The Top Ten Wrestlers of 2017, Honorable Mentions Part Two

Every year we get a list far larger than just ten wrestlers from our correspondents for the Top Ten Wrestlers of 2017. Sixty wrestlers in all made the list without making the top ten. Last weekend, we shared twenty names from that list. This weekend, we will deliver thirty more names. The final ten will be revealed before number one goes live at the end of the week.

On with the list!

Sasha Banks: The Boss came in at number one on the list two years ago, but has failed to make either last year's list or this one. In fact this year, she only received votes from The Pro Wrestling Roundtable's John Morgan Neal. There's a long list of stars that failed in WWE where they succeeded in NXT. Sasha feels like one of those stars. I suspect WWE might still get behind her for a long run with the belt, but she may need a brand free of Asuka, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte for that to ever happen.

Jinder Mahal: Jinder's push to the main event ate up much of the top title picture of Smackdown in 2017. While I won't argue he improved immensely as a performer in 2017, I am sure I am not the only one that disagrees with Derek Lankford placing him anywhere close to the top 25 wrestlers in the world, let alone top ten.

Aleister Black: I saw Tommy End a few times on indie events and thought he was a solid talent with tons of skill. His first televised WWE match against Neville at the UK Title Tournament was impressive. But the creation of Aleister Black brought him to another level of greatness. His tweener gimmick in NXT may be the best extrapolation of that idea ever. His ringwork is impeccable. His character is defined, if mysterious. And the Black Mass is a stellar finisher.

Drew Gulak: One of the best wrestlers in the world before he appeared in the Cruiserweight Classic, Gulak joins Jack Gallagher and Akira Tozawa as the only stars 205 Live has managed to make. He repurposed his Gulak for a Better Combat Zone into Gulak for a Better 205 Live and immediately started to turn worldwide fans on to his talent. The accomplished technical star (and secret exceptional high flyer) seems poised for a big push against Enzo Amore, possibly even a Wrestlemania match for the Cruiserweight title.

Ember Moon: As soon as Asuka left NXT, Ember became the de factor queen of the NXT universe. Though she had to face down multiple talents to win the Women's title, she's easily the most seasoned talent on the show. Accompanied by one of the best finishers in the business, hopefully 2018 will be a time for some great character development for the NXT's new female ace.

Bobby Lashley: Of the only talents that remained with Impact Wrestling from last year, Lashley continued to show himself as one of the most improved storytellers in professional wrestling. While his gimmick isn't that far from Brock Lesnar's, his workrate is far more impressive. I suspect if more correspondents regularly watched the former #2 promotion, he would have ranked on more lists.

Chris Jericho: He started the year as a man with a list and a purpose. The United States champion helped Kevin Owens keep the WWE Universal title while also dominating his own division. But it was his feud with Owens that marked his true talents. He clearly still has tons to still give, even if his move to New Japan at the end of the year very much feels like the beginning of an endgame for his wrestling career.

Naomichi Marifuji: The Pro Wrestling NOAH star made his Impact Wrestling debut this year, but the rebuilding of the promotion post-NJPW crossover has been on his back. He's proven impressive both in his home promotion as tag champion (with Maybach Taniguchi) but he also put on strong showings during his appearances on American shores. While I didn't put him on my personal list, I can't complain with Jeff Yelton's pick.

Image credit: Matt Hardy.

Matt Hardy: While he didn't have the prominence during his WWE run this year as he did with TNA and his short ROH run, Matt still had an impressive 2017, even if he didn't repeat his appearance in the Top Ten, let alone at number one.

Rusev: Rusev came back from injury maybe better in the ring than when he left. But WWE seemed uninterested in a strong push behind him. By the end of the year, he started his push for Rusev Day and signing with Aiden English, both of which have put him over as an effective future babyface. Rusev remains one of the talents with the most untapped potential in WWE today.

Image credit: Puroresu Spirit.

Kento Miyahara: I have regularly watched bits and pieces of All Japan Pro Wrestling as it sought to resurrect itself in the last two years. In many ways, their young ace is the reason for the resurgence. With a beautiful package German suplex and great technical wrestling skills, he's become a huge star for the promotion at only 28. Though the company has diversified its main event scene quite a bit in 2017, he still put on some of the best matches in the promotion's recent history and received a fairly high vote from me for that reason.

Tim Storm: The oldest name on the list also held the NWA World Heavyweight title throughout the majority of the year. Storm quietly made his name across Texas indies for years, but it was with the backing of Billy Corgan's new NWA he rose to national prominence. He put on some solid matches and some just okay ones, all leading up to the loss of the title too Nick Aldis at CZW's Cage of Death of all places.

Image credit: Impact Wrestling.

