo and Kenny Omega. They even built a storyline to give Stephen Amell his first singles match ever against a true ring general, Christopher Daniels. Jay Lethal has become a Being the Elite regular of late as well, so his ROH title defense doesn't come as a surprise, nor does the pre-show appearance of ROH stalwarts, the Briscoe Brothers. They built the show around people they know having battles with people fans want to see. And that's just what they're delivering, which is why all the talk of a lackluster card makes little sense.

My pick for match of the night on September 1st.

The measure of success for ALL IN was accomplished way back in July when they sold the show out. By any stretch of the imagination, it has become an important point in the history of the business. It drew interest from Chicago area cable station WGN America, and now has a network broadcast preshow, something no other wrestling company has been able to boast since Heat left Spike TV in 2005. It already looks capable of shattering independent wrestling pay-per-view records as well and ROH has already talked about an uptick in new subscribers for their own streaming channel, which will also air the event.

The show is a success by any metric before a single wrestler steps into the ring at the Sears Centre. Cody and the Young Bucks took a huge gamble, one that looks to pay off in major dividends come September 1st. And they have likely created the possibility of an independent super show for years ahead.

Independent wrestling has never been stronger in the United States. One way or the other, every fan that travels to a bingo hall or community center or armory to see their favorite stars needs to realize what this means for the industry they love enough to support on the smallest level. The sport of kings has a future even without WWE. And we should all be proud of that.

The Top 10 Wrestlers of 2017 Honorable Mentions, Part One

Every year we get more and more votes in our year end Top 10, and every year that means dozens of talents get recognized by our voters, but don't quite make it to our final list. So here are some of the other vote getters.

Image credit: Chris Grasso.

Joey Janela: The former starman probably will never be the most technically proficient talent or the best high flyer. He certainly doesn't have the size of Vince's favorites. But the Jersey native oozes charisma and shows a willingness to do things no sane human would ever do. He also put on maybe the best show of Wrestlemania weekend, Joey Janela's Spring Break, where he fought Marty Jannetty in an absolutely insane match.

War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe): Hanson and Rowe made a name in the New Japan tag team division while also dominating ROH. They finished their run with ROH at Final Battle and all indications are they will finish up with New Japan during the first week of January. Once the pair hits WWE, they could be hugely over hosses in the tag division... or they could join The Club as forgotten talent.

Finn Balor: Balor spent a lot of the year injured and even upon his return suffered from creative still angry about his injury during his win to become the first Universal champion. He's meandered around the upper midcard putting on solid if uninspired matches. Rumors WWE has no interest in a continued push for him seem fueled by Balor on social media, but it remains to be seen if he really will become a solid unspectacular midcarder or break out into a new storyline.

Charlie Haas: The former WWE and ROH tag star is still active on the Texas independents and gets attention from several voters in that area.

Image credit: ROH

Dalton Castle: The results of Final Battle came out during the voting period, but Dalton was vastly overshadowed this year by Bullet Club in ROH. Even as he enters 2018 as a world champion, it remains to be seen if the bookers of ROH will ever truly embrace him as the unique heroic figure he's been for years. As much as I love Castle, this win feels two years too late.

The New Day: The biggest tag team of the last two years only received votes from a single correspondent. Stuck in a rut by a WWE that refuses to push them as anything but a combined entity, they now seem to suffer the same inattention they received as singles stars as a unit. It's a sad step down for Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. The return of the Bludgeon Brothers and the recent title win by Gable and Benjamin have opened up the Smackdown tag division again, but it remains to be seen if WWE will ever let the trio re-define themselves in the weeks and months ahead.

Bobby Roode: He held the NXT title for much of the year, but Roode still hasn't really excelled in WWE. He's a great talent when given the time to shine but on the cramped Smackdown roster he may never get it. A solid run with the United States title could define him, but hopefully WWE realizes he could be a solid main eventer before his bump card runs out.

Mustafa Ali: Ali has quietly became one of the best stars of the Cruiserweight division even as WWE seems to treat him as little more than a third man in most storylines. With strong fan reactions, he may eventually get more attention as a 205 Live main eventer, but with Cedric Alexander, Enzo Amore and Drew Gulak dominating that place he may have to continue a patient wait.

Baron Corbin: Perhaps the most natural heel in the business, Corbin is a guy that could be huge if given a chance to look like a dominant force. Unfortunately, he spends too much of his time being treated like a chump or a fool. I predicted big things for Corbin on the main roster, but now it is questionable if he's too far damaged to ever amount to much more in WWE.

Image credit: Shimmer Womens Athletes

Nicole Savoy: I have been a big backer of the Mae Young Classic competitor and Shimmer's current top champion since I first saw her as part of the ChickFight Tournament on Shimmer Volume 71. Since that time she won the inaugural Heart of Shimmer championship and defended it for over a year. Following her two matches in the MYC, she ascended to the top of Shimmer by beating her former stablemate Mercedes Martinez to take the dominant spot in Shimmer. She's got a huge upside for 2018, although her MMA style offense probably means she won't see a WWE contract anytime soon with her other former tag partner, Shayna Baszler, already signed and Ronda Rousey rumored as a potential new recruit for the company.

Other talents receiving votes: Becky Lynch, Dean Ambrose, Dirty Andy Dalton, Gino Tiht, Jeff Hardy, Jerome Daniels, and Seth Rollins.

All images are credit: WWE.com, unless otherwise mentioned.