Everyone loves an end-of-year list, don’t they? No? Well here’s our top 50 of the year’s movers and shakers in the world of pro wrestling anyway, because we can.
Of course, there’s no exact science to this; Simply what we have is a list of 50 names who have either provided us with great entertainment over the course of the previous 365 days, been amongst those we would consider the best workers, or have risen through the ranks of their various organisations to ascend to new heights. Things like positioning and star power are taken into consideration, just as ring work is. Even booking, something performers have little or no control over, is a factor. After all, pro wrestling is a banquet of many flavours.
Naturally its near-impossible to follow absolutely everything in the world of wrestling, so please do excuse the lack of names such as Rush. Modern lucha libre has taken a back seat in our viewing this year, outside of Lucha Underground and the adventures of Alberto El Patrón, and similarly we were unable to find the time to delve as deeply as we would have liked into the world of the British independents, where promotions such as Insane Championship Wrestling and Preston City Wrestling are on fire. There was however one Brit doing the rounds on the UK circuit who we simply could not ignore…
Obviously a project like this is entirely subjective, and by its nature could not be considered anything but History of Wrestling’s definitive list for the year. We know many of reading this will likely be exasperated by some of our choices, but that’s what we love about pro wrestling; the passion. In other words, opinion x internet = go write your own bloody list!
Of course, there’s no exact science to this; Simply what we have is a list of 50 names who have either provided us with great entertainment over the course of the previous 365 days, been amongst those we would consider the best workers, or have risen through the ranks of their various organisations to ascend to new heights. Things like positioning and star power are taken into consideration, just as ring work is. Even booking, something performers have little or no control over, is a factor. After all, pro wrestling is a banquet of many flavours.
Naturally its near-impossible to follow absolutely everything in the world of wrestling, so please do excuse the lack of names such as Rush. Modern lucha libre has taken a back seat in our viewing this year, outside of Lucha Underground and the adventures of Alberto El Patrón, and similarly we were unable to find the time to delve as deeply as we would have liked into the world of the British independents, where promotions such as Insane Championship Wrestling and Preston City Wrestling are on fire. There was however one Brit doing the rounds on the UK circuit who we simply could not ignore…
Obviously a project like this is entirely subjective, and by its nature could not be considered anything but History of Wrestling’s definitive list for the year. We know many of reading this will likely be exasperated by some of our choices, but that’s what we love about pro wrestling; the passion. In other words, opinion x internet = go write your own bloody list!
50. Ashley Remington [CHIKARA]
North east independent Dalton Castle impressed on CZW, Wrestling Is… and 2CW cards before becoming a HOW cult favourite with his reinvention at CHIKARA’s You Only Live Twice iPPV reboot in May as the fruit basket-offering, rule-adhering nice guy ‘Smooth Sailing’ Ashley Remington…
Scored joyful comedy wins over Chuck Taylor, Archibald Peck and Kodama throughout the summer…
Disqualification win over Yamamoto (Yoshi Tatsu/Yoshitatsu) at King of Trios Night 2 in September served to set up his first serious feud when he was attacked by Juan Francisco de Coronado for using de Coronado’s German suplex finisher…
Traded wins with de Coronado at Thunderball and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before ending the feud a winner with victory in a German suplex match at CHIKARA’s ECW Arena return and season finale iPPV Tomorrow Never Dies…
Back under the Dalton Castle name, has been announced for Ring of Honor’s now-annual Top Prospect tournament in early 2015, a series which has made names out of Mike Bennett, Matt Taven and Hanson, whilst also providing a springboard of sorts for the likes of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Michael Elgin.
49. Kazushi Sakuraba [NJPW]
Former MMA star with UFC, Pride, K1 and Dream, and former UWFi “shoot-style” pro wrestler, “Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba kicked off 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 with an embarrassing disqualification victory over the useless Daniel and Rolles Gracie, in tandem with Yuji Nagata…
Lumbered with the pair in a program that felt like it would never end, the rematch at New Beginning in Osaka ended in a shock win for the Gracies, as did a May 3rd bout at Wrestling Dontaku with company superstar Shinsuke Nakamura partnering Sakuraba…
The Gracies were finally put out to pasture on May 25th at Return to Yokohama Arena when Sakuraba defeated Rolles, finally freeing up the talented Sakuraba for bigger and better things…
Big and better things did indeed come when he was thrust into an exciting feud with another former MMA star, Minoru Suzuki…
Finished in mid-table in Block B of the November and December’s World Tag League in conjunction with Toru Yano, but has a hotly anticipated UWFi rules match against former Pancrase man Suzuki at Wrestle Kingdom 9 to look forward to.
48. Jigsaw [CHIKARA]
CHIKARA is many things to many people but weather you love it or you hate it, you can’t deny that Jigsaw is one of their pre-eminent in-ring performers…
New York native appeared for TNA, Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, DREAMWAVE and House of Glory, among others, beating masked rival Fire Ant at Way of the Ronin in February and dropping a fall to Kenny King at One Night Only: X-Travaganza under his Rubix moniker…
Carried CHIKARA’s Campeonatas de Parejas alongside Pieces of Hate partner and former nemesis The Shard in the offshoot Wrestling Is… promotions…
Returned to his home promotion at their You Only Live Twice reboot iPPV in May in a four-way tag match with The Shard before the pair dumped their titles to The Throwbacks at The World Is Not Enough two months later…
Along with GEKIDO colleague 17, Pieces of Hate were victorious over Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy in the first round of CHIKARA’s King of Trios tournament, but dissension arose when Jigsaw began to show sympathy for real-life baby brother Jolly Roger during the match. The problems failed to subside, and GEKIDO bowed out of the quarter finals against 3Peck0 the next night…
Alongside Tony Nese, captured the FWE tag team titles from The Adrenaline Express on a live YouTube broadcast on October 3rd, only to lose the belts the next night to the Young Bucks in a four-way ladder match that also included the Express and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) on iPPV…
Should return to CHIKARA in the new year to pick up where he left off with Jolly Roger and the GEKIDO…
Consistently improving worker has also improved his physique to make himself look more like a professional wrestler than a skinny kid just playing professional wrestler.
47. Ethan Carter III [TNA]
Good-looking, hard-working storyline nephew of Dixie Carter really found himself after wasting so much time as an afterthought on WWE’s lousy original incarnation of NXT under the Derrick Bateman name…
Time spent fannying about with the likes of Norv Fernum, Dewey Barnes and Shark Boy in late 2013 was paid off when he scored a win over the legendary Sting on a special Genesis edition of Impact in Sting’s last match to date…
Captained a team at TNA’s One Nigh Only: World Cup pay-per-view taping, but lost in the finals to Eric Young’s squad…
Took something of a back seat to Carter-rival MVP and his crew, but became embroiled in Bully Ray’s war against Aunt Dixie, with ‘EC3’ scoring a major win over Ray at Slammiversary XII in a Texas Death match…
Carter clan continued to rumble with Ray’s old ECW buddies over the summer, which included a solid street fight victory over Rhino on Impact…
Pinned blubbery lard-arse Ryoto Hama in a comedy match at Bound for Glory in October…
Dumped wacky sidekick Rockstar Spud and hired Tyrus (the former Brodus Clay) as his new bodyguard to set up a program with Spud for TNA’s eventual return in 2015.
46. Grado [Independent]
A self-made sensation on YouTube, it felt like Grado was everywhere on the UK circuit in 2014…
Scored wins over international stars Jay Lethal and Scotty 2 Hotty for WrestleZone, and picked up another in a comedy dream match against Mad Man Manson for PROGRESS in the early part of the year…
Picked up the PWE World Heavyweight title at their third anniversary card in July - subtitled Gradomania - with victory over Dave ‘The Bastard’ Mastiff…
Added the ICW tag team titles to his collection the following month alongside Colt Cabana in a team dubbed Irn Jew…
Made a nuisance of himself to Al Snow as part of TNA’s British Bootcamp series, which saw him lose to Ethan Carter, III and wind up on the wrong side of an eight-person intergender tag team match…
Raised his profile with appearances on BBC One’s prime time Insane Fight Club documentary, and Challenge TV’s WrestleTalk TV…
Shameless self-promoter will no doubt be in high demand in 2015.
45. Natalya [WWE]
Arguably the best female worker on WWE’s roster, and one of the best workers period, the daughter of Jim Neidhart unfathomably made just two pay-per-view appearances all year long, in crowded multi-woman matches at WrestleMania XXX and Survivor Series…
Infuriatingly reduced to pointless filler matches on TV that routinely fail to reach the four-minute barrier, but often shows sparks of her true skill…
Made a statement at the NXT Takeover special in May, losing to Charlotte in the finals of the NXT Women’s title tournament with her uncle Bret Hart and Charlotte’s father Ric Flair watching on from ringside. Given more than 15 minutes to play with, this was one of the best matches of the entire year…
Co-starring role on Total Divas has kept her profile high, and double-act with real-life husband Tyson Kidd is a source of much amusement…
Nevertheless, this likeable third-generation Diva deserves better, and is criminally overlooked by WWE’s creative team.
44. Christopher Daniels [TNA/Independent]
Started the year in TNA with Bad Influence partner Frankie Kazarian continuing to offer amusing Throwback Thursday homages to the likes of The British Bulldogs, but trouble looked to be brewing when the best act in TNA were jobbed out in just six-minutes on free TV to newcomers The Wolves in a match that was barely hyped…
Bad Influence victory over Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka) on WRESTLE-1’s Outbreak pay-per-view was an aberration; they were soon following losses to the underrated BroMans and the thrown together tandem of James Storm and Gunner with more losses to the Wolves (in a ladder match at the taped One Night Only X-Travagazna PPV) and a six-man cage match at Lockdown with Chris Sabin against the WRESTLE-1 trio of The Great Muta, Seiya Sanada and Yasu…
Still under contract to TNA, their team made a dark match appearance for EVOLVE at the Mercury Rising iPPV and another at the combined CZW/PWG WrestleCon card during WrestleMania weekend, before Daniels flew back to Japan to put Sanada over in an X-Divison title match at WRESTLE-1’s Cherry Blossom show in Korakuen Hall…
Followed long-time friend AJ Styles out of the money-haemorrhaging TNA to the astonishment of many, but had no trouble finding work on the independents in matches against the likes of Takaaki Watanabe, Low-Ki, Noam Dar, Caprice Coleman and Adam Cole…
Joined on the indy circuit by Kazarian, the rechristened Addiction starred on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore cards in June, picking up wins over Outlaw Inc. (Eddie Kingston and Homicide) and Petey Williams and Tony Nese, but losing to The Young Bucks over the span of three days…
Team resurfaced in ROH with a loss to tag team champions ReDRagon at the Best in the World pay-per-view, whom they lost to again at Field of Honor in August, but rebounded with victories over Adam Cole and Jay Lethal on night two of the Summer Heat tour and The Decade of Jimmy Jacobs and Roderick Strong the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Traded further wins with the Bucks in ROH, PWG and FWE, but a four-way ladder match victory for the FWE tag team titles at the ReFueled iPPV gave the Bucks the last laugh in the promotion-spanning series… at least for now…
Team ended the year as they began - losing to everyone from the Briscoes to Zero Gravity, rounding out their half-year in ROH with a six-man loss alongside Cedric Alexander to ACH and those darn Young Bucks at the Final Battle pay-per-view…
Still going strong at 44, routinely outshines his more conservative partner for spectacular moves. Curiously judged unaffordable to TNA, Daniels will always find work as long as he avoids injury and can continue to wrestle like he’s 15 years younger than his birth certificate claims.
43. Seiya Sanada/The Great Sanada [Wrestle-1/TNA]
Great Muta protégé primed himself for a Muta-like learning excursion to the U.S. by beating Austin Aries for the TNA X-Division championship at WRESTLE-1’s Outbreak pay-per-view in March…
Arrived in the States at Lockdown one week later to team with Muta and Yasu in triumph over Chris Sabin and Bad Influence…
Short-lived team with Mexico’s Tigre Uno lead to a similarly short-lived feud with him, from which Sanada prevailed…
Frequently defended his title in multi-person matches, including a six-man ladder match in the opener of Slammiversary XII in June…
Eventually dumped the strap back to Aries and made an unsuccessful attempt to snare it back in a gauntlet bout during TNA’s summer sojourn to the North East…
Head-scratching decision to switch the strap resulted in WRESTLE-1 reversing booking plans to give him a win over Muta on his return to the Orient, and caused friction between the two promotions in the run-up to their co-promotion of Bound for Glory…
Took the dukes over Amasis, AR Fox and Orlando Christopher in the semi-finals of CHIKARA’s Rey de Voladores tournament during King of Trios weekend, then put over the upcoming Shynron in the finals…
Association with the manipulative James Storm character and switch to the Great Sanada gimmick resulted in the pair losing to Muta and TAJIRI at Bound for Glory in October…
Full-time return to WRESTLE-1 was a disappointment when Sanada and Hiroshi Yamato failed to make it out of the group stage of the Greatest Tag League…
Ended the year by putting over Muta again in a failed crack at the WRESTLE-1 title, but consistent in-ring performances suggest a bright future.
42. Bully Ray [TNA]
Tumultuous year for TNA led to something of a reduced presence for one of its key performers…
Traded gimmick match wins under a Raven-esque loner gimmick on Impact early in the year, before putting his foe over in a series of best-of-three-falls cage matches on the road before minuscule audiences…
Part of the winning team at the taped One Night Only: World Cup pay-per-view, but had to settle for second fiddle behind team captain Eric Young, but made his presence felt as the special guest referee during the Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown when he slammed the cage door in Bobby Roode’s head to turn babyface and begin a feud with Dixie Carter, whom he promised to smash through a table…
Spent the early part of the summer scuffling in tiresome ECW-style nostalgia matches during TNA’s excursion to New York and Philadelphia, losing to Carter surrogates Roode in a tables match at Sacrifice and Ethan Carter, III in a decent Texas Death match at Slammiversary XII…
Reunited with former Dudley Boyz/Team 3D partner Devon at Slammiversary for the announcement that the duo would be inducted into TNA’s Hall of Fame that October, despite the fact his contract was due to expire in late August…
Pair picked up yet another set of straps in July when they defeated Jason Axe and the WWE-bound Kevin Steen for the 2CW Tag Team titles in July, before embarking on a three-team series with the Wolves and the reunited Hardy Boyz back in TNA…
Quickly took the lead against the Wolves and the Hardys with victory in the opening triple threat match, but couldn’t get the job done in table or ladder matches in early August, though Bully did finally make good on his promise to put Carter through a table, much to the delight of misogynistic wrestling fans everywhere…
Gave TNA a boost when he signed a new short-term contract after having already said his goodbyes backstage, and returned to climax the three way series by putting the Wolves over in a gripping Full Metal Mayhem match in September and accept Team 3D’s Hall of Fame award at Bound for Glory in Tokyo, Japan in October…
TNA’s lengthy struggles to find a new broadcast partner after their deal with Spike TV ended have left an uncertain future for their relationship with Ray, but much in-demand on the independent circuit, he surely won’t go hungry when he starts looking for work.
41. Bobby Lashley [TNA]
MMA contender returned to TNA as their answer to Brock Lesnar on a part-time basis in March with a disqualification loss to Ethan Carter, III on Impact…
Aligned himself with on-screen Director of Wrestling Operations MVP and Kenny King after MVP won power from Dixie Carter at Lockdown…
Injury to MVP forced a reshuffle at Slammiversary XII, with Lashley beating Samoa Joe to earn a berth in a triple threat cage match with World champion Eric Young and Austin Aries, but ended the night without the gold…
Point was rendered moot when he put an end to Young’s reign as champion four nights later on Impact, just as Young was starting to get over as champion…
Televised title defences against Young, Aries and Jeff Hardy were routinely good…
Smashed through Tommy Dreamer in a Street Fight in August during TNA’s latest burst of ECW nostalgia-theme programming, then beat Bobby Roode, his only real contender a the No Surrender special edition of Impact…
Fearful he would lose face in an MMA fight, TNA booked him to drop the title to Roode in a rematch in September, which felt like the biggest match TNA had promoted in aeons. Big man did the honours as asked… then won his MMA fight anyway, rendering the title switch somewhat pointless…
Subtle remarks from MVP about title intentions and subtle glances from Lashley suggest a split is on the way, but until TNA returns to TV on Destination America, it remains to be seen if Lashley will even appear for the promotion again.
40. Michael Elgin [ROH]
Mixed fortunes for the Canadian powerhouse this year, who began 2014 in similar fashion, with a quarter-final win but a semi-final loss in PWG’s DDT4 tournament alongside Unbreakable F’N Machines partner Brian Cage…
Became the first man not to taste defeat against AJ Styles after Styles’ return to ROH with a 30-minute TV draw in February…
Busy spring season saw him became the number one contender to both the Ring of Honor World title and the IWGP title with wins over Kevin Steen and Styles respectively, but failed to wrest the CZW World title from Drew Gulak in a three-way that also involved Chris Hero…
Lost his shot at Styles’ IWGP Heavyweight crown in a triple threat match with Kazuchika Okada at the combined ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds supercard in May…
Was said to be disappointed by New Japan’s alleged lack of interest in him, but rebounded the following month at Best in the World, ROH’s first ever live pay-per-view cable TV broadcast, when he won the promotion’s World title from Adam Cole…
Expected to be given a long reign as champion, there was much surprise when Jay Briscoe upended him for the strap just three months later at the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Rumours quickly flew, suggesting that Elgin had fallen out of favour with ROH management, and that he was unable to leave Canada due to issues with his working visa…
Things got even stranger when an announced return to the ring was followed by Elgin publicly quitting the group on Twitter on October 6th, before returning three weeks later with a new disgruntled character that blabbed on about his situation to the point of alienating many fans. No, Elgin has not been well-regarded since this self-indulgent nonsense began…
Over in PWG it was, thankfully, a different story when Elgin beat Tomasso Ciampa then put over newcomer Trevor Lee in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament in two choice match-ups…
Teamed with Chris Sabin to lose to the American Wolves at AAW’s A Monster’s Revenge then travelled to the UK for a series of joint cards held between Preston City Wrestling and ROH, where he split victories in mix ‘n’ match bouts against the likes of Brodus Clay, BJ Whitmer, Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation in November…
Scored another win over Ciampa at ROH’s Final Battle PPV on December 7th, then went all the way in the revived IWA Mid-South’s Revolution Strong Style tournament on the 18th, but may one day look back on 2014 as a year that could have brought so much more.