Rosemary: As she left Decay behind, Rosemary became an even more accomplished in ring talent on the Impact Wrestling card. Perhaps the most impressive talent overall from Impact all year long, it remains a shame her feud with Taya was scuttled by injury, or that Sexy Star's shoot on her took up so much news against her great work in ring.

Other talents receiving votes: Brock Lesnar, Eddie Edwards, Enzo Amore, Jeff Cobb, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, John Cena, Kairi Sane, Kota Ibushi, Marty Scurll, Penta El Ciero Miedo, Roman Reigns, Sami Callihan, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Tyler Bate.

Tomorrow, we kick off the top three with the most dominant champion in wrestling today!

All image credits are to WWE unless otherwise noted. 

Your chance to vote in the year end Top 10 is almost gone!

Voting for the year end Top 10 ends the night of December 24th at midnight Central time. You have less than 72 hours to get in your votes for the best wrestlers of the year!

Who will join 2015 winner Sasha Banks and 2016 winner Broken Matt Hardy
as the best wrestler of 2017?  

As in previous years, the process is simple. All you have to do to vote is to send me your list of the top wrestlers from 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 worst to best. 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 2017.

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 2017. 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. Television programs recorded previous to the year but aired in 2017 also count to the calendar year. 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.

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!"

Matt Hardy's crazy has been around for awhile

Let's be honest, of the two Hardy Boyz, Matt clearly wins out on pure zaniness. He's had insane stories, real world events that reshaped his character in odd ways, and gimmicks way stronger than anything his brother has ever done. He's clearly the better actor of the two as well. Not a great actor mind you, but better than his brother.

Image credit: Matt Hardy on Twitter.

But Broken Matt has become instant gold in pretty much every promo. Look no further than the recent Talk is Jericho interview, where the active WWE star interviewed the active TNA star and Matt didn't break character once.

As covered at Diva Dirt, Matt Hardy had a major point in his career (and in oddball storytelling) on this day back in 2004 as he learns the identity of Lita's baby. (An aside: I love bringing up this story arc anytime someone tells me TV 14 WWE is inherently better than the modern product.)


Lita Reveals That Kane is Her Baby's Father (8... by irenenesser
That may be one of the earliest incarnations of Matt Hardy crazy eye. He uses it regularly now though. Broken Matt has taken the world by storm, literally as can be seen in this promo from a few days back. His threat to the Young Bucks for their South American showdown might be the most unique I've ever heard.


With nearly twenty years under his belt now, fans have seen Matt Hardy grow from young hotshot to grizzled veteran. Few have weathered that storm half as well as he. He may now be at the peak of his career. And while TNA is definitely a B-level product, its narrower range makes a lot more room for his character to shine.

What do you think of Broken Matt? Let me know in the comments below.

Drew Galloway: the champion TNA needs, not the one it deserves

Image credit: ImpactWrestling.com.

The Dark Knight meme is strong as I look at the crowning of Drew Galloway as the new TNA World Heavyweight champion on this week's Impact Wrestling. As the first man to successfully cash in the World title Feast or Fired case, the former Mr. McIntyre finally ascended to the place he should have been at months ago in TNA: on the top of the card.

But in many ways, it feels like yet another hotshot move by TNA where they make the right call for ratings a little too late. Galloway has been left as something of a cipher in recent weeks, only inserted into segments when he's needed rather than naturally being involved in storylines. His matches with Kurt Angle were great, but Drew isn't a talent that needs the approval of an aging veteran to be a main event star. He should have been crowned champion months ago but instead had to step aside for a lackluster run by consummate midcarder Matt Hardy as the top star in the company.

This is far from the first time or the last time that TNA made a decision that seems designed to try and bring back viewers alienated by bad booking decisions of the past, but at this point in their company's history, it might be time to consider just booking in ways to make fans happy more often. I'm not saying the hero should always win by any means. EC3 had a great championship reign as a nefarious evildoer. But most fans taking the time to check out non-WWE brands have moved past a need to see WWE nostalgia acts at the top of the card.

That doesn't mean TNA fans don't love the Hardy Boyz together or individually. They are still a strong pair of wrestlers, but they are not the kind of figures TNA should ever bank on at the top of the card ever again. With their age, their wear and their history of drug abuse, TNA has enough rising stars, both home grown and from under-utilized WWE runs, to build a great roster.

It just needs to start doing that. Keep the focus on Galloway, EC3, Mike Bennett and other focal points like Tyrus, James Storm and Bobby Roode. Even Eric Young and Bram have something to offer. Use WWE talents that have passed their prime like Lashley and the Hardys as key figures on TV, but not as the major stars TV regularly focuses upon.

