5) Finn Balor: I’ve written many
times of how much I enjoy Balor. I’ve been a fan of Balor since he teamed with Ryusuke Taguchi in NJPW. He was my gateway
into NJPW and Japanese wrestling as a whole. I would constantly track down all
his big matches when he performed under the name Prince Devitt. All of his IWGP
Junior Heavyweight reigns were excellent. The reason why I enjoyed (and continue
to enjoy) the Junior division is because it’s the closest we have to the
heydays of TNA’s X-Division. Since joining the WWE, Balor has been great. But
his match quality has understandably dipped due to working a more WWE style. Previously he may have been in my
top three but slips to number five here.
4) Zack Sabre Jr: The Brit has taken
over as my “new Prince Devitt”. He’s the guy I spend time tracking down his
recent matches online. For those unfamiliar with Sabre. He works a specific
British style but fits in perfectly performing in Japan. Check out his match with Balor before he went to the WWE, here. Most recently, he’s
been earning plaudits in the American indies and it is about time. It’s great
to see him get the respect he deserves and also bring new fans to a style that
was considered dead. I don’t know what’s next for Sabre. I can’t see him in
either WWE or TNA. I think he’s best suited to working Japan and the indies.
Winning the Junior title in NJPW or NOAH would be a good start.
3) AJ Styles: If I had composed these
lists every year, I would have no doubt that AJ would fit into each and every
one of them. He’s just that good, plain and simple. His time in TNA came to an
unfortunate end. He was the embodiment of TNA and I never saw him leaving. But
after seeing what he has done since, I’m sure everybody is happy he has left.
He immediately took over the vacated role of leader of the Bullet Club from
Finn Balor. And since has taken them to new heights with Bullet Club shirts
appearing in every and any promotion. The man himself, Styles, has shown that
he still has it in him to out-perform everyone with classics at every big NJPW
show and will continue to do so. I’m so glad that New Japan gave him this
chance, so that we can all see, once again, how phenomenal this man really is.
2) Seth Rollins: I wrote a piece very
early on in this blog about the “most watchable wrestler”. It came about after
a throwaway comment I made about Zayn being that man. At the time I struggled
with the Rollins versus Zayn debate. Since then, Rollins has made the WWE his
own show. He is WWE’s top performer putting on great matches with everybody. His
crowning moment, of course came at WrestleMania. It was a sight to behold. As I
previous wrote, Rollins is the wrestler who got me into indie wrestling. So to
see him raise the WWE World Championship at WrestleMania will go down as one of
my all-time wrestling moments. But when it came down to the crunch, he was just
edged out by Zayn. And here’s why:
1) Sami Zayn: It was the hardest of
choices. Even after I decided, I tussled with the idea of swapping these two
around. Really, what I am trying to say is that they are both on par with one
another. The only reason I put Zayn over the champ, is because I asked myself,
“who would I rather see wrestle?” And Zayn just edged it. Maybe it’s because I
watch NXT religiously and I don’t watch Raw or Smackdown. But currently, I would prefer to
see a Zayn match over a Rollins’ bout. Add in the fact, that Zayn is just so
damn likable. Hell, even his silly name for his fans, the “Zayniacs” is warming
to me. Zayn is a newbie to my top spot. I wouldn’t have put him there last year
and although I liked him on the indies, I was never a massive fan. I don’t
think he would have ever have made my top five. But he has here, as number one.
Now I hope the WWE doesn’t mess it up when they call him up.
That’s my top five, what’s yours? Do you agree with my
choices, who do you rank as number one? Let me know @marcusandberg
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