39. Brock Lesnar [WWE]
A controversial choice to be sure, given that Lesnar only wrestled four actual matches all year long, but what a special attraction he has been…
Destroyed The Big Show with a barrage of chair shots at the Royal Rumble in January…
Shocked the entire world in April when he ended The Undertaker’s legendary WrestleMania winning streak at 21-1 for reasons few could fathom, later explained away by Vince McMahon during his appearance on The Steve Austin Show as Lesnar being the only credible choice in an unprecedented burial of both his current full-time roster, and his own promotional policies and ability to create new stars…
Stunned the world again at SummerSlam with what was essentially a squash match victory over John Cena to lift the WWE World Heavyweight championships after avoiding an early Attitude Adjustment attempt and blasting his foe with no less than sixteen German suplexes…
WWE hit the panic button in September and immediately arranged a Lesnar-Cena rematch for Night of Champions, booking themselves into a corner when they had to deliver a lousy disqualification finish to keep the titles on Lesnar but also avoid on-the-trot pay-per-view defeats for their golden boy…
Some will argue Lesnar shouldn’t even be on this list, but his charisma, presence and legitimacy is undeniable, and his frequent exiles only serve to underscore the notion that WWE television is a far, far poorer product without him.
38. Alberto Del Rio/Alberto El Patrón [WWE/AAA]
Made no secret of his desire to leave WWE when his contract came up for renewal after becoming just another face on the roster for most of the year, trading wins and losses here and there with the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus, though while his character grew stale, his performances never diminished…
Received his wish earlier than expected when he was fired by WWE, who cited “unprofessional conduct” after Del Rio flew off the handle and hit social media director Cody Barbierri, feeling Barbierri had racially abused him…
Freed from the chains of WWE, the renamed Alberto El Patron defied all orders to acquiesce to the non-compete clause in his contract and showed up at AAA’s TripleMania, instantly becoming the biggest babyface in all of Mexico…
Completely reinvigorated by the change of scenery, teamed with Myztizez (former WWE rival Sin Cara) and La Parka to put down Averno, El Texano, Jr. and Perro Aguayo, Jr. at Heroes Immortales VIII in November…
Downed Texano at the Guerra De Titanes pay-per-view to lift AAA’s World title, for which he has a slew of new opponents…
Much in demand star who carries himself like a true World champion put in appearances for WRESTLE-1 in Japan (where he defeated the legendary Masakatsu Funaki at the Keiji Mutoh 30th Anniversary card), FPW in England (where he defeated Marty Scurll) and as a surprise guest at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore VII…
Debuting for Ring of Honor in early 2015, former MMA star has options in both pro wrestling and pro fighting, should he so choose.
37. Cesaro [WWE]
Began the year as a Real American with Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter in unsuccessful attempts to snare the WWE World Tag Team titles from Cody Rhodes and Goldust…
Received a boost as one of the six names selected for the Elimination Chamber in February. The only man in the bout not to be a former WWE or World Heavyweight title holder, Cesaro rubbed shoulders with John Cena, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and Christian, but wasn’t deemed ready for a big win just yet…
That was to come when he dumped The Big Show out of the ring to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, just over a month after tearing the house down with Sami Zayn in a 23-minute scorcher at NXT ArRIVAL…
Dumped the albatross of the Americans on RAW the night after WrestleMania and revealed his true status as a “Paul Heyman Guy”, which promised so much but delivered so little…
Feud with former partner Swagger was uninspired, as was a surprising loss to part-timer Rob Van Dam in the Intercontinental title tournament in April…
Matches with United States champion Sheamus were critically acclaimed, but frequent losses hampered his progress and solidly pigeonholed him behind the flame-haired Irishman in tWWE’s promotional pecking-order…
Split from Heyman barely caused a ripple, and was done to benefit Brock Lesnar more than it was Cesaro…
Switch from Sheamus and the U.S. title to Dolph Ziggler and the Intercontinental title proved similarly fruitless, and a two-out-of-three falls loss in just 12-minutes to Ziggler at Hell in a Cell was an extremely bad sign, as was his being eliminated first in a SmackDown three-way for the belt with Ziggler and Tyson Kidd…
All conjecture was confirmed when Vince McMahon singled him out on a live podcast with Steve Austin for lacking charisma, verbal skills and an “it” factor…
Finished the year in a thrown-together team with the supremely-talented Kidd, for the sole purpose of putting other teams over, then was jobbed out on the final RAW of the year to returning mid-carder Wade Barrett after cutting a promo in which he was instructed to bury himself for not connecting with the “WWE Universe”…
In-ring skill has never been in question, but as long as continues playing for McMahon’s audience of one, he’ll unfortunately never amount to anything more than an also-ran.
36. ACH [ROH]
High-flying 27-year old spent 2014 in much the same way as the year previous - impressing people when it mattered the most…
Thrilling loss alongside AR Fox to the Inner City Machine Guns of Ricochet and Rich Swann at PWG’s DDT4 was followed in ROH by a series over the tag team titles with reigning champions ReDRagon, in conjunction with Adrenaline Rush partner TaDarius Thomas. Victories were traded, but the titles weren’t…
Ending his association with Thomas, ACH was the star of the tidy six-man opener at the combined ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds supercard in New York, when he, Matt Taven and Tommaso Ciampa beat New Japan reps Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov and Takaaki Watanabe…
Victorious in a hectic six-man scramble at Road to Best in the World on June 6th, but failed in his crack at Adam Cole’s World championship later that same night…
Picked up his second six-man scramble victory of the year in the opener of Best in the World, Ring of Honor’s first ever live broadcast on pay-per-view cable television…
Apparent six-way specialist added three more wins to his record in multi-man matches at AIW’s Absolution IX, ROH’s Death Before Dishonor XII and PCW’s SuperShow of Honor…
First round loss to Kenny Omega at PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles was a disappointment in result if not in match quality, as was a six-man loss the next night alongside Chris Sabin and Brian Myers (the former Curt Hawkins) to the Mount Rushmore trio of Cole and the Bucks, and another defeat to the Bucks in tandem with Fox…
Finally got one over the Bucks on ROH TV, this time with Matt Sydal as his partner, before joining them as an honorary member of New Japan’s Bullet Club faction to beat Cedric Alexander and The Addiction at the Final Battle pay-per-view…
Second crack at the ROH World title was another loss, this time to Jay Briscoe, but his appearance as a member of Ring of Honor’s All-Star team in an eight-man loss to its champions at Wings Stadium in Michigan, plus his 30-minute time-limit draw with ROH Television champion Jay Lethal and other semi-regular championship opportunities suggest his current home promotion has big plans for him. Titles can surely only elude this man for so long.
35. Jay Lethal [ROH]
Felt lost in the shuffle early in the year and was hand-picked to put AJ Styles over at the 12th Anniversary Show in February…
Rebounded with a heel turn that saw him join the House of Truth and win the ROH Television title from Tommaso Ciampa in two straight falls at Supercard of Honor VIII over WrestleMania weekend…
New attitude brought about a new ring-style, but title defences against the likes of KUSHIDA, Matt Taven, ACH and Cedric Alexander remained entertaining…
On the winning team in the epic 48-minute Champions vs. All-Stars eight man tag in October…
Ended the unprecedented winning streak of R.D. Evans at Glory By Honor XIII, albeit with help from Evans’ former partner Moose…
Capped off a solid year with another good win at Final Battle, this time over Matt Sydal…
Still only 29, 13-year pro Lethal has the winning combination of both age and experience on his side.
34. Rusev [WWE]
Semi-meteoric rise for the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ who started the year getting himself prepared for life on WWE’s main roster with a series of house show and dark match appearances, before hitting screens as an unadvertised surprised in the Royal Rumble…
One of the victims of a name cull that also saw (Antonio) Cesaro and Big E (Langston) lose part of their names, the one-time Alexander also had his Bulgarian heritage shoved to the side so he could portray a Russian-sympathiser in a character many saw as a dated throwback to 1980s xenephobic cheap heat…
Squash match wins throughout the spring prepared him for his first proper feud in which he dispatched of “Real American” Jack Swagger and waved his Russian flag around, much to the overbearing disgust of obnoxious colour commentator John Bradshaw Layfield…
Turned his attentions to Big E, Mark Henry and The Big Show, all of whom he easily dispatched, before dethroning Sheamus in the first ever match taped exclusively for airing on the WWE Network to add the United States title to his package…
Part of Team Authority in the main event of Survivor Series, and was even protected with a count-out finish he caused by crashing spectacularly through a table on a splash attempt…
Took a step backwards at TLC in December when he resumed his feud with Swagger on the basis that WWE hadn’t bothered to build up any new opponents for him, but at least he won…
Currently pencilled in for a showdown with either John Cena or The Rock at WrestleMania XXXI, which is both a blessing and a curse, especially if WWE have not learnt from the lessons this year when it senselessly fed the rising Bray Wyatt to Cena at their annual supershow.
33. Charlotte [NXT]
Second generation starlet has much to live up as the daughter of legendary 16-time World champion Ric Flair, but already carries incredible poise, skill and ability far beyond her level of experience…
Ran through Alexa Bliss and Emma in the tournament to crown a new NXT Women’s champion following the main roster promotion of Paige, en route to a scorching 16-minute final at NXT TakeOver where she defeated Natalya for the gold, a gripping bout watched from ringside by her old man and Nattie’s uncle Bret Hart…
Those who put the credit on Natalya for the quality of that bout were largely silenced when she retained her title in another quality scrap at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way against fan-favourite Bayley, then beat her again on the regular NXT TV show…
New-found respect for Bayley kicked off a babyface turn and split from her BFF’s partner Sasha Banks, leading to a tag team match which she and Bayley lost to Banks and Becky Lynch…
Build to her climactic showdown with Banks was solidly crapped on when she was senselessly booked to lose in less than three minutes to Nataya in her RAW debut, in Flair hotbed the Carolinas no less…
Any doubters remaining who pinned the Bayley match as a fluke had no choice but to take notice after she did it again with a exciting win over Banks at TakeOver: R Evolution…
Gifted athlete is doing the legacy of her father… and the memory of her brother… extremely proud thus far.
32. Alex Shelley [NJPW]
One of several names on this year’s list who have flourished since freeing themselves of the shackles of TNA, the former Motor City Machine Gun’s Timesplitters duo with KUSHIDA has gone from strength-to-strength since forming in late 2012…
Kicked off 2014 at the Tokyo Dome with an unsuccessful crack at The Young Bucks’ IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles in a four-way that also included Forever Hooligans and Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku and Taichi) but won a non-title rematch the next night…
2-on-2 crack at the Bucks’ belts saw defeat again in an excellent match at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th, and it was a familiar story on the joint ROH/NJPW Global Wars card in Toronto, this time a three-way including Forever Hooligans…
Time off from New Japan saw singles outings opposite the likes of Petey Williams, Kyle O’Reilly and Kevin Steen in preparation for a berth in New Japan’s 21st annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Unlike his partner, Shelley was unable to escape the group stages, but had much to celebrate in late June when Timesplitters finally unseated the Bucks to take the Junior straps…
Team spent the autumn feuding with the Suzuki-gun stable, scoring successful title defences over ReDRagon, El Desperado and Taichi and the Bucks and the Hooligans in a Global Wars rematch, then lost to the Hooligans in the first round of the Super Junior Tag Tournament…
Dynamic Duo dumped their titles to ReDRagon on the Road to Power Struggle tour in November, and were unsuccessful in their crack at the Ring of Honor tag team championship against the same team at Final Battle in another good bout…
Set to start 2015 the same way they did 2014 - with a shot at the IWGP Junior tag team titles in a four-way match at the Tokyo Dome.
31. KENTA/Hideo Itami [NOAH/NXT]
Started the year on the wrong foot by dropping Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Honoured Crown to the bulky Takeshi Morishima at New Year Navigation…
Feud with Maybach Taniguchi led to a no disqualification win over his rival at NOAH Monday NOAH in February, but he failed to wrest his GHC title back from new champion Yuji Nagata later that month…
Entered the Global Tag League in April with No Mercy partner Yoshihiro Takayama, but couldn’t secure a spot in the final…
Ambitious 33-year old said goodbye to his home promotion of more than a decade at Navigation with Breeze on May 17th, teaming with former partner/longtime rival Naomichi Marufuji to beat Katushiko Nakajima and Takashi Sugiura…
Unveiled on a tour of Japan as WWE’s latest signing by Hulk Hogan, and on-screen at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way by William Regal, the rechristened Hideo Itami quickly gave The Ascension a right pasting…
Quickly in danger of becoming just another face on the developmental roster, the arrival of Prince Devitt as Finn Bálor set up a Japanese junior heavyweight dream team of sorts that beat The Ascension on December’s TakeOver: R Evolution live special, with Itami adding ring entrance apparel influenced by the Scorpion character from Mortal Kombat…
Brought in to play the role of WWE’s Japanese superstar/ambassador, Itami shouldn’t be in developmental for long, but will need more than stiff kicks, broken English and a ring jacket referencing mid-90s pop culture if he wants to be anything more than this year’s Yoshi Tatsu.
30. KUSHIDA [NJPW]
Speedy junior heavyweight has flourished since forming the Timesplitters team with TNA cast-off Alex Shelley in late 2012…
Team came up short in a short, spot-filled four-way shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8, and were equally unsuccessful in attempts to snare the straps from reigning champions The Young Bucks in February and May before finally getting the job done in June…
Took part in two singles tournaments, losing in the first round to Axel Tischer in Germany for wXw’s 16-Carat Gold Cup in March, but went all the way to the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors in June, falling to Ricochet at the last hurdle after having pinned him during the group stages…
Became a double champion in July when he unseated Kota Ibushi as IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion at Kizuna Road but dropped the strap to Ryusuke Taguchi in his first defence at Destruction in Kobe in September…
Misery was compounded the following month when Timesplitters crashed out of the Super Junior Tag Tournament in the first round at the expense of Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), and things only got worse in November when they lost their titles to ReDRagon at Power Struggle…
Returned to Ring of Honor for the Final Battle pay-per-view on December 7th in New York City, but again fell to ReDRagon, this time with the ROH World tag team titles at steak…
Will get the chance to avenge ReDRagon for the IWGP Junior belts at Wrestle Kingdom 9 on January 4th in a four-way that includes old rivals The Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans.
29. Minoru Suzuki [NJPW]
Got 2014 off to an inauspicious start, losing to The Great Muta and Toru Yano alongside Suzuki-gun team mate Shelton X Benjamin at Wrestle Kingdom 8, but quickly found success against various combinations of CHAOS and the Bullet Club in the early part of the year…
Picked up wins over Yano and Hirooki Goto in the New Japan Cup, but fell to Shinsuke Nakamura in the semi-finals…
Suzuki-gun squad continued to rumble with CHAOS throughout a busy year, during which Suzuki still found time to put in appearances for TAKA Michinoku & Taichi Produce, Kana Pro, Real Japan, DDT and K-Dojo…
Raised his game (as just about everyone seemed to) during the sensational G1 Climax tournament in August that saw him tear the house down with Kazuchika Okada and co-produce many people’s pick for the match of the year with AJ Styles…
Teamed with another Suzuki-gun stablemate, Takashi Iizuka, for a run at the World Tag League in November and December but failed to make it out of the group stages…
Has since entered a feud with fellow shoot-style grappler Kazushi Sakuraba, setting up a mouth-watering singles clash for Wrestle Kingdom 9.
28. Hirooki Goto [NJPW]
Began his year with victory over childhood friend Katsuyori Shibata at Wrestle Kingdom 8 at the Tokyo Dome before tearing the house down in an unsuccessful crack at Kuzuchika Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight championship at The New Beginning in Osaka in February…
Entered the New Japan Cup tournament in March with a quick win over Doc Gallows, but fell to Minoru Suzuki in the second round, and attempts to lift the IWGP Tag Team titles from Bullet Club members Gallows and Karl Anderson at Invasion Attack and Wrestling World with Shibata and Captain New Japan as partners also ended in failure, as did his and Shibata’s attempts to gain the number one contendership from Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe at Back to Yokohama Arena in May…
Now-regular pairing with Shibata rocked up in Pro Wrestling NOAH for July’s Great Voyage, where the dynamic duo scored victory over Akitoshi Saito and Katsuhiko Nakajima…
Entered sterling performances throughout the exceptional G1 Climax tournament in August, shining brightest of all in his losses to the likes of AJ Styles, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Okada than he did in his wins…
Team with Shibata avenged their loss to Tanahashi and Makabe with victory at Road to Destruction, and followed up with wins over Makabe and Tomoaki Honma at Destruction in Okayama and the CHAOS duo of Shinsuke Nakamura and YOSHI-HASHI at King of Pro-Wrestling in the early autumn…
Singles loss to Makabe at Destruction in Kobe was another belter, but he again failed in his quest for championship recognition with a loss to NEVER Openweight champion Tomohiro Ishii at Power Struggle in November…
Finally tasted big-time victory in December’s World Tag League tournament, as he and Shibata came back from three defeats on the trot to escape Block B and put away still-reigning IWGP Tag Team champions Gallows and Anderson in the final, setting up a title match for Wrestle Kingdom 9 on January 4th, 2015.