Ultimately, Impact Wrestling seems to slowly be righting their own path after disastrous years in 2014 and 2015. Here's hoping they can continue that route instead of miring themselves in the same old mistakes the company has made time and time again. But they need to show a lot of fans consistency in storytelling before they ever start attracting viewers. Programs like Lucha Underground and NJPW on AXS have proven niche marketing can work for professional wrestling. It is time that TNA stops trying to be WWE and find what it's best at it. And I suspect that is good old school wrestling stories in the Southern tradition. I can think of few stars that can fill that formula quite as well as Drew Galloway.

If all goes well, the future looks bright for TNA to finally #StandUp.

POP is good for TNA, but is it enough?

Drew Galloway is just one of several stars with a huge upside for TNA, but
only if TNA spends the time to book them as the hot young talent they are.

The first two episodes of Impact Wrestling on POP TV offered solid wrestling entertainment with some solid talents whether it be from veteran Kurt Angle, journeyman Drew Galloway or TNA originals like Bobby Roode and James Storm (now reunited as Beer Money.) The company seems to be forming a talent pool that will support them moving forward, framed around Ethan Carter III, the former Derrick Bateman who has become a true superstar since his move to the closest thing WWE has to a competitor.

But despite strong matches from the above plus the likes of the Beautiful People, The Dollhouse, The Wolves, Tigre Uno and more, the company still seems scared of innovation. The focus in the main event continues to be a younger homegrown star versus an industry veteran, even when that veteran is as past his prime as Matt Hardy.

And because of their lack of innovation with their cast, it often feels like much of their talent isn't all that important. Sure EC3, the Hardys and Angle are huge stars, but everyone else ends up feeling like they're just filler for the stuff TNA management cares about. An excessive focus on the main event picture has been a problem in WWE sometimes as well, but two weeks into the new show, every thing not involving the four men above just seems thrown together.

The sad part is that it doesn't have to be this way. They've got Dave Lagana on the writing staff alongside Billy Corgan. He has a history of crafting solid scripted television, the kind of clever writing that Lucha Underground has every week. While the title holders may not even be featured on every episode, the writers behind Lucha Underground understand that making sure every feud they develop feels important, whether it belongs at the bottom of the card or at the top. They fill the rest of the show with multi-talent matches or create random challenges thrown out by owner Dario Cueto to keep the progression moving. It's simple booking, but when the focus is quality weekly serialized television, it helps Lucha Underground surpass Raw and Impact Wrestling in quality almost every week.

I'm not saying that TNA can ape that style perfectly, but restoring the focus on simple storytelling surrounding great in ring action won't hurt the company. Coupled with a few smart moves in who to push and TNA could rise from the ashes yet again. The balls in their court.

A busy weekend in televised wrestling

Two shows graced television and computer screens this weekend from the folks at both WWE and TNA. I previewed both Live from MSG and Bound For Glory to end last week, but both shows put on some great matches but with somewhat underwhelming results.

Live From Madison Square Garden started its life as a house show with Brock Lesnar announced for it. Like the last house show in Tokyo that featured Lesnar, it became a WWE special and the Lesnar / Show match didn't disappoint. Big Show was allowed to look like a massive giant, manhandling Lesnar for several minutes and even delivering three chokeslams. But it wasn't enough to lay out "The Beast Incarnate" who responded with a trip to Suplex City for Big Show. One more F5 put Show away for the day.

Big Show visits Suplex City. Image credit: WWE.com.

The rest of the card was filled with solid matches but very little story progression. The two interminable singles feuds were turned into a solid tag match as Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler beat Rusev and Sheamus. Neville got another singles win over Stardust as their feud continued, while roles were reversed in a Raw rematch of Team PCB vs. Team Bella. This time Charlotte and Becky Lynch abandoned Paige to her fate. Becky was kind enough to explain their reasons in a superb post-match promo.

Will a new TNA take shape at Bound For Glory?

I don't watch much TNA anymore. When it was on Spike, replays would appear on the site and be easily viewable by yours truly. Destination America does not do the same, nor do they offer the show on content partner Hulu, so I am left to follow most of TNA's storylines through recaps. Sometimes that leaves folks with a more negative view of a program if a reviewer personally doesn't like a segment (or vice versa.) But I have to say that while it doesn't have the depth of name talent previous TNA pay-per-views had, the upcoming Bound For Glory sounds incredibly solid.

The BFG poster is not helped by the large
image of the currently suspended Bram.

The show is headlined by a triple threat match for the TNA World Heavyweight title as champion Ethan Carter III defends against Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway with Jeff Hardy as special guest referee. I personally think this sounds like one of the weakest matches on the card not because the talent involved isn't great, but because the booking clearly implies typical TNA shenanigan booking to end the show. The big pay-per-view should have a decisive finish and it just seems doubtful that with his enemy EC3 and his brother Matt in the ring that Jeff will call it down the middle.