27. Bobby Fish [ROH]
Relative latecomer to the bone-bending game, 38-year old passed the decade mark in his career with his best year in-ring to date…
Made what would turn out to be his final tour for Pro Wrestling NOAH in January that included victory in the annual season-opening junior heavyweight battle royal…
Seven-month reign as Ring of Honor World Tag Team champion alongside ReDRagon partner Kyle O’Reilly was ended by the Young Bucks in March, which was followed by a loss to the Briscoe Brothers in a three-way with Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer at Global Wars in May…
Losses simply served to set up bigger wins, as ReDRagon reclaimed their belts from the Bucks at the joint ROH/New Japan War of the Worlds iPPV in New York City, then retained them against ready-made challengers the Briscoes at Road to the Best in the World in June…
Scored another big win at Best in the World, ROH’s debut on traditional pay-per-view when ReDRagon retained their titles over The Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian…
Having impressed all the right people during the ROH/New Japan tour, duo were invited to the Orient to put Timesplitters over on the final night of the G1 Climax tour, which in turn earned them an invitation to participate in the Super Junior Tag Tournament November, which they not only won, but followed up on by beating Timesplitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles at the second time of asking…
Appeared in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament as a replacement for AR Fox, but lost in the first round to TJ Perkins, who himself was replacing Brian Cage…
Had more success against PWG talent back in the comfortable surroundings of ROH, when ReDRagon retained their titles against the Bucks in a 2/3 Falls outing on the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Team against tasted victory against the Briscoes on the jointly-promoted PCW/ROH shows in November, then returned to the States to successfully defend the ROH straps against Timesplitters at Final Battle.
26. Luke Harper [WWE]
Arguably the best pure in-ring worker of the three Wyatt Family members…
Trio scored a red-hot victory in a highly anticipated clash with The Shield at Elimination Chamber, then did it again in an awesome rematch on RAW in March…
Wyatts’ scored a TV win over John Cena, Sheamus and Big E the night after WrestleMania XXX then returned the favour for The Shield on Main Event the next night…
Lost a three-on-one handicap match to Cena on the April 24th RAW before Harper and Erick Rowan turned their attention to The Usos’ Tag Team titles, leading to two fantastic pay-per-view matches between the teams at Money in the Bank and Battleground, which the Usos won…
Vanished from TV in the autumn to be repackaged as exactly the same character he was playing before he left, returning to join the Authority team for Survivor Series against a team which featured his former partner Rowan…
Intercontinental title victory over Dolph Ziggler on the November 17th RAW was a shrot-term arrangement to set up a ladder match at TLC, which took match of the night honours.
25. Jey Uso [WWE]
Usos beat Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan in a cage match on RAW in January that served mostly as damage control when WWE misjudged their audience and added Bryan to the Wyatt Family…
Frequently part of six-man tags against 3-Man Band and The Shield, put nostalgia act The New Age Outlaws over at Elimination Chamber, but took the Tag Team titles from the former DX’ers on RAW a couple of weeks later…
Relegated to the WrestleMania XXX pre-show match, but did at least win after many predicted they wouldn’t…
Returned to pay-per-view at Money in the Bank in June with a superb title defence at Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, and followed with a similarly good best two-out-of-three falls rematch at Battleground, the Usos prevailing on both occasions…
Eventually dumped the belts at Night of Champions in September to cement the heel turn of Goldust and Stardust, then put them over again at Hell in a Cell in October and in a cage on SmackDown in November…
Beat new champions The Miz and Damien Mizdow by disqualification at TLC in December, then beat them for real on the last RAW of the year to kick off their second reign as champions after the comedy duo’s stunt double gimmick had already begun to wear thin.
24. Jimmy Uso [WWE]
Career trajectory unsurprisingly follows that of equally-talented brother and regular partner Jey…
Duo were extremely reliable when it came to starring in hard-working, exciting matches throughout 2014, just as they have been for years…
Where previously their act was somewhat under the radar, 2014 saw them rewarded for their efforts with a solid run as Tag Team champions, having beaten The New Age Outlaws on RAW in March…
Series’ with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan over the summer and the team of Goldust and Stardust during the Autumn provided much quality action…
Places higher than his brother on account of his additional exposure through Total Divas, and thanks to more televised in-ring matches after Jey suffered a quick storyline injury at the hands of Goldust and Stardust in September.
23. Roman Reigns [WWE]
Half-Samoan, half-Italian second generation star and cousin to Hollywood cash cow The Rock is allowed an extremely enviable position on WWE’s roster, but works hard to justify his blessings…
Started the year with a big singles win over the soon-to-be-departed CM Punk on Old School RAW in January…
Teamed with his Shield colleagues Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to put the Wyatt Family over in a thriller at Elimination Chamber, then again on RAW eight days later…
Trio’s nostalgia-driven WrestleMania opposition of Kane and the New Age Outlaws were something of a disappointment, but bigger things were in store…
Got their win back over the Wyatts on Main Event after their long-awaited babyface turn on the previous evening’spost-WrestleMania RAW…
Victories over Evolution at Extreme Rules in May and Payback in June were awesome, before Rollins turned on his partners to join Triple H’s Authority stable…
Placing in multi-person WWE World title matches at Money in the Bank and Battleground were attempts by WWE to elevate him, but in kayfabe terms left him looking vulnerable and unsuited to the spot when he didn’t win…
Series against Seth Rollins had to be postponed when Reigns went down with an incarcerated hernia just hours before September’s Night of Champions pay-per-view…
Series of pre-taped big-screen interviews felt forced and poorly scripted, and his Superstar of the Year Slammy Award win ahead of Daniel Bryan surprised many, beginning the rumblings of a backlash against him, though his return at TLC was greeted enthusiastically…
Faces a tough test at the Royal Rumble, where his much-predicted win is now in doubt thanks to the impending return of Bryan…
Muscular, handsome and well follicled, Reigns is WWE’s hand-picked future whether their “Universe” prefers former chum Ambrose to him or not.
22. Bray Wyatt [WWE]
Brief association with Daniel Bryan was not what WWE’s fans wanted, but the negative was turned into a positive when Wyatt won their battle of the beards at the Royal Rumble…
Wyatt Family trio with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan scored sensational victories over The Shield at Elimination Chamber in February, and again eight days later on RAW, setting Bray up for a bout with company kingpin John Cena at WrestleMania XXX, which he nonsensically lost…
The issue seemingly settled, WWE attempted to breathe life into the Wyatt-Cena feud with a creepy angle in which a choir of children assembled at ringside clad in sheep masks and sang to Cena, which set up a cage match, naturally. Wyatt won that one at Extreme Rules, but ended the series on the losing end of a spirited last man standing match at Payback…
New issue with the returning Chris Jericho was just as backwards as the Cena run, babyface Jericho triumphing in their curtain-raising encounter at Battleground in July…
Wyatt at least took the honours in the rematch at SummerSlam, and again in a belated but good cage match on RAW in early September…
Vanished from TV during the autumn in an effort to freshen up his character, only to return with exactly the same look and rambling promos as before, only without the “freed” Harper and Rowan by his side…
Ludicrous comeback at Hell in a Cell saw him burst out of a hologram and attack Dean Ambrose, ruining a perfectly good Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins cell match…
Beat Ambrose by disqualification in a tough outing at Survivor Series, but follow-up storylines in which Ambrose destroyed Wyatt’s suddenly meaningful rocking chair and Wyatt allegedly “crushed Ambrose’s trachea” were idiotic beyond belief, especially when Ambrose returned just days later showing no ill-effects of the damage…
References to Ambrose’s jailed father were as lost on the audience as the also previously-untouched upon significance of Wyatt’s chair, but their tables, ladders and chairs battle at TLC was fairly good… until it was ruined by an astonishingly dumb finish in which a television monitor exploded in Ambrose’s face, allowing Wyatt to score the pin…
Beat Ambrose again on the pre-Christmas RAW in the now-traditional festively-themed “Miracle on 34th Street Fight” in another good match…
With booking protection, Wyatt could have been WWE’s next Undertaker, but his losses to Cena and garbled, rambling promos (the content of which must be blamed on WWE’s writing team) have cemented him more along the lines of WWE’s next Kane - a superstar capable of headlining when a stopgap main eventer is needed.
21. Dolph Ziggler [WWE]
Hard working, hard bumping talent was out of favour with WWE’s braintrust and was mostly just a face in the crowd during the early part of the year, although his performances never diminished…
Starred in the superb briefcase-based ladder match at Money in the Bank alongside Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kofi Kingston, Rob Van Dam and Jack Swagger…
Was rewarded for his consistent performances with an Intercontinental title win over The Miz at SummerSlam…
Return of the favour at Night of Champions the next month was a mere blip intended to get the pay-per-view theme over, and he regained the strap the very next on RAW…
Two-out-of-three falls win over Cesaro at Hell in a Cell needed more time to really capture the imagination, though most believe the champion’s quick 2-0 victory was designed to send a message to Cesaro…
Intercontinental title felt more like the Intercontinental albatross as Ziggler regularly continued to put those above him on the totem pole over in TV matches, making him look weaker than a champion realistically should…
Dropped the belt to Luke Harper on RAW in November but was given the win for Team Cena in the very good 5-on-5 elimination main event of Survivor Series…
Loss to Harper was designed to set up a ladder rematch at TLC in December in Ziggler’s home town of Cleveland, which stole the show. Ziggler won…
If history is anything go by, the stop/start booking which has plagued this man’s career will likely continue throughout 2015 and beyond.
20. Kenny Omega [DDT/NJPW]
Golden Lovers duo with the supremely talented Kota Ibushi began the year by winning DDT’s KO-D Tag Team titles in January and added the KO-D Six-Man titles in April, alongside Daisuke Sasaki, which they lost the next month…
Accepted an invitation to New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament in May and June, and looked impressive…
Failed in his attempt to life the KO-D Openweight title to his catalogue at DDT’s annual Ryogoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life spectacular in a three way against defending champion HARASHIMA and Isami Kodaka…
Progressed through PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament with exciting wins over ACH and Matt Sydal, but came unstuck against Ricochet in the semi-finals…
Golden Lovers dropped their DDT belts to Happy Motel of Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo at Dramatic General Election 2014 Final Voting Day - Last Hope Special before jumping to New Japan as the latest addition to the Bullet Club…
Equally adept at comedy as he is high flying, his debut as a full-time member of the New Japan roster will come at Wrestle Kingdom 9 where he will attempt to take the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Ryusuke Taguchi.
19. Tyson Kidd [WWE/NXT]
34-year old cat lover has quietly racked up a series of stellar outings all year long, in part thanks to something of a character makeover offered by the freedom to develop in NXT…
Triple threat victory over Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze set Kidd up for a crack at Adrian Neville’s NXT title, which he lost, on the May 29th NXT TakeOver special…
Continued his pursuit of the gold in singles and tag matches against Neville and Zayn throughout the summer, which were frequently very good…
Was the glue that held the four-way between himself, Neville, Zayn and Breeze together at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way in September…
Fell to newcomer Finn Bálor in another good match at the NXT tapings in October…
Lost in an excellent three-way elimination match for Dolph Ziggler’s Intercontinental title on SmackDown from Liverpool in November…
Consistent performances on NXT, Main Event and house shows have not gone unnoticed by WWE’s brain trust, who have rewarded his efforts by throwing him in a slapdash team with the underachieving Cesaro and jobbing them out to the New Day and the Usos, such is life in WWE when you aren’t amongst the chosen few.
18. Prince Devitt/Finn Bálor [NJPW/NXT]
Bullet Club leader dropped the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title to Kota Ibushi in a good match at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th…
Fell to Shinsuke Nakamura in the second round of the New Japan Cup in March…
Wrapped up his issue with former Apollo 55 partner Ryusuke Taguchi with a loss at Invasion Attack, leaving behind both New Japan and the Bullet Club in search of pastures new…
Had something of a farewell tour on the UK independent circuit over the summer, where he picked up ICW’s Zero-G title, before inevitably putting pen-to-paper on a contract with WWE…
Arrived in NXT as the tag team partner of another former star of Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling, Hideo Itami (KENTA)…
After the pre-requisite name-switch, Bálor and Itami scored wins over the teams of Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel, and Kidd and Tyler Breeze before laying waste to The Ascension at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way…
Potential matches against the likes of Itami, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens should illuminate 2015.
17. Daniel Bryan [WWE]
What would any list be without its controversial picks? “The Best Wrestler in the World” makes an appearance despite missing more than six months of action, a testament to how good he truly is, not to mention how important his achievements were…
Insanely over with live audiences, even the bone-headed decision by WWE’s un-creative department couldn’t quell the groundswell of support for him, forcing gears to be changed and the plug pulled on the whole Daniel Wyatt story arc…
Turn led to an excellent match in which he put Wyatt Family leader Bray over at the Royal Rumble, though outrage was sparked when he didn’t appear in the Rumble match itself, despite never being advertised for it…
Qualified for an elimination chamber match the next night in a trios match with John Cena and Sheamus beating The Shield by disqualification…
"B+ player" failed in his attempt to win the WWE World title from Randy Orton in the six-way chain-link monstrosity, which looked to be the end of his quest to ensnare the gold, fan sentiment be damned…
Real-life dealt a surprising hand when WWE failed to lure the burnt out and disgruntled CM Punk back for WrestleMania XXX, forcing WWE to give his planned match against Triple H to Bryan…
Calls for Bryan to be given a slot in the main event of WWE’s annual supershow continued to grow even louder as Batista’s big babyface return predictably flopped, to the surprise of nobody but Vince McMahon himself…
Went one better than the legendary Bret Hart at WrestleMania X some 20-years earlier by not only winning in the opening match of “the showcase of the immortals”, but also scooping the WWE World Heavyweight title from Orton in a triple threat main event when he tapped out Batista to turn WrestleMania into YEStleMania…
Title defence over former Hell No partner Kane at Extreme Rules was marred by silly booking choices in which our babyface hero fled from the apparently once-again unstoppable monster, only beating him with the aid of a forklift truck…
Scored his last victory to date over Alberto Del Rio on the May 5th edition of RAW before necessary shoulder surgery forced him to vacate the title in humiliating fashion to the Authority, which no doubt pleased those who felt his overwhelming popularity had somehow sabotaged their brilliant WrestleMania plans…
Unexpectedly lost out to Roman Reigns in the Superstar of the Year category at the Slammy Awards edition of RAW in December, despite cries of “Yes! Yes! Yes!” still ringing out throughout arenas worldwide…
Returned in an emotional segment on the final RAW of 2014 to tease his retirement, only to announce his candidacy for the 2015 Royal Rumble.
16. Adam Cole [ROH/PWG]
Began the year as ROH champion, scoring successful title defences against Chris Hero, who he returned the favour to in the semi-finals of wXw’s 16-Carat Gold Cup tournament in March…
Put down Jay Briscoe in a ladder war at Supercard of Honor VIII in April…
Big victories over Kevin Steen at Global Wars and Jushin Liger at Best in the World caught the attention of New Japan, who brought several ROH names including Cole to the Orient later in the year…
Dual champion lost his PWG World title to former Future Shock partner Kyle O’Reilly in an MMA rules match in May, then dumped the ROH belt to predicted long-time successor Michael Elgin the following month…
Failed in his attempts to regain the number one contendership to both titles over the summer, and lost to British youngster Zack Sabre, Jr. in the opening round of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament…
Won ROH’s Survival of the Fittest tournament in November to finally cement himself as once again in contention for the ROH crown…
At one point pencilled in to defend the ROH title at New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 9 Tokyo Dome spectacular, surprisingly lost in his quest to unseat Jay Briscoe as champion in a brutal fight without honor at Final Battle…
Result appears to have been dictated by a shoulder injury which will require surgery and keep Cole out of the ring for some months to come.
15. Matt Jackson [NJPW/PWG/ROH]
Not-as-young Buck was all over the place with his brother throughout the year…
In New Japan, the duo successfully defended their IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8 against the Forever Hooligans, the Timesplitters and Suzuki-gun’s Taichi and TAKA Michinoku…
Added the ROH Tag Team titles to their collection with victory over ReDRagon at Raising the Bar Night 2…
Much like their awesome Meltzer Driver springboard somersault spike tombstone finisher, what goes up must come down, and so the Bucks dropped their House of Glory straps to Crimson and the Amazing Red, the ROH titles back to ReDRagon, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles to Timesplitters, and the PWG Tag Team titles to The World’s Cutest Tag Team, but did pick up the SCW, IWL and FWE tag team titles along the way…
Scored the same 8-point tally as younger brother Nick during the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June, but also failed to make it through the group stages…
Went all the way to the finals of New Japan’s Super Juniors Tag tournament later in the year, but lost to ReDRagon in the concluding bout…
Arrogant Bullet Club members got a dose of attitude when they beat the Hardy Boyz at House of Hardcore VII on November 15th, then put the Dudley Boyz over for 2CW one week later…
Beat Cedric Alexander and The Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view, in conjunction with the similarly-spectacular ACH…
Should they avoid injury, look for the superkick party to continue throughout 2015.
14. Dean Ambrose [WWE]
Reliable Shield trio with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns continued to produce the goods early in the year, with quality scraps against the likes of the Wyatt Family and the team of John Cena, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan…
Wasted in their first (and likely only) WrestleMania appearance as a unit against Attitude Era relics Kane and the New Age Outlaws, but rebounded in a pair of spectacular collisions with the reunited Evolution group of Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista, who all did their upmost to put the new generation of talent over…
Group split was not a shock, but Rollins being the instigator was, and many wondered if Ambrose would get lost in the shuffle…
Terrific ladder match at Money in the Bank was highlighted by the ongoing issue between the former partners, and their lumberjack match at SummerSlam, while short, was pleasingly chaotic, as was a falls count anywhere match on RAW in August…
Untimely incarcerated hernia suffered by Reigns forced WWE’s hand in keeping the Ambrose-Rollins issue alive, and their hell in a cell collision at the pay-per-view of the same name in October was going great guns until the promotion tried to book itself out of a corner by having Bray Wyatt jump out of a hologram and attack Ambrose in one of the lamest finishes in years…
Feud with Wyatt was mostly very good in the ring, as matches at Survivor Series, TLC and on RAW attested to, but the angles on TV were atrocious, as was the TLC finish in which a television monitor inexplicably exploded in Ambrose’s face…
29-year old devotee of Terry Funk and Roddy Piper carries himself like the next coming of Steve Austin, but WWE have seen fit to handicap his excellent promo delivery with material that wouldn’t fly on daytime soap operas, and seem content to entrench him firmly in the midcard so as not to impede the hand-picked Reigns’ ascent to the top.
13. Nick Jackson [NJPW/ROH/PWG]
Young Bucks retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in a spirited four-way against Forever Hooligans, Timesplitters and the Suzuki-gun pairing of Taichi and TAKA Michinoku…
Rare singles outing saw the younger Buck beat Lance Bravado by disqualification at EVOLVE 27…
Won the Ring of Honor tag team titles from ReDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly), retained the PWG tag team titles over the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?), and failed in a crack at the RPW tag team titles held by the Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann), all in March…
Unable to unseat Kota Ibushi as IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion at Road to Invasion Attack in April…
Retained their IWGP Junior tag belts against Forever Hooligans at Wrestling Dontaku, then again in a three-way for ROH at Global Wars against the Hooligans and the Timesplitters…
Lost their House of Glory titles to Crimson and the Amazing Red and their ROH belts back to ReDRagon on a bad weekend, results-wise, in May, before losing the IWGP Junior belts to the TimeSplitters and the PWG straps to Joey Ryan and Candace LaRae over the summer…
Couldn’t make it out of the group stages of the 21st Best of the Super Juniors tournament…
Bucks lost a fantastic Best 2-out-of-3 falls title rematch to ReDRagon at All Star Extravaganza VI before making it to the finals of New Japan’s Super Junior Tag tournament, only to again lose to ReDRagon…
Dynamic duo beat The Hardy Boyz at House of Hardcore VII in November…
Teamed with ACH at Final Battle to defeat the trio of Cedric Alexander and the Addiction…
Perhaps the brothers’ most in-demand year yet.
12. Kota Ibushi [NJPW/DDT]
Signed his full-time contract with New Japan in October 2013 and quickly went to work, lifting the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Prince Devitt at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th of this year…
Contract allows him to make dates for his “home” promotion of DDT, where he and Golden Lovers partner Kenny Omega won the KO-D Tag Team titles later that month…
Ongoing graduation into the heavyweight ranks saw him lose a belter to Kazuchika Okada at New Japan’s Strong Style 42nd Anniversary Show in March…
Retained his Junior crown against Nick Jackson at Road to Invasion Attack in April, then added the KO-D Six-Man titles to his collection six days later, in conjunction with Omega and Daisuke Sasaki…
Attempted to wrest the NEVER Openweight title from Tomohiro Ishii at Back to Yokohama Arena in May but lost…
Defended his Junior title against Dragon Gate star Ricochet in a sensational bout at Dominion, then put Isami Kodaka over in the semi-finals of the King of DDT tournament later that same month…
Continued to shine as he dropped his singles gold to KUSHIDA at Kizuna Road in July and the Golden Lovers dumped their DDT belts to Happy Motel in September…
Golden Lovers downed comedy match worker Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita in a falls count anywhere match on DDT television in October…
Gearing up for a crack at Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental title at Wrestle Kingdom 9. Will 2015 be the year Ibushi finally graduates full-time to the heavyweight ranks of New Japan?
11. Adrian Neville [NXT]
Amazing high flyer soared to new heights when he snared the NXT title from the grasp of Bo Dallas in a ladder match at NXT ArRival…
Matches with Brodus Clay were nothing to write home about, but Neville did get to tour his native UK and spiritual home of Japan as NXT champion during WWE house show tours…
Retained his title against Tyson Kidd in excellent back-to-back matches in May…
Dropped jaws with his Red Arrow finisher in his official RAW debut on September 8th, then retained his title against Kidd, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze in a stunner at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way three nights later…
Feud with real-life chum Zayn was gripping, and Zayn’s eventual title victory at the live TakeOver: R Evolution special in December was one of the best matches anywhere in the world in 2014…
Shouldn’t be in the developmental leagues for much longer, but will likely stick around for a little while to put Kevin Owens over.
10. Kyle O’Reilly [ROH/PWG/NJPW]
MMA-influenced ReDRagon team with Bobby Fish began their year in a series with the Adrenaline Rush duo of ACH and Cedric Alexander, before losing their Ring of Honor tag team titles to the Young Bucks at Raising the Bar Night 2 in March…
Beat Johnny Gargano in just under 30 minutes at PWG’s Mystery Vortex II later that month…
ReDRagon duo won their belts back from the Bucks at War of the Worlds on May 17th before O’Reilly completed the best week of his career to date by lifting the PWG World championship from former Future Shock partner Adam Cole…
Downed the returning Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at Best in the World, lost to ROH World champion Michael Elgin on Ring of Honor television, retained his PWG title against Chris Hero at ELEVEN, travelled to New Japan to put the Timesplitters of Alex Shelly and Kushida over on the final night of G1 Climax tour, then beat the Addiction again back in ROH during a very busy summer period…
Lost to AJ Styles in a dream match at Death Before Dishonor XII on August 22nd…
Entered PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament and scored wins over Drew Gulak and Zack Sabre, Jr., before being attacked, injured and removed from the tournament to set up a grudge match against Roderick Strong at Untitled II in October, which he won…
ReDRagon returned to New Japan in November for their first full tour, winning not only the Super Junior Tag tournament, but unseating the Timesplitters at Road to Power Struggle to lift the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles…
Returned to ROH to defeat the Addiction, the Briscoe Brothers and the team of Matt Sydal and ACH on TV, before beating Timesplitters at Final Battle…
Ended the year by beating BOLA winner Ricochet to retain his PWG World title at Black Cole Sun on December 12th, only to lose it to Strong in a Guerilla Warfare match that same night…
Protégé of Davey Richards turned down an offer to go to TNA, and was rewarded with his most decorated year as an independent to date.
9. Tomohiro Ishii [NJPW]
Barrel-chested career mid-carder may be one of New Japan’s most underrated workers ever…
Hard-hitting cult favourite was finally rewarded for his years of service with a win over Tetsuya Naito at The New Beginning in Osaka for the NEVER Openweight championship, his first title victory ever…
Returned the favour to Naito in the first round of the New Japan Cup in March, but beat him in another great match in his first title defence at Invasion Attack in April…
Getting on a roll, he made similarly quality defences against KUSHIDA in April and Tomoaki Honma and Kota Ibushi in May, before dropping the strap to Yujiro Takahashi in July…
Starred, as many did, in the brilliant G1 Climax tournament over the summer, particularly in killer bouts against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Yuji Nagata…
Became a two-time champion when he felled Takahashi to regain the NEVER crown in another belting battle at King of Pro Wrestling in October…
Teamed with CHAOS stablemate Nakamura in the World Tag League tournament but failed to progress from Block B…
Has what should be another tough NEVER title defence against Togi Makabe lined up for Wrestle Kingdom 9, which should be extremely gratifying after he missed last year’s Tokyo Dome card.
8. Sami Zayn [NXT]
Put real-life pal Cesaro over in a scorching bout on the first live special on the WWE Network in February, as part of the Cesaro’s big push up the card that never really panned out…
Teamed with the Usos to put down Corey Graves and the Ascension in March…
Quest to become NXT champion was made a long one when he first lost a triple threat number one contenders match to Tyson Kidd that also featured Tyler Breeze in April, then put Breeze over in another one at NXT TakeOver in May…
Entered the NXT Tag Team title contendership tournament with Adam Rose as his partner in July, beating Kidd and Justin Gabriel in the opening round only to the Lucha Dragons of Sin Cara and Kalisto in the semi-finals…
Made his official RAW debut in September, teaming with Adrian Neville to beat Kidd and Breeze in the build to a four-way for Neville’s NXT championship three days later on another live Network special, in which he again failed to win the big one…
Won the number one contendership over Breeze on another episode of NXT but was otherwise bogged down in a tiresome side issue with the out-of-place Titus O’Neil…
Added Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to his list of working destinations on tour with WWE in October, as well as touring Europe and Canada as a special addition to the main roster…
Finally fulfilled his dream with an epic NXT title win over Neville at TakeOver: R Evolution in December with a match… and a victory celebration… to remember…
Post-match attack by real-life best friend Kevin Owens sets up arguably the most likeable and consistent performer on the planet for a busy 2015 on WWE’s developmental roster.
7. Katsuyori Shibata [NJPW]
Put real-life pal Hirooki Goto over at New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 8 Tokyo Dome spectacular on January 4th, before forming a team with him to defeat the CHAOS duo of Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI The New Beginning in Hiroshima on February 9th…
Beat Karl Anderson but lost to Shelton “X” Benjamin in the New Japan Cup in March, before teaming with Goto in April to lose to the Bullet Club of Anderson and Doc Gallows in the team’s first crack at the IWGP Tag Team titles…
Duo fell to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe at Back to Yokohama Arena in May in a number one contenders bout, but regrouped in July with a win over Akitoshi Saito and Katsuhiko Nakajima over in Pro Wrestling NOAH…
Performances in the G1 Climax tournament were sensational, particularly against Shinsuke Nakamura, Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata and Tomoaki Honma…
Contested another thriller with Tanahashi at Destruction in Kobe in September, then lost to Nakamura in a crack at the IWGP Intercontinental title…
Resumed his pairing with Goto and went all the way in the World Tag League, beating Anderson and Gallows in the final to set up another crack at the Bullet Club’s gold at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in January.
6. Ricochet/Prince Puma [Dragon Gate/PWG/WWN Live/Lucha Underground]
In-demand Dragon Gate star is also a regular for PWG, the WWN Live stable, and many others… when time permits…
Inner City Machine Guns team with Rich Swann beat the Unbreakable F’N Machines (Brian Cage and Michael Elgin) and the African-American Wolves (ACH and AR Fox) but lost to the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) in PWG’s DDT4 tag team tournament in January…
Picked up Dragon Gate’s Open the Dream Gate title from Masato Yoshino at Champion Gate in Osaka in March…
Machine Guns duo won and lost the RPW British Tag Team titles over two nights later that same month, before our man added DGUSA’s Open the Freedom Gate title to his catalogue with a win over Johnny Gargano at Open the Ultimate Gate in April…
Teamed with Swann and Fox to defeated Masato Tanaka, Chris Hero and Roderick Strong the next night at Mercury Rising but lost the trios tournament final in a three way to the Premier Athlete Brand in a match which also featured the team of Fire Ant, Green Ant and Lince Dorado…
Lost the Open the Dream Gate title to YAMATO at Dragon Gate’s annual Dead or Alive spectacular in May before embarking on a tour of New Japan, where he went all the way in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, beating KUSHIDA in the finals…
Losing crack at Kota Ibushi’s IWGP Junior Heavtweight crown at Dominion was a blistering bout…
Continued to shine in the Monster Express faction in Dragon Gate, but fell to Akira Tozawa during the promotion’s latest excursion to the UK in July…
Retained his Open the Freedom Gate title against Matt Sydal at EVOLVE 32 in August…
Busy month was capped off by winning the House of Glory title in an eight-man single elimination tournament, and going all the way in PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles, scoring quality wins over Chris Sabin, TJ Perkins, Kenny Omega and in the three-way final with Gargano and Strong…
Signed a contract to become one of the faces of Lucha Underground under the mask of Prince Puma, losing to Johnny Mundo (the former John Morrison) is his excellent debut for the group, before going on to add the Lucha Underground title to his collection later in the year…
Successfully defended his Open the Freedom Gate strap against Monster Express stablemate Uhaa Nation at EVOLVE 35 in September, and the House of Glory belt against Low-Ki at Fight or Flight in November…
Toured China of all places with the WWN Live group later that month, where he dropped the Open the Freedom Gate title back to Gargano…
Ended the year on something of a downer as he also lost his shot at Kyle O’Reilly’s PWG World championship, lost his shot at ACH’s HWR title, and lost his House of Glory gold to Brian XL, but did take AJ Styles to a 20-minute draw at Phenomenal Showdown on December 19th.
5. Seth Rollins [WWE]
Shield trio with Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were frequently the highlight of WWE television and pay-per-views in 2013, a trend which continued into the early part of 2014 as they assembled a string of quality trios bouts against the Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber and on RAW and Main Event…
Group went down in a blaze of glory after back-to-back pay-per-view wins over the reformed Evolution stable of Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista at Extreme Rules and Payback, before Rollins shockingly turned on his partners to join Triple H’s Authority unit…
Immediately made an impact following his realignment by picking up the Money in the Bank briefcase at the show of the same name in a dazzling ladder match…
Beat former partner Ambrose in a chaotic lumberjack match at SummerSlam and again in a quality falls count anywhere scrap the next night on RAW…
Feud with WWE’s hand-picked next big thing Reigns had to be postponed due to Reign’s unfortunate incarcerated hernia required emergency surgery, with the silver lining that it spared Rollins from having to do a growth-impeding job…
Wrapped up his issue with Ambrose in a good Hell in a Cell bout at the pay-per-view also of the same name, though the finish was marred by a ridiculous angle in which Bray Wyatt burst through a hologram and attacked Ambrose…
Was the star pick on Triple H’s Authority team at Survivor Series, finally losing the match for his team after a superb closing stretch with Dolph Ziggler and the first WWE appearance of Sting, which rendered the conclusion of the match a mere backdrop to the never ending Triple H vanity project…
Put company ace John Cena over in a good but overbooked tables match at TLC in December, but thankfully got his win back the next night in a cage match on RAW…
Is expected to be the glue that will hold the umpteenth meeting of Cena and Brock Lesnar together at the Royal Rumble, which is undoubtedly Rollins’ most important match to date…
Talented worker carries himself like a genuine main event star, has shown hitherto unseen confidence on the mic, and has frankly been a revelation in the role many had previously pegged for Ambrose.
4. Shinsuke Nakamura [NJPW]
Considered by many as one of the most charismatic wrestlers on the planet, Nakamura is also a dab hand in the ring…
Lost his IWGP Intercontinental title to perennial rival Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th, and fell to him again at The New Beginning in Hiroshima in February before finally regaining his crown at April’s Invasion Attack pay-per-view, having won the New Japan Cup tournament the previous month. All three matches were excellent…
Teamed with Kazushi Sakuraba at Wrestling Dontaku in May to put over the useless Daniel and Rolles Gracie, setting Daniel up for a shot at the Intercontinental strap. Thankfully, Nakamura won that one…
Part of the New Japan crew that visited Ring of Honor later that month, he teamed with CHAOS partner Jado to lose to Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger and that man Tanahashi in Toronto, Canada at Global Wars, before beating Kevin Steen in an action-packed interpromotional match at War of the Worlds in New York City…
Dropped the Intercontinental gold to Bad Luke Fale at Dominion in June in New Japan’s latest attempt to build a new star, but regained the strap Septemeber at Destruction for Kobe. It’s small steps for Fale, but thanks to the unselfish performances of Nakamura, he’d never looked better…
Yet another name that shone in the sensational G1 Climax tournament, he racked up killer bouts against Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Tanahashi (to whom he lost yet again), and CHAOS stablemates Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada, the latter of whom he put over in an outstanding final…
Loss to Shibata in his first G1 match of the season was paid off in November when the two collided in an Intercontinental title match at Power Struggle, which Nakamura won…
Teamed with the underrated Tomohiro Ishii in the World Tag League, but their failure to escape Block B shouldn’t be a worry for a man who will no doubt attempt to steal the show at Wrestle Kingdom 9, where he is set to defend his title against the supremely talented Kota Ibushi.
3. AJ Styles [NJPW/ROH/Freelance]
Was bafflingly allowed to leave TNA despite holding the promotion’s World Heavyweight championship in late 2013 when neither side could come to terms on a new contract. Styles later claimed that he was prepared to accept TNA’s lower monetary offer but that TNA would not acquiesce to his request for a similarly reduced amount of dates, and so he opted to go independent. Ironically, the incompetent TNA wound up running so few dates in 2014 that it could have signed Styles for the price they were asking and still had him appear on every show they ran, if only they’d had the foresight to realise it…
Ironically made his Ring of Honor return at the Nashville State Fairgrounds on January 4th, the original home of TNA, with a good win over Roderick Strong that was marred by a scary neck injury to Strong when he took the Styles Clash wrong. That would become an unfortunate theme of an otherwise sparking year for the ‘Phenomenal One’…
Made his first-ever iPPV appearance in February CZW’s 15th Anniversary Show, where he beat CZW champion Drew Gulak by disqualification…
Beat Jay Lethal at ROH’s 12th Anniversary Show and went to a 30-minute time-limit draw with Michael Elgin on ROH TV in February, before going on to put Elgin over in April…
UK appearances for PCW ended in disaster on March 1st when Lionheart suffered a broken neck when he tucked his head on a Styles Clash…
Signed a contract with New Japan in the spring where he supplanted Prince Devitt as leader of the Bullet Club, then, shockingly dethroned Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight title in his first match as a full-timer performer for the group…
Made a pair of IWGP title defences in May against Okada and Elgin at the ROH/New Japan War of the Worlds card in the U.S. and against Okada again at New Japan’s Back to Yokohama Arena card, both in May…
Part of the stunning G1 Climax tournament in July and August where he he wrestled match of the year candidates against the likes of Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki…
Returned to PWG in late August where he defeated Brian Myers (the former Curt Hawkins in WWE) but lost by disqualification to Strong in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament…
Scored yet another quality win at ROH’s All-Star Extravaganza VI iPPV in September, this time over Adam Cole, and followed up later in the month with a win over the returning Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne)…
Dropped the IWGP title in October to Tanahashi to give New Japan time to promote a Tanahashi vs. Okada title bout at Wrestle Kingdom 9, but the promotion has continued to keep Styles in a strong position with another clash opposite Naito on the docket for him at Wrestle Kingdom 9, after which he is expected to make another run at the IWGP crown…
Win over Yoshitatsu at New Japan’s Power Struggle pay-per-view was unfortunately the latest incident in which a foe of Styles suffered a series neck injury after incorrectly absorbing the Styles Clash, raising further questions about the suitability of the move…
One of the only men who can legitimately claim to be any kind of a consistent drawing card on the independent circuit, Styles increased the attendance figures for just about every independent promotion he worked for in 2014, highlighted by a slew of dream matches against the likes of Kevin Steen, AR Fox, Johnny Gargano, Chris Hero, Trent Barreta and Ricochet, most of which Styles won.