A look back at the Lucha World Cup

It has been twenty-one years since the last time AAA broadcasted a pay-per-view in English, back at the illustrious When Worlds Collide, which most fans will remember as the show WCW built the Cruiserweight division from. But that changed on May 24, 2015 with the broadcast of the Lucha Libre World Cup on internet pay-per-view.

It’s a bit crazy that AAA never held a major trios tournament until this event, almost as if they’re taking a page from Chikara’s book for their return to English language action. Lucha Underground’s Matt Striker and Vampiro called the action, although both were a bit less polished than their El Rey appearances. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard Vampiro be quite this lecherous.

The Chikara connection actually received a call out in the very first match as the Dream Team took on Team NOAH. The NOAH unit featured the legendary Takayama alongside captain Taiji Ishimori and former King of Trios standout Atsushi Kotoge. The Team Osaka Pro alum was allowed lots of time to shine against the superstar trio of Alberto El Patron, Mysteziz and Rey Mysterio (the only carryover from When Worlds Collide.)

The other teams all brought it. The workrate was surprisingly deep based on the roster, but Team AAA and Team ROH/Lucha Underground brought a ton of great in-ring work. American fans already know how good El Hijo Del Fantasma is (with his Lucha Underground alter ego getting a subtle nod from Striker) and that El Texano Jr is a solid guy in-ring, but most everyone probably saw Psycho Clown for the first time. Perhaps Los Psycho Circus as a whole would have been more fun, but the three men put on an amazing battle against ROH’s Moose and ACH and Lucha Underground’s Brian Cage. Cage still strikes me as a man WWE missed the boat on in a huge way, as shown by his excellent work here and in the American tie-in.

Team All Japan took on the Mexican Legends Solar I, Blue Demon Jr and Dr. Wagner Jr. Against a team with 99 combined years of experience, Kenzo Suzuki (whose in-ring time was very limited), Tiger Mask III and Masamune didn’t accomplish very much. They were perhaps the most disappointing team of the eight in the tournament.

The final first round match was my favorite of the night. Team TNA Underground brought some good star power with Mr. Anderson, Matt Hardy and Johnny Mundo (otherwise known as John Morrison.) They took on the most intriguing team of the night, the thrown together Team Rest of the World. Drew Galloway (UK) and El Mesias (Puerto Rico) teamed with arguably 2015’s breakout talent of the year Angelico (South Africa). It seemed impossible that Team TNA wouldn’t make it to round two but the worldwide team gave them a run for their money. And again, Striker and Vampiro give another sly reference to one talent’s Lucha Underground alter ego.

With the four teams left, round two felt a bit telegraphed. As set up, the Dream Team vs. Team ROH and the Mexican Legends vs. Team TNA were solid battles, but they telegraphed the finals a bit.

The format of the tournament involved sudden death overtimes after the 15 minute time limits, which equaled one on one fights for five minutes. The third place match was ran only as such and it lasted all of seven minutes. But with AAA pushing Brian Cage hard, it made sense to give him a very decisive showing here.

The finals featured the Dream Team and Team TNA Lucha Underground. Anderson, Hardy and Mundo worked as great heels for the finals. The story of Rey Mysterio’s Mexican return played a huge part in this story and they revealed their purpose for doing so as the match moved into its third Sudden Death overtime. The final period pitted Mysterio against Mundo. Everyone that knows Mundo knows he’s an excellent base for the assault of someone like Mysterio. In a fast paced blast of action, Mysterio reverses an End of the World (or Starship Pain for WWE fans) into a Victory Roll for the finish.
The pay-per-view ran a little long in typical Mexican fashion with over four hours and a lot of pageantry between battles. The show did have some issues with silenced promos, which was especially annoying for the English language talk. But the in ring action and great commentary made up for the slow points.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen no word of replays or purchasing rights for the show in perpetuity. The PPV replays are only available for a week. But if it does become available against stateside, I recommend it.

And hey, Mysteziz works thirty times better here than he ever did in WWE.

Wrestle-1 can bring the action

Wrestle-1 experienced a massive down turn in business after their big TNA crossover show last year. The problems cost the company its link with the American brand, as both companies seek ways to improve their fortunes in 2015. But just because TNA and Wrestle-1 no longer have a working relationship doesn't mean that Wrestle-1 isn't able to put on good matches. In fact, they can do so while featuring TNA talent still.

As shared on his own Youtube feed, Matt Hardy had an excellent appearance at Wrestle-1 in a great three way match against former TNA standout Sanada and ECW/WWE cruiserweight legend Yoshihiro Tajiri. They put on a great battle that showed Sanada could hold up against the twenty-plus year veterans.