2. Kazuchika Okada [NJPW]
CHAOS leader suffered a minor setback at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in January when New Japan allowed its fans to vote on whether his IWGP Heavyweight title defence against Tetsuya Naito or the IWGP Intercontinental title match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi should headline the annual Tokyo Dome spectacular, and they chose the IC bout over his. Still, at least he won…
Defended the belt again in a cracker against Hirooki Goto at The New Beginning in Osaka, beat Kota Ibushi in a stunner at Strong Style 42nd Anniversary Show in March, then shockingly lost the IWGP crown to new Bullet Club leader AJ Styles at Wrestling Dontaku in May…
Attempts to win his belt back from Styles in a three-way with Michael Elgin at Ring of Honor’s War of the Worlds on May 17th, and eight days later in a singles match at Back to Yokohama Arena were both failures…
Entered the G1 Climax tournament in July and August, highlighted by his bouts with Styles, Goto, Minoru Suzuki, and a stunning final against Nakamura which he won to guarantee himself another crack at the IWGP title at Wrestle Kingdom 9…
Not content to be left in limbo, the ‘Rainmaker’ defender is number one contendership in matches against Naito and Karl Anderson, enter the World Tag League with YOSHI-HASHI, and find the time to travel to England to score victories over Joel Redman and TNA’s Austin Aries…
Not shy about his abilities in the ring, the confident Okada has been predicting his bout with Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 9 will reach six stars.
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi [NJPW]
Yet another exceptional year for the undisputed ace of New Japan, despite stiff competition for the spot…
Got off to a flier when he wrested the IWGP Intercontinental title from Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th, then proceeded to beat him again at The New Beginning in Hiroshima in February…
Dumped the strap back to Nakamura at the Invasion Attack pay-per-view in April in another scorching battle before heading to North America for co-promotional shows between New Japan and Ring of Honor, teaming with Jushin Liger to defeated Nakamura and Jado at Global Wars on May 10th, then beating Michael Bennett at War of the Worlds one week later in a match that was good enough to convince bookers Jado and Gedo to bring Bennett back to Japan with them…
Back on home soil, teamed with Togi Makabe to win the number one contendership to the IWGP Tag Team titles from Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata at Back to Yokohama Arena on May 25th, before putting Bullet Club members Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows over in the title showdown at Dominion on June 21st…
Entered a series of staggeringly good performances during the gruelling G1 Climax tour, highlighted by his bouts against Shibata, Tomohiro Ishii, Nakamura and AJ Styles…
Appeared for wacky comedy and high-flying hybrid group DDT in September with a win over Kenosuke Takashita at Ryogoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life, their biggest show of the year, and a brief European excursion in October saw him somewhat unexpectedly appear on a hybrid wXw/CZW/Big Japan card, where he defeated German star Absolute Andy…
Non-title, non-tournament victory over Styles on the final night of the G1 Climax tour inevitably led to an IWGP championship match between the pair, and after a thrilling victory over Sakuraba at Destruction in Kobe, our man dethroned Styles to reclaim his throne as the King of Strong Style in another gripping bout at King of Pro-Wrestling on October 13th…
Potential appearances in the World Tag League were curtailed after opening night when partner Yoshitatsu suffered a broken neck at the hands of an earlier Styles Clash and the duo were forced to withdraw, but critically for Tanahashi, he was on the losing side opposite title contender Kazuchika Okada…
Still on top of New Japan, it hasn’t escaped some that the ungodly talented Tanahashi is beginning to show the wear and tear of an ageing body that has taken such punishment thanks to the high intensity-nature of his in-ring performances. He sits atop our pile for 2014, but with talented youngsters like Okada on the rise and the likes of Nakamura and Styles gunning for his spot, our advice is to enjoy him at his peak while you still can.
North east independent Dalton Castle impressed on CZW, Wrestling Is… and 2CW cards before becoming a HOW cult favourite with his reinvention at CHIKARA’s You Only Live Twice iPPV reboot in May as the fruit basket-offering, rule-adhering nice guy ‘Smooth Sailing’ Ashley Remington…
Scored joyful comedy wins over Chuck Taylor, Archibald Peck and Kodama throughout the summer…
Disqualification win over Yamamoto (Yoshi Tatsu/Yoshitatsu) at King of Trios Night 2 in September served to set up his first serious feud when he was attacked by Juan Francisco de Coronado for using de Coronado’s German suplex finisher…
Traded wins with de Coronado at Thunderball and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before ending the feud a winner with victory in a German suplex match at CHIKARA’s ECW Arena return and season finale iPPV Tomorrow Never Dies…
Back under the Dalton Castle name, has been announced for Ring of Honor’s now-annual Top Prospect tournament in early 2015, a series which has made names out of Mike Bennett, Matt Taven and Hanson, whilst also providing a springboard of sorts for the likes of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Michael Elgin.
49. Kazushi Sakuraba [NJPW]
Former MMA star with UFC, Pride, K1 and Dream, and former UWFi “shoot-style” pro wrestler, “Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba kicked off 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 with an embarrassing disqualification victory over the useless Daniel and Rolles Gracie, in tandem with Yuji Nagata…
Lumbered with the pair in a program that felt like it would never end, the rematch at New Beginning in Osaka ended in a shock win for the Gracies, as did a May 3rd bout at Wrestling Dontaku with company superstar Shinsuke Nakamura partnering Sakuraba…
The Gracies were finally put out to pasture on May 25th at Return to Yokohama Arena when Sakuraba defeated Rolles, finally freeing up the talented Sakuraba for bigger and better things…
Big and better things did indeed come when he was thrust into an exciting feud with another former MMA star, Minoru Suzuki…
Finished in mid-table in Block B of the November and December’s World Tag League in conjunction with Toru Yano, but has a hotly anticipated UWFi rules match against former Pancrase man Suzuki at Wrestle Kingdom 9 to look forward to.
48. Jigsaw [CHIKARA]
CHIKARA is many things to many people but weather you love it or you hate it, you can’t deny that Jigsaw is one of their pre-eminent in-ring performers…
New York native appeared for TNA, Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, DREAMWAVE and House of Glory, among others, beating masked rival Fire Ant at Way of the Ronin in February and dropping a fall to Kenny King at One Night Only: X-Travaganza under his Rubix moniker…
Carried CHIKARA’s Campeonatas de Parejas alongside Pieces of Hate partner and former nemesis The Shard in the offshoot Wrestling Is… promotions…
Returned to his home promotion at their You Only Live Twice reboot iPPV in May in a four-way tag match with The Shard before the pair dumped their titles to The Throwbacks at The World Is Not Enough two months later…
Along with GEKIDO colleague 17, Pieces of Hate were victorious over Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy in the first round of CHIKARA’s King of Trios tournament, but dissension arose when Jigsaw began to show sympathy for real-life baby brother Jolly Roger during the match. The problems failed to subside, and GEKIDO bowed out of the quarter finals against 3Peck0 the next night…
Alongside Tony Nese, captured the FWE tag team titles from The Adrenaline Express on a live YouTube broadcast on October 3rd, only to lose the belts the next night to the Young Bucks in a four-way ladder match that also included the Express and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) on iPPV…
Should return to CHIKARA in the new year to pick up where he left off with Jolly Roger and the GEKIDO…
Consistently improving worker has also improved his physique to make himself look more like a professional wrestler than a skinny kid just playing professional wrestler.
47. Ethan Carter III [TNA]
Good-looking, hard-working storyline nephew of Dixie Carter really found himself after wasting so much time as an afterthought on WWE’s lousy original incarnation of NXT under the Derrick Bateman name…
Time spent fannying about with the likes of Norv Fernum, Dewey Barnes and Shark Boy in late 2013 was paid off when he scored a win over the legendary Sting on a special Genesis edition of Impact in Sting’s last match to date…
Captained a team at TNA’s One Nigh Only: World Cup pay-per-view taping, but lost in the finals to Eric Young’s squad…
Took something of a back seat to Carter-rival MVP and his crew, but became embroiled in Bully Ray’s war against Aunt Dixie, with ‘EC3’ scoring a major win over Ray at Slammiversary XII in a Texas Death match…
Carter clan continued to rumble with Ray’s old ECW buddies over the summer, which included a solid street fight victory over Rhino on Impact…
Pinned blubbery lard-arse Ryoto Hama in a comedy match at Bound for Glory in October…
Dumped wacky sidekick Rockstar Spud and hired Tyrus (the former Brodus Clay) as his new bodyguard to set up a program with Spud for TNA’s eventual return in 2015.
46. Grado [Independent]
A self-made sensation on YouTube, it felt like Grado was everywhere on the UK circuit in 2014…
Scored wins over international stars Jay Lethal and Scotty 2 Hotty for WrestleZone, and picked up another in a comedy dream match against Mad Man Manson for PROGRESS in the early part of the year…
Picked up the PWE World Heavyweight title at their third anniversary card in July - subtitled Gradomania - with victory over Dave ‘The Bastard’ Mastiff…
Added the ICW tag team titles to his collection the following month alongside Colt Cabana in a team dubbed Irn Jew…
Made a nuisance of himself to Al Snow as part of TNA’s British Bootcamp series, which saw him lose to Ethan Carter, III and wind up on the wrong side of an eight-person intergender tag team match…
Raised his profile with appearances on BBC One’s prime time Insane Fight Club documentary, and Challenge TV’s WrestleTalk TV…
Shameless self-promoter will no doubt be in high demand in 2015.
45. Natalya [WWE]
Arguably the best female worker on WWE’s roster, and one of the best workers period, the daughter of Jim Neidhart unfathomably made just two pay-per-view appearances all year long, in crowded multi-woman matches at WrestleMania XXX and Survivor Series…
Infuriatingly reduced to pointless filler matches on TV that routinely fail to reach the four-minute barrier, but often shows sparks of her true skill…
Made a statement at the NXT Takeover special in May, losing to Charlotte in the finals of the NXT Women’s title tournament with her uncle Bret Hart and Charlotte’s father Ric Flair watching on from ringside. Given more than 15 minutes to play with, this was one of the best matches of the entire year…
Co-starring role on Total Divas has kept her profile high, and double-act with real-life husband Tyson Kidd is a source of much amusement…
Nevertheless, this likeable third-generation Diva deserves better, and is criminally overlooked by WWE’s creative team.
44. Christopher Daniels [TNA/Independent]
Started the year in TNA with Bad Influence partner Frankie Kazarian continuing to offer amusing Throwback Thursday homages to the likes of The British Bulldogs, but trouble looked to be brewing when the best act in TNA were jobbed out in just six-minutes on free TV to newcomers The Wolves in a match that was barely hyped…
Bad Influence victory over Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka) on WRESTLE-1’s Outbreak pay-per-view was an aberration; they were soon following losses to the underrated BroMans and the thrown together tandem of James Storm and Gunner with more losses to the Wolves (in a ladder match at the taped One Night Only X-Travagazna PPV) and a six-man cage match at Lockdown with Chris Sabin against the WRESTLE-1 trio of The Great Muta, Seiya Sanada and Yasu…
Still under contract to TNA, their team made a dark match appearance for EVOLVE at the Mercury Rising iPPV and another at the combined CZW/PWG WrestleCon card during WrestleMania weekend, before Daniels flew back to Japan to put Sanada over in an X-Divison title match at WRESTLE-1’s Cherry Blossom show in Korakuen Hall…
Followed long-time friend AJ Styles out of the money-haemorrhaging TNA to the astonishment of many, but had no trouble finding work on the independents in matches against the likes of Takaaki Watanabe, Low-Ki, Noam Dar, Caprice Coleman and Adam Cole…
Joined on the indy circuit by Kazarian, the rechristened Addiction starred on Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore cards in June, picking up wins over Outlaw Inc. (Eddie Kingston and Homicide) and Petey Williams and Tony Nese, but losing to The Young Bucks over the span of three days…
Team resurfaced in ROH with a loss to tag team champions ReDRagon at the Best in the World pay-per-view, whom they lost to again at Field of Honor in August, but rebounded with victories over Adam Cole and Jay Lethal on night two of the Summer Heat tour and The Decade of Jimmy Jacobs and Roderick Strong the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Traded further wins with the Bucks in ROH, PWG and FWE, but a four-way ladder match victory for the FWE tag team titles at the ReFueled iPPV gave the Bucks the last laugh in the promotion-spanning series… at least for now…
Team ended the year as they began - losing to everyone from the Briscoes to Zero Gravity, rounding out their half-year in ROH with a six-man loss alongside Cedric Alexander to ACH and those darn Young Bucks at the Final Battle pay-per-view…
Still going strong at 44, routinely outshines his more conservative partner for spectacular moves. Curiously judged unaffordable to TNA, Daniels will always find work as long as he avoids injury and can continue to wrestle like he’s 15 years younger than his birth certificate claims.
43. Seiya Sanada/The Great Sanada [Wrestle-1/TNA]
Great Muta protégé primed himself for a Muta-like learning excursion to the U.S. by beating Austin Aries for the TNA X-Division championship at WRESTLE-1’s Outbreak pay-per-view in March…
Arrived in the States at Lockdown one week later to team with Muta and Yasu in triumph over Chris Sabin and Bad Influence…
Short-lived team with Mexico’s Tigre Uno lead to a similarly short-lived feud with him, from which Sanada prevailed…
Frequently defended his title in multi-person matches, including a six-man ladder match in the opener of Slammiversary XII in June…
Eventually dumped the strap back to Aries and made an unsuccessful attempt to snare it back in a gauntlet bout during TNA’s summer sojourn to the North East…
Head-scratching decision to switch the strap resulted in WRESTLE-1 reversing booking plans to give him a win over Muta on his return to the Orient, and caused friction between the two promotions in the run-up to their co-promotion of Bound for Glory…
Took the dukes over Amasis, AR Fox and Orlando Christopher in the semi-finals of CHIKARA’s Rey de Voladores tournament during King of Trios weekend, then put over the upcoming Shynron in the finals…
Association with the manipulative James Storm character and switch to the Great Sanada gimmick resulted in the pair losing to Muta and TAJIRI at Bound for Glory in October…
Full-time return to WRESTLE-1 was a disappointment when Sanada and Hiroshi Yamato failed to make it out of the group stage of the Greatest Tag League…
Ended the year by putting over Muta again in a failed crack at the WRESTLE-1 title, but consistent in-ring performances suggest a bright future.
42. Bully Ray [TNA]
Tumultuous year for TNA led to something of a reduced presence for one of its key performers…
Traded gimmick match wins under a Raven-esque loner gimmick on Impact early in the year, before putting his foe over in a series of best-of-three-falls cage matches on the road before minuscule audiences…
Part of the winning team at the taped One Night Only: World Cup pay-per-view, but had to settle for second fiddle behind team captain Eric Young, but made his presence felt as the special guest referee during the Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown when he slammed the cage door in Bobby Roode’s head to turn babyface and begin a feud with Dixie Carter, whom he promised to smash through a table…
Spent the early part of the summer scuffling in tiresome ECW-style nostalgia matches during TNA’s excursion to New York and Philadelphia, losing to Carter surrogates Roode in a tables match at Sacrifice and Ethan Carter, III in a decent Texas Death match at Slammiversary XII…
Reunited with former Dudley Boyz/Team 3D partner Devon at Slammiversary for the announcement that the duo would be inducted into TNA’s Hall of Fame that October, despite the fact his contract was due to expire in late August…
Pair picked up yet another set of straps in July when they defeated Jason Axe and the WWE-bound Kevin Steen for the 2CW Tag Team titles in July, before embarking on a three-team series with the Wolves and the reunited Hardy Boyz back in TNA…
Quickly took the lead against the Wolves and the Hardys with victory in the opening triple threat match, but couldn’t get the job done in table or ladder matches in early August, though Bully did finally make good on his promise to put Carter through a table, much to the delight of misogynistic wrestling fans everywhere…
Gave TNA a boost when he signed a new short-term contract after having already said his goodbyes backstage, and returned to climax the three way series by putting the Wolves over in a gripping Full Metal Mayhem match in September and accept Team 3D’s Hall of Fame award at Bound for Glory in Tokyo, Japan in October…
TNA’s lengthy struggles to find a new broadcast partner after their deal with Spike TV ended have left an uncertain future for their relationship with Ray, but much in-demand on the independent circuit, he surely won’t go hungry when he starts looking for work.
41. Bobby Lashley [TNA]
MMA contender returned to TNA as their answer to Brock Lesnar on a part-time basis in March with a disqualification loss to Ethan Carter, III on Impact…
Aligned himself with on-screen Director of Wrestling Operations MVP and Kenny King after MVP won power from Dixie Carter at Lockdown…
Injury to MVP forced a reshuffle at Slammiversary XII, with Lashley beating Samoa Joe to earn a berth in a triple threat cage match with World champion Eric Young and Austin Aries, but ended the night without the gold…
Point was rendered moot when he put an end to Young’s reign as champion four nights later on Impact, just as Young was starting to get over as champion…
Televised title defences against Young, Aries and Jeff Hardy were routinely good…
Smashed through Tommy Dreamer in a Street Fight in August during TNA’s latest burst of ECW nostalgia-theme programming, then beat Bobby Roode, his only real contender a the No Surrender special edition of Impact…
Fearful he would lose face in an MMA fight, TNA booked him to drop the title to Roode in a rematch in September, which felt like the biggest match TNA had promoted in aeons. Big man did the honours as asked… then won his MMA fight anyway, rendering the title switch somewhat pointless…
Subtle remarks from MVP about title intentions and subtle glances from Lashley suggest a split is on the way, but until TNA returns to TV on Destination America, it remains to be seen if Lashley will even appear for the promotion again.
40. Michael Elgin [ROH]
Mixed fortunes for the Canadian powerhouse this year, who began 2014 in similar fashion, with a quarter-final win but a semi-final loss in PWG’s DDT4 tournament alongside Unbreakable F’N Machines partner Brian Cage…
Became the first man not to taste defeat against AJ Styles after Styles’ return to ROH with a 30-minute TV draw in February…
Busy spring season saw him became the number one contender to both the Ring of Honor World title and the IWGP title with wins over Kevin Steen and Styles respectively, but failed to wrest the CZW World title from Drew Gulak in a three-way that also involved Chris Hero…
Lost his shot at Styles’ IWGP Heavyweight crown in a triple threat match with Kazuchika Okada at the combined ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds supercard in May…
Was said to be disappointed by New Japan’s alleged lack of interest in him, but rebounded the following month at Best in the World, ROH’s first ever live pay-per-view cable TV broadcast, when he won the promotion’s World title from Adam Cole…
Expected to be given a long reign as champion, there was much surprise when Jay Briscoe upended him for the strap just three months later at the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Rumours quickly flew, suggesting that Elgin had fallen out of favour with ROH management, and that he was unable to leave Canada due to issues with his working visa…
Things got even stranger when an announced return to the ring was followed by Elgin publicly quitting the group on Twitter on October 6th, before returning three weeks later with a new disgruntled character that blabbed on about his situation to the point of alienating many fans. No, Elgin has not been well-regarded since this self-indulgent nonsense began…
Over in PWG it was, thankfully, a different story when Elgin beat Tomasso Ciampa then put over newcomer Trevor Lee in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament in two choice match-ups…
Teamed with Chris Sabin to lose to the American Wolves at AAW’s A Monster’s Revenge then travelled to the UK for a series of joint cards held between Preston City Wrestling and ROH, where he split victories in mix ‘n’ match bouts against the likes of Brodus Clay, BJ Whitmer, Chris Masters and Uhaa Nation in November…
Scored another win over Ciampa at ROH’s Final Battle PPV on December 7th, then went all the way in the revived IWA Mid-South’s Revolution Strong Style tournament on the 18th, but may one day look back on 2014 as a year that could have brought so much more.
39. Brock Lesnar [WWE]
A controversial choice to be sure, given that Lesnar only wrestled four actual matches all year long, but what a special attraction he has been…
Destroyed The Big Show with a barrage of chair shots at the Royal Rumble in January…
Shocked the entire world in April when he ended The Undertaker’s legendary WrestleMania winning streak at 21-1 for reasons few could fathom, later explained away by Vince McMahon during his appearance on The Steve Austin Show as Lesnar being the only credible choice in an unprecedented burial of both his current full-time roster, and his own promotional policies and ability to create new stars…
Stunned the world again at SummerSlam with what was essentially a squash match victory over John Cena to lift the WWE World Heavyweight championships after avoiding an early Attitude Adjustment attempt and blasting his foe with no less than sixteen German suplexes…
WWE hit the panic button in September and immediately arranged a Lesnar-Cena rematch for Night of Champions, booking themselves into a corner when they had to deliver a lousy disqualification finish to keep the titles on Lesnar but also avoid on-the-trot pay-per-view defeats for their golden boy…
Some will argue Lesnar shouldn’t even be on this list, but his charisma, presence and legitimacy is undeniable, and his frequent exiles only serve to underscore the notion that WWE television is a far, far poorer product without him.
38. Alberto Del Rio/Alberto El Patrón [WWE/AAA]
Made no secret of his desire to leave WWE when his contract came up for renewal after becoming just another face on the roster for most of the year, trading wins and losses here and there with the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus, though while his character grew stale, his performances never diminished…
Received his wish earlier than expected when he was fired by WWE, who cited “unprofessional conduct” after Del Rio flew off the handle and hit social media director Cody Barbierri, feeling Barbierri had racially abused him…
Freed from the chains of WWE, the renamed Alberto El Patron defied all orders to acquiesce to the non-compete clause in his contract and showed up at AAA’s TripleMania, instantly becoming the biggest babyface in all of Mexico…
Completely reinvigorated by the change of scenery, teamed with Myztizez (former WWE rival Sin Cara) and La Parka to put down Averno, El Texano, Jr. and Perro Aguayo, Jr. at Heroes Immortales VIII in November…
Downed Texano at the Guerra De Titanes pay-per-view to lift AAA’s World title, for which he has a slew of new opponents…
Much in demand star who carries himself like a true World champion put in appearances for WRESTLE-1 in Japan (where he defeated the legendary Masakatsu Funaki at the Keiji Mutoh 30th Anniversary card), FPW in England (where he defeated Marty Scurll) and as a surprise guest at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore VII…
Debuting for Ring of Honor in early 2015, former MMA star has options in both pro wrestling and pro fighting, should he so choose.
37. Cesaro [WWE]
Began the year as a Real American with Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter in unsuccessful attempts to snare the WWE World Tag Team titles from Cody Rhodes and Goldust…
Received a boost as one of the six names selected for the Elimination Chamber in February. The only man in the bout not to be a former WWE or World Heavyweight title holder, Cesaro rubbed shoulders with John Cena, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and Christian, but wasn’t deemed ready for a big win just yet…
That was to come when he dumped The Big Show out of the ring to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, just over a month after tearing the house down with Sami Zayn in a 23-minute scorcher at NXT ArRIVAL…
Dumped the albatross of the Americans on RAW the night after WrestleMania and revealed his true status as a “Paul Heyman Guy”, which promised so much but delivered so little…
Feud with former partner Swagger was uninspired, as was a surprising loss to part-timer Rob Van Dam in the Intercontinental title tournament in April…
Matches with United States champion Sheamus were critically acclaimed, but frequent losses hampered his progress and solidly pigeonholed him behind the flame-haired Irishman in tWWE’s promotional pecking-order…
Split from Heyman barely caused a ripple, and was done to benefit Brock Lesnar more than it was Cesaro…
Switch from Sheamus and the U.S. title to Dolph Ziggler and the Intercontinental title proved similarly fruitless, and a two-out-of-three falls loss in just 12-minutes to Ziggler at Hell in a Cell was an extremely bad sign, as was his being eliminated first in a SmackDown three-way for the belt with Ziggler and Tyson Kidd…
All conjecture was confirmed when Vince McMahon singled him out on a live podcast with Steve Austin for lacking charisma, verbal skills and an “it” factor…
Finished the year in a thrown-together team with the supremely-talented Kidd, for the sole purpose of putting other teams over, then was jobbed out on the final RAW of the year to returning mid-carder Wade Barrett after cutting a promo in which he was instructed to bury himself for not connecting with the “WWE Universe”…
In-ring skill has never been in question, but as long as continues playing for McMahon’s audience of one, he’ll unfortunately never amount to anything more than an also-ran.
36. ACH [ROH]
High-flying 27-year old spent 2014 in much the same way as the year previous - impressing people when it mattered the most…
Thrilling loss alongside AR Fox to the Inner City Machine Guns of Ricochet and Rich Swann at PWG’s DDT4 was followed in ROH by a series over the tag team titles with reigning champions ReDRagon, in conjunction with Adrenaline Rush partner TaDarius Thomas. Victories were traded, but the titles weren’t…
Ending his association with Thomas, ACH was the star of the tidy six-man opener at the combined ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds supercard in New York, when he, Matt Taven and Tommaso Ciampa beat New Japan reps Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov and Takaaki Watanabe…
Victorious in a hectic six-man scramble at Road to Best in the World on June 6th, but failed in his crack at Adam Cole’s World championship later that same night…
Picked up his second six-man scramble victory of the year in the opener of Best in the World, Ring of Honor’s first ever live broadcast on pay-per-view cable television…
Apparent six-way specialist added three more wins to his record in multi-man matches at AIW’s Absolution IX, ROH’s Death Before Dishonor XII and PCW’s SuperShow of Honor…
First round loss to Kenny Omega at PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles was a disappointment in result if not in match quality, as was a six-man loss the next night alongside Chris Sabin and Brian Myers (the former Curt Hawkins) to the Mount Rushmore trio of Cole and the Bucks, and another defeat to the Bucks in tandem with Fox…
Finally got one over the Bucks on ROH TV, this time with Matt Sydal as his partner, before joining them as an honorary member of New Japan’s Bullet Club faction to beat Cedric Alexander and The Addiction at the Final Battle pay-per-view…
Second crack at the ROH World title was another loss, this time to Jay Briscoe, but his appearance as a member of Ring of Honor’s All-Star team in an eight-man loss to its champions at Wings Stadium in Michigan, plus his 30-minute time-limit draw with ROH Television champion Jay Lethal and other semi-regular championship opportunities suggest his current home promotion has big plans for him. Titles can surely only elude this man for so long.
35. Jay Lethal [ROH]
Felt lost in the shuffle early in the year and was hand-picked to put AJ Styles over at the 12th Anniversary Show in February…
Rebounded with a heel turn that saw him join the House of Truth and win the ROH Television title from Tommaso Ciampa in two straight falls at Supercard of Honor VIII over WrestleMania weekend…
New attitude brought about a new ring-style, but title defences against the likes of KUSHIDA, Matt Taven, ACH and Cedric Alexander remained entertaining…
On the winning team in the epic 48-minute Champions vs. All-Stars eight man tag in October…
Ended the unprecedented winning streak of R.D. Evans at Glory By Honor XIII, albeit with help from Evans’ former partner Moose…
Capped off a solid year with another good win at Final Battle, this time over Matt Sydal…
Still only 29, 13-year pro Lethal has the winning combination of both age and experience on his side.
34. Rusev [WWE]
Semi-meteoric rise for the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ who started the year getting himself prepared for life on WWE’s main roster with a series of house show and dark match appearances, before hitting screens as an unadvertised surprised in the Royal Rumble…
One of the victims of a name cull that also saw (Antonio) Cesaro and Big E (Langston) lose part of their names, the one-time Alexander also had his Bulgarian heritage shoved to the side so he could portray a Russian-sympathiser in a character many saw as a dated throwback to 1980s xenephobic cheap heat…
Squash match wins throughout the spring prepared him for his first proper feud in which he dispatched of “Real American” Jack Swagger and waved his Russian flag around, much to the overbearing disgust of obnoxious colour commentator John Bradshaw Layfield…
Turned his attentions to Big E, Mark Henry and The Big Show, all of whom he easily dispatched, before dethroning Sheamus in the first ever match taped exclusively for airing on the WWE Network to add the United States title to his package…
Part of Team Authority in the main event of Survivor Series, and was even protected with a count-out finish he caused by crashing spectacularly through a table on a splash attempt…
Took a step backwards at TLC in December when he resumed his feud with Swagger on the basis that WWE hadn’t bothered to build up any new opponents for him, but at least he won…
Currently pencilled in for a showdown with either John Cena or The Rock at WrestleMania XXXI, which is both a blessing and a curse, especially if WWE have not learnt from the lessons this year when it senselessly fed the rising Bray Wyatt to Cena at their annual supershow.
33. Charlotte [NXT]
Second generation starlet has much to live up as the daughter of legendary 16-time World champion Ric Flair, but already carries incredible poise, skill and ability far beyond her level of experience…
Ran through Alexa Bliss and Emma in the tournament to crown a new NXT Women’s champion following the main roster promotion of Paige, en route to a scorching 16-minute final at NXT TakeOver where she defeated Natalya for the gold, a gripping bout watched from ringside by her old man and Nattie’s uncle Bret Hart…
Those who put the credit on Natalya for the quality of that bout were largely silenced when she retained her title in another quality scrap at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way against fan-favourite Bayley, then beat her again on the regular NXT TV show…
New-found respect for Bayley kicked off a babyface turn and split from her BFF’s partner Sasha Banks, leading to a tag team match which she and Bayley lost to Banks and Becky Lynch…
Build to her climactic showdown with Banks was solidly crapped on when she was senselessly booked to lose in less than three minutes to Nataya in her RAW debut, in Flair hotbed the Carolinas no less…
Any doubters remaining who pinned the Bayley match as a fluke had no choice but to take notice after she did it again with a exciting win over Banks at TakeOver: R Evolution…
Gifted athlete is doing the legacy of her father… and the memory of her brother… extremely proud thus far.
32. Alex Shelley [NJPW]
One of several names on this year’s list who have flourished since freeing themselves of the shackles of TNA, the former Motor City Machine Gun’s Timesplitters duo with KUSHIDA has gone from strength-to-strength since forming in late 2012…
Kicked off 2014 at the Tokyo Dome with an unsuccessful crack at The Young Bucks’ IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles in a four-way that also included Forever Hooligans and Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku and Taichi) but won a non-title rematch the next night…
2-on-2 crack at the Bucks’ belts saw defeat again in an excellent match at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th, and it was a familiar story on the joint ROH/NJPW Global Wars card in Toronto, this time a three-way including Forever Hooligans…
Time off from New Japan saw singles outings opposite the likes of Petey Williams, Kyle O’Reilly and Kevin Steen in preparation for a berth in New Japan’s 21st annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Unlike his partner, Shelley was unable to escape the group stages, but had much to celebrate in late June when Timesplitters finally unseated the Bucks to take the Junior straps…
Team spent the autumn feuding with the Suzuki-gun stable, scoring successful title defences over ReDRagon, El Desperado and Taichi and the Bucks and the Hooligans in a Global Wars rematch, then lost to the Hooligans in the first round of the Super Junior Tag Tournament…
Dynamic Duo dumped their titles to ReDRagon on the Road to Power Struggle tour in November, and were unsuccessful in their crack at the Ring of Honor tag team championship against the same team at Final Battle in another good bout…
Set to start 2015 the same way they did 2014 - with a shot at the IWGP Junior tag team titles in a four-way match at the Tokyo Dome.
31. KENTA/Hideo Itami [NOAH/NXT]
Started the year on the wrong foot by dropping Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Global Honoured Crown to the bulky Takeshi Morishima at New Year Navigation…
Feud with Maybach Taniguchi led to a no disqualification win over his rival at NOAH Monday NOAH in February, but he failed to wrest his GHC title back from new champion Yuji Nagata later that month…
Entered the Global Tag League in April with No Mercy partner Yoshihiro Takayama, but couldn’t secure a spot in the final…
Ambitious 33-year old said goodbye to his home promotion of more than a decade at Navigation with Breeze on May 17th, teaming with former partner/longtime rival Naomichi Marufuji to beat Katushiko Nakajima and Takashi Sugiura…
Unveiled on a tour of Japan as WWE’s latest signing by Hulk Hogan, and on-screen at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way by William Regal, the rechristened Hideo Itami quickly gave The Ascension a right pasting…
Quickly in danger of becoming just another face on the developmental roster, the arrival of Prince Devitt as Finn Bálor set up a Japanese junior heavyweight dream team of sorts that beat The Ascension on December’s TakeOver: R Evolution live special, with Itami adding ring entrance apparel influenced by the Scorpion character from Mortal Kombat…
Brought in to play the role of WWE’s Japanese superstar/ambassador, Itami shouldn’t be in developmental for long, but will need more than stiff kicks, broken English and a ring jacket referencing mid-90s pop culture if he wants to be anything more than this year’s Yoshi Tatsu.
30. KUSHIDA [NJPW]
Speedy junior heavyweight has flourished since forming the Timesplitters team with TNA cast-off Alex Shelley in late 2012…
Team came up short in a short, spot-filled four-way shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8, and were equally unsuccessful in attempts to snare the straps from reigning champions The Young Bucks in February and May before finally getting the job done in June…
Took part in two singles tournaments, losing in the first round to Axel Tischer in Germany for wXw’s 16-Carat Gold Cup in March, but went all the way to the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors in June, falling to Ricochet at the last hurdle after having pinned him during the group stages…
Became a double champion in July when he unseated Kota Ibushi as IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion at Kizuna Road but dropped the strap to Ryusuke Taguchi in his first defence at Destruction in Kobe in September…
Misery was compounded the following month when Timesplitters crashed out of the Super Junior Tag Tournament in the first round at the expense of Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), and things only got worse in November when they lost their titles to ReDRagon at Power Struggle…
Returned to Ring of Honor for the Final Battle pay-per-view on December 7th in New York City, but again fell to ReDRagon, this time with the ROH World tag team titles at steak…
Will get the chance to avenge ReDRagon for the IWGP Junior belts at Wrestle Kingdom 9 on January 4th in a four-way that includes old rivals The Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans.
29. Minoru Suzuki [NJPW]
Got 2014 off to an inauspicious start, losing to The Great Muta and Toru Yano alongside Suzuki-gun team mate Shelton X Benjamin at Wrestle Kingdom 8, but quickly found success against various combinations of CHAOS and the Bullet Club in the early part of the year…
Picked up wins over Yano and Hirooki Goto in the New Japan Cup, but fell to Shinsuke Nakamura in the semi-finals…
Suzuki-gun squad continued to rumble with CHAOS throughout a busy year, during which Suzuki still found time to put in appearances for TAKA Michinoku & Taichi Produce, Kana Pro, Real Japan, DDT and K-Dojo…
Raised his game (as just about everyone seemed to) during the sensational G1 Climax tournament in August that saw him tear the house down with Kazuchika Okada and co-produce many people’s pick for the match of the year with AJ Styles…
Teamed with another Suzuki-gun stablemate, Takashi Iizuka, for a run at the World Tag League in November and December but failed to make it out of the group stages…
Has since entered a feud with fellow shoot-style grappler Kazushi Sakuraba, setting up a mouth-watering singles clash for Wrestle Kingdom 9.
28. Hirooki Goto [NJPW]
Began his year with victory over childhood friend Katsuyori Shibata at Wrestle Kingdom 8 at the Tokyo Dome before tearing the house down in an unsuccessful crack at Kuzuchika Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight championship at The New Beginning in Osaka in February…
Entered the New Japan Cup tournament in March with a quick win over Doc Gallows, but fell to Minoru Suzuki in the second round, and attempts to lift the IWGP Tag Team titles from Bullet Club members Gallows and Karl Anderson at Invasion Attack and Wrestling World with Shibata and Captain New Japan as partners also ended in failure, as did his and Shibata’s attempts to gain the number one contendership from Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe at Back to Yokohama Arena in May…
Now-regular pairing with Shibata rocked up in Pro Wrestling NOAH for July’s Great Voyage, where the dynamic duo scored victory over Akitoshi Saito and Katsuhiko Nakajima…
Entered sterling performances throughout the exceptional G1 Climax tournament in August, shining brightest of all in his losses to the likes of AJ Styles, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Okada than he did in his wins…
Team with Shibata avenged their loss to Tanahashi and Makabe with victory at Road to Destruction, and followed up with wins over Makabe and Tomoaki Honma at Destruction in Okayama and the CHAOS duo of Shinsuke Nakamura and YOSHI-HASHI at King of Pro-Wrestling in the early autumn…
Singles loss to Makabe at Destruction in Kobe was another belter, but he again failed in his quest for championship recognition with a loss to NEVER Openweight champion Tomohiro Ishii at Power Struggle in November…
Finally tasted big-time victory in December’s World Tag League tournament, as he and Shibata came back from three defeats on the trot to escape Block B and put away still-reigning IWGP Tag Team champions Gallows and Anderson in the final, setting up a title match for Wrestle Kingdom 9 on January 4th, 2015.
27. Bobby Fish [ROH]
Relative latecomer to the bone-bending game, 38-year old passed the decade mark in his career with his best year in-ring to date…
Made what would turn out to be his final tour for Pro Wrestling NOAH in January that included victory in the annual season-opening junior heavyweight battle royal…
Seven-month reign as Ring of Honor World Tag Team champion alongside ReDRagon partner Kyle O’Reilly was ended by the Young Bucks in March, which was followed by a loss to the Briscoe Brothers in a three-way with Jimmy Jacobs and BJ Whitmer at Global Wars in May…
Losses simply served to set up bigger wins, as ReDRagon reclaimed their belts from the Bucks at the joint ROH/New Japan War of the Worlds iPPV in New York City, then retained them against ready-made challengers the Briscoes at Road to the Best in the World in June…
Scored another big win at Best in the World, ROH’s debut on traditional pay-per-view when ReDRagon retained their titles over The Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian…
Having impressed all the right people during the ROH/New Japan tour, duo were invited to the Orient to put Timesplitters over on the final night of the G1 Climax tour, which in turn earned them an invitation to participate in the Super Junior Tag Tournament November, which they not only won, but followed up on by beating Timesplitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles at the second time of asking…
Appeared in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament as a replacement for AR Fox, but lost in the first round to TJ Perkins, who himself was replacing Brian Cage…
Had more success against PWG talent back in the comfortable surroundings of ROH, when ReDRagon retained their titles against the Bucks in a 2/3 Falls outing on the All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV…
Team against tasted victory against the Briscoes on the jointly-promoted PCW/ROH shows in November, then returned to the States to successfully defend the ROH straps against Timesplitters at Final Battle.
26. Luke Harper [WWE]
Arguably the best pure in-ring worker of the three Wyatt Family members…
Trio scored a red-hot victory in a highly anticipated clash with The Shield at Elimination Chamber, then did it again in an awesome rematch on RAW in March…
Wyatts’ scored a TV win over John Cena, Sheamus and Big E the night after WrestleMania XXX then returned the favour for The Shield on Main Event the next night…
Lost a three-on-one handicap match to Cena on the April 24th RAW before Harper and Erick Rowan turned their attention to The Usos’ Tag Team titles, leading to two fantastic pay-per-view matches between the teams at Money in the Bank and Battleground, which the Usos won…
Vanished from TV in the autumn to be repackaged as exactly the same character he was playing before he left, returning to join the Authority team for Survivor Series against a team which featured his former partner Rowan…
Intercontinental title victory over Dolph Ziggler on the November 17th RAW was a shrot-term arrangement to set up a ladder match at TLC, which took match of the night honours.
25. Jey Uso [WWE]
Usos beat Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan in a cage match on RAW in January that served mostly as damage control when WWE misjudged their audience and added Bryan to the Wyatt Family…
Frequently part of six-man tags against 3-Man Band and The Shield, put nostalgia act The New Age Outlaws over at Elimination Chamber, but took the Tag Team titles from the former DX’ers on RAW a couple of weeks later…
Relegated to the WrestleMania XXX pre-show match, but did at least win after many predicted they wouldn’t…
Returned to pay-per-view at Money in the Bank in June with a superb title defence at Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, and followed with a similarly good best two-out-of-three falls rematch at Battleground, the Usos prevailing on both occasions…
Eventually dumped the belts at Night of Champions in September to cement the heel turn of Goldust and Stardust, then put them over again at Hell in a Cell in October and in a cage on SmackDown in November…
Beat new champions The Miz and Damien Mizdow by disqualification at TLC in December, then beat them for real on the last RAW of the year to kick off their second reign as champions after the comedy duo’s stunt double gimmick had already begun to wear thin.
24. Jimmy Uso [WWE]
Career trajectory unsurprisingly follows that of equally-talented brother and regular partner Jey…
Duo were extremely reliable when it came to starring in hard-working, exciting matches throughout 2014, just as they have been for years…
Where previously their act was somewhat under the radar, 2014 saw them rewarded for their efforts with a solid run as Tag Team champions, having beaten The New Age Outlaws on RAW in March…
Series’ with Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan over the summer and the team of Goldust and Stardust during the Autumn provided much quality action…
Places higher than his brother on account of his additional exposure through Total Divas, and thanks to more televised in-ring matches after Jey suffered a quick storyline injury at the hands of Goldust and Stardust in September.
23. Roman Reigns [WWE]
Half-Samoan, half-Italian second generation star and cousin to Hollywood cash cow The Rock is allowed an extremely enviable position on WWE’s roster, but works hard to justify his blessings…
Started the year with a big singles win over the soon-to-be-departed CM Punk on Old School RAW in January…
Teamed with his Shield colleagues Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to put the Wyatt Family over in a thriller at Elimination Chamber, then again on RAW eight days later…
Trio’s nostalgia-driven WrestleMania opposition of Kane and the New Age Outlaws were something of a disappointment, but bigger things were in store…
Got their win back over the Wyatts on Main Event after their long-awaited babyface turn on the previous evening’spost-WrestleMania RAW…
Victories over Evolution at Extreme Rules in May and Payback in June were awesome, before Rollins turned on his partners to join Triple H’s Authority stable…
Placing in multi-person WWE World title matches at Money in the Bank and Battleground were attempts by WWE to elevate him, but in kayfabe terms left him looking vulnerable and unsuited to the spot when he didn’t win…
Series against Seth Rollins had to be postponed when Reigns went down with an incarcerated hernia just hours before September’s Night of Champions pay-per-view…
Series of pre-taped big-screen interviews felt forced and poorly scripted, and his Superstar of the Year Slammy Award win ahead of Daniel Bryan surprised many, beginning the rumblings of a backlash against him, though his return at TLC was greeted enthusiastically…
Faces a tough test at the Royal Rumble, where his much-predicted win is now in doubt thanks to the impending return of Bryan…
Muscular, handsome and well follicled, Reigns is WWE’s hand-picked future whether their “Universe” prefers former chum Ambrose to him or not.
22. Bray Wyatt [WWE]
Brief association with Daniel Bryan was not what WWE’s fans wanted, but the negative was turned into a positive when Wyatt won their battle of the beards at the Royal Rumble…
Wyatt Family trio with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan scored sensational victories over The Shield at Elimination Chamber in February, and again eight days later on RAW, setting Bray up for a bout with company kingpin John Cena at WrestleMania XXX, which he nonsensically lost…
The issue seemingly settled, WWE attempted to breathe life into the Wyatt-Cena feud with a creepy angle in which a choir of children assembled at ringside clad in sheep masks and sang to Cena, which set up a cage match, naturally. Wyatt won that one at Extreme Rules, but ended the series on the losing end of a spirited last man standing match at Payback…
New issue with the returning Chris Jericho was just as backwards as the Cena run, babyface Jericho triumphing in their curtain-raising encounter at Battleground in July…
Wyatt at least took the honours in the rematch at SummerSlam, and again in a belated but good cage match on RAW in early September…
Vanished from TV during the autumn in an effort to freshen up his character, only to return with exactly the same look and rambling promos as before, only without the “freed” Harper and Rowan by his side…
Ludicrous comeback at Hell in a Cell saw him burst out of a hologram and attack Dean Ambrose, ruining a perfectly good Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins cell match…
Beat Ambrose by disqualification in a tough outing at Survivor Series, but follow-up storylines in which Ambrose destroyed Wyatt’s suddenly meaningful rocking chair and Wyatt allegedly “crushed Ambrose’s trachea” were idiotic beyond belief, especially when Ambrose returned just days later showing no ill-effects of the damage…
References to Ambrose’s jailed father were as lost on the audience as the also previously-untouched upon significance of Wyatt’s chair, but their tables, ladders and chairs battle at TLC was fairly good… until it was ruined by an astonishingly dumb finish in which a television monitor exploded in Ambrose’s face, allowing Wyatt to score the pin…
Beat Ambrose again on the pre-Christmas RAW in the now-traditional festively-themed “Miracle on 34th Street Fight” in another good match…
With booking protection, Wyatt could have been WWE’s next Undertaker, but his losses to Cena and garbled, rambling promos (the content of which must be blamed on WWE’s writing team) have cemented him more along the lines of WWE’s next Kane - a superstar capable of headlining when a stopgap main eventer is needed.
21. Dolph Ziggler [WWE]
Hard working, hard bumping talent was out of favour with WWE’s braintrust and was mostly just a face in the crowd during the early part of the year, although his performances never diminished…
Starred in the superb briefcase-based ladder match at Money in the Bank alongside Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kofi Kingston, Rob Van Dam and Jack Swagger…
Was rewarded for his consistent performances with an Intercontinental title win over The Miz at SummerSlam…
Return of the favour at Night of Champions the next month was a mere blip intended to get the pay-per-view theme over, and he regained the strap the very next on RAW…
Two-out-of-three falls win over Cesaro at Hell in a Cell needed more time to really capture the imagination, though most believe the champion’s quick 2-0 victory was designed to send a message to Cesaro…
Intercontinental title felt more like the Intercontinental albatross as Ziggler regularly continued to put those above him on the totem pole over in TV matches, making him look weaker than a champion realistically should…
Dropped the belt to Luke Harper on RAW in November but was given the win for Team Cena in the very good 5-on-5 elimination main event of Survivor Series…
Loss to Harper was designed to set up a ladder rematch at TLC in December in Ziggler’s home town of Cleveland, which stole the show. Ziggler won…
If history is anything go by, the stop/start booking which has plagued this man’s career will likely continue throughout 2015 and beyond.
20. Kenny Omega [DDT/NJPW]
Golden Lovers duo with the supremely talented Kota Ibushi began the year by winning DDT’s KO-D Tag Team titles in January and added the KO-D Six-Man titles in April, alongside Daisuke Sasaki, which they lost the next month…
Accepted an invitation to New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament in May and June, and looked impressive…
Failed in his attempt to life the KO-D Openweight title to his catalogue at DDT’s annual Ryogoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life spectacular in a three way against defending champion HARASHIMA and Isami Kodaka…
Progressed through PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament with exciting wins over ACH and Matt Sydal, but came unstuck against Ricochet in the semi-finals…
Golden Lovers dropped their DDT belts to Happy Motel of Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo at Dramatic General Election 2014 Final Voting Day - Last Hope Special before jumping to New Japan as the latest addition to the Bullet Club…
Equally adept at comedy as he is high flying, his debut as a full-time member of the New Japan roster will come at Wrestle Kingdom 9 where he will attempt to take the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Ryusuke Taguchi.
19. Tyson Kidd [WWE/NXT]
34-year old cat lover has quietly racked up a series of stellar outings all year long, in part thanks to something of a character makeover offered by the freedom to develop in NXT…
Triple threat victory over Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze set Kidd up for a crack at Adrian Neville’s NXT title, which he lost, on the May 29th NXT TakeOver special…
Continued his pursuit of the gold in singles and tag matches against Neville and Zayn throughout the summer, which were frequently very good…
Was the glue that held the four-way between himself, Neville, Zayn and Breeze together at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way in September…
Fell to newcomer Finn Bálor in another good match at the NXT tapings in October…
Lost in an excellent three-way elimination match for Dolph Ziggler’s Intercontinental title on SmackDown from Liverpool in November…
Consistent performances on NXT, Main Event and house shows have not gone unnoticed by WWE’s brain trust, who have rewarded his efforts by throwing him in a slapdash team with the underachieving Cesaro and jobbing them out to the New Day and the Usos, such is life in WWE when you aren’t amongst the chosen few.
18. Prince Devitt/Finn Bálor [NJPW/NXT]
Bullet Club leader dropped the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title to Kota Ibushi in a good match at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th…
Fell to Shinsuke Nakamura in the second round of the New Japan Cup in March…
Wrapped up his issue with former Apollo 55 partner Ryusuke Taguchi with a loss at Invasion Attack, leaving behind both New Japan and the Bullet Club in search of pastures new…
Had something of a farewell tour on the UK independent circuit over the summer, where he picked up ICW’s Zero-G title, before inevitably putting pen-to-paper on a contract with WWE…
Arrived in NXT as the tag team partner of another former star of Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling, Hideo Itami (KENTA)…
After the pre-requisite name-switch, Bálor and Itami scored wins over the teams of Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel, and Kidd and Tyler Breeze before laying waste to The Ascension at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way…
Potential matches against the likes of Itami, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens should illuminate 2015.
17. Daniel Bryan [WWE]
What would any list be without its controversial picks? “The Best Wrestler in the World” makes an appearance despite missing more than six months of action, a testament to how good he truly is, not to mention how important his achievements were…
Insanely over with live audiences, even the bone-headed decision by WWE’s un-creative department couldn’t quell the groundswell of support for him, forcing gears to be changed and the plug pulled on the whole Daniel Wyatt story arc…
Turn led to an excellent match in which he put Wyatt Family leader Bray over at the Royal Rumble, though outrage was sparked when he didn’t appear in the Rumble match itself, despite never being advertised for it…
Qualified for an elimination chamber match the next night in a trios match with John Cena and Sheamus beating The Shield by disqualification…
"B+ player" failed in his attempt to win the WWE World title from Randy Orton in the six-way chain-link monstrosity, which looked to be the end of his quest to ensnare the gold, fan sentiment be damned…
Real-life dealt a surprising hand when WWE failed to lure the burnt out and disgruntled CM Punk back for WrestleMania XXX, forcing WWE to give his planned match against Triple H to Bryan…
Calls for Bryan to be given a slot in the main event of WWE’s annual supershow continued to grow even louder as Batista’s big babyface return predictably flopped, to the surprise of nobody but Vince McMahon himself…
Went one better than the legendary Bret Hart at WrestleMania X some 20-years earlier by not only winning in the opening match of “the showcase of the immortals”, but also scooping the WWE World Heavyweight title from Orton in a triple threat main event when he tapped out Batista to turn WrestleMania into YEStleMania…
Title defence over former Hell No partner Kane at Extreme Rules was marred by silly booking choices in which our babyface hero fled from the apparently once-again unstoppable monster, only beating him with the aid of a forklift truck…
Scored his last victory to date over Alberto Del Rio on the May 5th edition of RAW before necessary shoulder surgery forced him to vacate the title in humiliating fashion to the Authority, which no doubt pleased those who felt his overwhelming popularity had somehow sabotaged their brilliant WrestleMania plans…
Unexpectedly lost out to Roman Reigns in the Superstar of the Year category at the Slammy Awards edition of RAW in December, despite cries of “Yes! Yes! Yes!” still ringing out throughout arenas worldwide…
Returned in an emotional segment on the final RAW of 2014 to tease his retirement, only to announce his candidacy for the 2015 Royal Rumble.
16. Adam Cole [ROH/PWG]
Began the year as ROH champion, scoring successful title defences against Chris Hero, who he returned the favour to in the semi-finals of wXw’s 16-Carat Gold Cup tournament in March…
Put down Jay Briscoe in a ladder war at Supercard of Honor VIII in April…
Big victories over Kevin Steen at Global Wars and Jushin Liger at Best in the World caught the attention of New Japan, who brought several ROH names including Cole to the Orient later in the year…
Dual champion lost his PWG World title to former Future Shock partner Kyle O’Reilly in an MMA rules match in May, then dumped the ROH belt to predicted long-time successor Michael Elgin the following month…
Failed in his attempts to regain the number one contendership to both titles over the summer, and lost to British youngster Zack Sabre, Jr. in the opening round of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament…
Won ROH’s Survival of the Fittest tournament in November to finally cement himself as once again in contention for the ROH crown…
At one point pencilled in to defend the ROH title at New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 9 Tokyo Dome spectacular, surprisingly lost in his quest to unseat Jay Briscoe as champion in a brutal fight without honor at Final Battle…
Result appears to have been dictated by a shoulder injury which will require surgery and keep Cole out of the ring for some months to come.
15. Matt Jackson [NJPW/PWG/ROH]
Not-as-young Buck was all over the place with his brother throughout the year…
In New Japan, the duo successfully defended their IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8 against the Forever Hooligans, the Timesplitters and Suzuki-gun’s Taichi and TAKA Michinoku…
Added the ROH Tag Team titles to their collection with victory over ReDRagon at Raising the Bar Night 2…
Much like their awesome Meltzer Driver springboard somersault spike tombstone finisher, what goes up must come down, and so the Bucks dropped their House of Glory straps to Crimson and the Amazing Red, the ROH titles back to ReDRagon, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles to Timesplitters, and the PWG Tag Team titles to The World’s Cutest Tag Team, but did pick up the SCW, IWL and FWE tag team titles along the way…
Scored the same 8-point tally as younger brother Nick during the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June, but also failed to make it through the group stages…
Went all the way to the finals of New Japan’s Super Juniors Tag tournament later in the year, but lost to ReDRagon in the concluding bout…
Arrogant Bullet Club members got a dose of attitude when they beat the Hardy Boyz at House of Hardcore VII on November 15th, then put the Dudley Boyz over for 2CW one week later…
Beat Cedric Alexander and The Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view, in conjunction with the similarly-spectacular ACH…
Should they avoid injury, look for the superkick party to continue throughout 2015.
14. Dean Ambrose [WWE]
Reliable Shield trio with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns continued to produce the goods early in the year, with quality scraps against the likes of the Wyatt Family and the team of John Cena, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan…
Wasted in their first (and likely only) WrestleMania appearance as a unit against Attitude Era relics Kane and the New Age Outlaws, but rebounded in a pair of spectacular collisions with the reunited Evolution group of Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista, who all did their upmost to put the new generation of talent over…
Group split was not a shock, but Rollins being the instigator was, and many wondered if Ambrose would get lost in the shuffle…
Terrific ladder match at Money in the Bank was highlighted by the ongoing issue between the former partners, and their lumberjack match at SummerSlam, while short, was pleasingly chaotic, as was a falls count anywhere match on RAW in August…
Untimely incarcerated hernia suffered by Reigns forced WWE’s hand in keeping the Ambrose-Rollins issue alive, and their hell in a cell collision at the pay-per-view of the same name in October was going great guns until the promotion tried to book itself out of a corner by having Bray Wyatt jump out of a hologram and attack Ambrose in one of the lamest finishes in years…
Feud with Wyatt was mostly very good in the ring, as matches at Survivor Series, TLC and on RAW attested to, but the angles on TV were atrocious, as was the TLC finish in which a television monitor inexplicably exploded in Ambrose’s face…
29-year old devotee of Terry Funk and Roddy Piper carries himself like the next coming of Steve Austin, but WWE have seen fit to handicap his excellent promo delivery with material that wouldn’t fly on daytime soap operas, and seem content to entrench him firmly in the midcard so as not to impede the hand-picked Reigns’ ascent to the top.
13. Nick Jackson [NJPW/ROH/PWG]
Young Bucks retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in a spirited four-way against Forever Hooligans, Timesplitters and the Suzuki-gun pairing of Taichi and TAKA Michinoku…
Rare singles outing saw the younger Buck beat Lance Bravado by disqualification at EVOLVE 27…
Won the Ring of Honor tag team titles from ReDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly), retained the PWG tag team titles over the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?), and failed in a crack at the RPW tag team titles held by the Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann), all in March…
Unable to unseat Kota Ibushi as IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion at Road to Invasion Attack in April…
Retained their IWGP Junior tag belts against Forever Hooligans at Wrestling Dontaku, then again in a three-way for ROH at Global Wars against the Hooligans and the Timesplitters…
Lost their House of Glory titles to Crimson and the Amazing Red and their ROH belts back to ReDRagon on a bad weekend, results-wise, in May, before losing the IWGP Junior belts to the TimeSplitters and the PWG straps to Joey Ryan and Candace LaRae over the summer…
Couldn’t make it out of the group stages of the 21st Best of the Super Juniors tournament…
Bucks lost a fantastic Best 2-out-of-3 falls title rematch to ReDRagon at All Star Extravaganza VI before making it to the finals of New Japan’s Super Junior Tag tournament, only to again lose to ReDRagon…
Dynamic duo beat The Hardy Boyz at House of Hardcore VII in November…
Teamed with ACH at Final Battle to defeat the trio of Cedric Alexander and the Addiction…
Perhaps the brothers’ most in-demand year yet.
12. Kota Ibushi [NJPW/DDT]
Signed his full-time contract with New Japan in October 2013 and quickly went to work, lifting the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Prince Devitt at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th of this year…
Contract allows him to make dates for his “home” promotion of DDT, where he and Golden Lovers partner Kenny Omega won the KO-D Tag Team titles later that month…
Ongoing graduation into the heavyweight ranks saw him lose a belter to Kazuchika Okada at New Japan’s Strong Style 42nd Anniversary Show in March…
Retained his Junior crown against Nick Jackson at Road to Invasion Attack in April, then added the KO-D Six-Man titles to his collection six days later, in conjunction with Omega and Daisuke Sasaki…
Attempted to wrest the NEVER Openweight title from Tomohiro Ishii at Back to Yokohama Arena in May but lost…
Defended his Junior title against Dragon Gate star Ricochet in a sensational bout at Dominion, then put Isami Kodaka over in the semi-finals of the King of DDT tournament later that same month…
Continued to shine as he dropped his singles gold to KUSHIDA at Kizuna Road in July and the Golden Lovers dumped their DDT belts to Happy Motel in September…
Golden Lovers downed comedy match worker Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita in a falls count anywhere match on DDT television in October…
Gearing up for a crack at Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental title at Wrestle Kingdom 9. Will 2015 be the year Ibushi finally graduates full-time to the heavyweight ranks of New Japan?
11. Adrian Neville [NXT]
Amazing high flyer soared to new heights when he snared the NXT title from the grasp of Bo Dallas in a ladder match at NXT ArRival…
Matches with Brodus Clay were nothing to write home about, but Neville did get to tour his native UK and spiritual home of Japan as NXT champion during WWE house show tours…
Retained his title against Tyson Kidd in excellent back-to-back matches in May…
Dropped jaws with his Red Arrow finisher in his official RAW debut on September 8th, then retained his title against Kidd, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze in a stunner at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way three nights later…
Feud with real-life chum Zayn was gripping, and Zayn’s eventual title victory at the live TakeOver: R Evolution special in December was one of the best matches anywhere in the world in 2014…
Shouldn’t be in the developmental leagues for much longer, but will likely stick around for a little while to put Kevin Owens over.
10. Kyle O’Reilly [ROH/PWG/NJPW]
MMA-influenced ReDRagon team with Bobby Fish began their year in a series with the Adrenaline Rush duo of ACH and Cedric Alexander, before losing their Ring of Honor tag team titles to the Young Bucks at Raising the Bar Night 2 in March…
Beat Johnny Gargano in just under 30 minutes at PWG’s Mystery Vortex II later that month…
ReDRagon duo won their belts back from the Bucks at War of the Worlds on May 17th before O’Reilly completed the best week of his career to date by lifting the PWG World championship from former Future Shock partner Adam Cole…
Downed the returning Addiction of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian at Best in the World, lost to ROH World champion Michael Elgin on Ring of Honor television, retained his PWG title against Chris Hero at ELEVEN, travelled to New Japan to put the Timesplitters of Alex Shelly and Kushida over on the final night of G1 Climax tour, then beat the Addiction again back in ROH during a very busy summer period…
Lost to AJ Styles in a dream match at Death Before Dishonor XII on August 22nd…
Entered PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament and scored wins over Drew Gulak and Zack Sabre, Jr., before being attacked, injured and removed from the tournament to set up a grudge match against Roderick Strong at Untitled II in October, which he won…
ReDRagon returned to New Japan in November for their first full tour, winning not only the Super Junior Tag tournament, but unseating the Timesplitters at Road to Power Struggle to lift the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team titles…
Returned to ROH to defeat the Addiction, the Briscoe Brothers and the team of Matt Sydal and ACH on TV, before beating Timesplitters at Final Battle…
Ended the year by beating BOLA winner Ricochet to retain his PWG World title at Black Cole Sun on December 12th, only to lose it to Strong in a Guerilla Warfare match that same night…
Protégé of Davey Richards turned down an offer to go to TNA, and was rewarded with his most decorated year as an independent to date.
9. Tomohiro Ishii [NJPW]
Barrel-chested career mid-carder may be one of New Japan’s most underrated workers ever…
Hard-hitting cult favourite was finally rewarded for his years of service with a win over Tetsuya Naito at The New Beginning in Osaka for the NEVER Openweight championship, his first title victory ever…
Returned the favour to Naito in the first round of the New Japan Cup in March, but beat him in another great match in his first title defence at Invasion Attack in April…
Getting on a roll, he made similarly quality defences against KUSHIDA in April and Tomoaki Honma and Kota Ibushi in May, before dropping the strap to Yujiro Takahashi in July…
Starred, as many did, in the brilliant G1 Climax tournament over the summer, particularly in killer bouts against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Yuji Nagata…
Became a two-time champion when he felled Takahashi to regain the NEVER crown in another belting battle at King of Pro Wrestling in October…
Teamed with CHAOS stablemate Nakamura in the World Tag League tournament but failed to progress from Block B…
Has what should be another tough NEVER title defence against Togi Makabe lined up for Wrestle Kingdom 9, which should be extremely gratifying after he missed last year’s Tokyo Dome card.
8. Sami Zayn [NXT]
Put real-life pal Cesaro over in a scorching bout on the first live special on the WWE Network in February, as part of the Cesaro’s big push up the card that never really panned out…
Teamed with the Usos to put down Corey Graves and the Ascension in March…
Quest to become NXT champion was made a long one when he first lost a triple threat number one contenders match to Tyson Kidd that also featured Tyler Breeze in April, then put Breeze over in another one at NXT TakeOver in May…
Entered the NXT Tag Team title contendership tournament with Adam Rose as his partner in July, beating Kidd and Justin Gabriel in the opening round only to the Lucha Dragons of Sin Cara and Kalisto in the semi-finals…
Made his official RAW debut in September, teaming with Adrian Neville to beat Kidd and Breeze in the build to a four-way for Neville’s NXT championship three days later on another live Network special, in which he again failed to win the big one…
Won the number one contendership over Breeze on another episode of NXT but was otherwise bogged down in a tiresome side issue with the out-of-place Titus O’Neil…
Added Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to his list of working destinations on tour with WWE in October, as well as touring Europe and Canada as a special addition to the main roster…
Finally fulfilled his dream with an epic NXT title win over Neville at TakeOver: R Evolution in December with a match… and a victory celebration… to remember…
Post-match attack by real-life best friend Kevin Owens sets up arguably the most likeable and consistent performer on the planet for a busy 2015 on WWE’s developmental roster.
7. Katsuyori Shibata [NJPW]
Put real-life pal Hirooki Goto over at New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 8 Tokyo Dome spectacular on January 4th, before forming a team with him to defeat the CHAOS duo of Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI The New Beginning in Hiroshima on February 9th…
Beat Karl Anderson but lost to Shelton “X” Benjamin in the New Japan Cup in March, before teaming with Goto in April to lose to the Bullet Club of Anderson and Doc Gallows in the team’s first crack at the IWGP Tag Team titles…
Duo fell to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe at Back to Yokohama Arena in May in a number one contenders bout, but regrouped in July with a win over Akitoshi Saito and Katsuhiko Nakajima over in Pro Wrestling NOAH…
Performances in the G1 Climax tournament were sensational, particularly against Shinsuke Nakamura, Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata and Tomoaki Honma…
Contested another thriller with Tanahashi at Destruction in Kobe in September, then lost to Nakamura in a crack at the IWGP Intercontinental title…
Resumed his pairing with Goto and went all the way in the World Tag League, beating Anderson and Gallows in the final to set up another crack at the Bullet Club’s gold at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in January.
6. Ricochet/Prince Puma [Dragon Gate/PWG/WWN Live/Lucha Underground]
In-demand Dragon Gate star is also a regular for PWG, the WWN Live stable, and many others… when time permits…
Inner City Machine Guns team with Rich Swann beat the Unbreakable F’N Machines (Brian Cage and Michael Elgin) and the African-American Wolves (ACH and AR Fox) but lost to the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) in PWG’s DDT4 tag team tournament in January…
Picked up Dragon Gate’s Open the Dream Gate title from Masato Yoshino at Champion Gate in Osaka in March…
Machine Guns duo won and lost the RPW British Tag Team titles over two nights later that same month, before our man added DGUSA’s Open the Freedom Gate title to his catalogue with a win over Johnny Gargano at Open the Ultimate Gate in April…
Teamed with Swann and Fox to defeated Masato Tanaka, Chris Hero and Roderick Strong the next night at Mercury Rising but lost the trios tournament final in a three way to the Premier Athlete Brand in a match which also featured the team of Fire Ant, Green Ant and Lince Dorado…
Lost the Open the Dream Gate title to YAMATO at Dragon Gate’s annual Dead or Alive spectacular in May before embarking on a tour of New Japan, where he went all the way in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, beating KUSHIDA in the finals…
Losing crack at Kota Ibushi’s IWGP Junior Heavtweight crown at Dominion was a blistering bout…
Continued to shine in the Monster Express faction in Dragon Gate, but fell to Akira Tozawa during the promotion’s latest excursion to the UK in July…
Retained his Open the Freedom Gate title against Matt Sydal at EVOLVE 32 in August…
Busy month was capped off by winning the House of Glory title in an eight-man single elimination tournament, and going all the way in PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles, scoring quality wins over Chris Sabin, TJ Perkins, Kenny Omega and in the three-way final with Gargano and Strong…
Signed a contract to become one of the faces of Lucha Underground under the mask of Prince Puma, losing to Johnny Mundo (the former John Morrison) is his excellent debut for the group, before going on to add the Lucha Underground title to his collection later in the year…
Successfully defended his Open the Freedom Gate strap against Monster Express stablemate Uhaa Nation at EVOLVE 35 in September, and the House of Glory belt against Low-Ki at Fight or Flight in November…
Toured China of all places with the WWN Live group later that month, where he dropped the Open the Freedom Gate title back to Gargano…
Ended the year on something of a downer as he also lost his shot at Kyle O’Reilly’s PWG World championship, lost his shot at ACH’s HWR title, and lost his House of Glory gold to Brian XL, but did take AJ Styles to a 20-minute draw at Phenomenal Showdown on December 19th.
5. Seth Rollins [WWE]
Shield trio with Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were frequently the highlight of WWE television and pay-per-views in 2013, a trend which continued into the early part of 2014 as they assembled a string of quality trios bouts against the Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber and on RAW and Main Event…
Group went down in a blaze of glory after back-to-back pay-per-view wins over the reformed Evolution stable of Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista at Extreme Rules and Payback, before Rollins shockingly turned on his partners to join Triple H’s Authority unit…
Immediately made an impact following his realignment by picking up the Money in the Bank briefcase at the show of the same name in a dazzling ladder match…
Beat former partner Ambrose in a chaotic lumberjack match at SummerSlam and again in a quality falls count anywhere scrap the next night on RAW…
Feud with WWE’s hand-picked next big thing Reigns had to be postponed due to Reign’s unfortunate incarcerated hernia required emergency surgery, with the silver lining that it spared Rollins from having to do a growth-impeding job…
Wrapped up his issue with Ambrose in a good Hell in a Cell bout at the pay-per-view also of the same name, though the finish was marred by a ridiculous angle in which Bray Wyatt burst through a hologram and attacked Ambrose…
Was the star pick on Triple H’s Authority team at Survivor Series, finally losing the match for his team after a superb closing stretch with Dolph Ziggler and the first WWE appearance of Sting, which rendered the conclusion of the match a mere backdrop to the never ending Triple H vanity project…
Put company ace John Cena over in a good but overbooked tables match at TLC in December, but thankfully got his win back the next night in a cage match on RAW…
Is expected to be the glue that will hold the umpteenth meeting of Cena and Brock Lesnar together at the Royal Rumble, which is undoubtedly Rollins’ most important match to date…
Talented worker carries himself like a genuine main event star, has shown hitherto unseen confidence on the mic, and has frankly been a revelation in the role many had previously pegged for Ambrose.
4. Shinsuke Nakamura [NJPW]
Considered by many as one of the most charismatic wrestlers on the planet, Nakamura is also a dab hand in the ring…
Lost his IWGP Intercontinental title to perennial rival Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th, and fell to him again at The New Beginning in Hiroshima in February before finally regaining his crown at April’s Invasion Attack pay-per-view, having won the New Japan Cup tournament the previous month. All three matches were excellent…
Teamed with Kazushi Sakuraba at Wrestling Dontaku in May to put over the useless Daniel and Rolles Gracie, setting Daniel up for a shot at the Intercontinental strap. Thankfully, Nakamura won that one…
Part of the New Japan crew that visited Ring of Honor later that month, he teamed with CHAOS partner Jado to lose to Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger and that man Tanahashi in Toronto, Canada at Global Wars, before beating Kevin Steen in an action-packed interpromotional match at War of the Worlds in New York City…
Dropped the Intercontinental gold to Bad Luke Fale at Dominion in June in New Japan’s latest attempt to build a new star, but regained the strap Septemeber at Destruction for Kobe. It’s small steps for Fale, but thanks to the unselfish performances of Nakamura, he’d never looked better…
Yet another name that shone in the sensational G1 Climax tournament, he racked up killer bouts against Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Tanahashi (to whom he lost yet again), and CHAOS stablemates Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada, the latter of whom he put over in an outstanding final…
Loss to Shibata in his first G1 match of the season was paid off in November when the two collided in an Intercontinental title match at Power Struggle, which Nakamura won…
Teamed with the underrated Tomohiro Ishii in the World Tag League, but their failure to escape Block B shouldn’t be a worry for a man who will no doubt attempt to steal the show at Wrestle Kingdom 9, where he is set to defend his title against the supremely talented Kota Ibushi.
3. AJ Styles [NJPW/ROH/Freelance]
Was bafflingly allowed to leave TNA despite holding the promotion’s World Heavyweight championship in late 2013 when neither side could come to terms on a new contract. Styles later claimed that he was prepared to accept TNA’s lower monetary offer but that TNA would not acquiesce to his request for a similarly reduced amount of dates, and so he opted to go independent. Ironically, the incompetent TNA wound up running so few dates in 2014 that it could have signed Styles for the price they were asking and still had him appear on every show they ran, if only they’d had the foresight to realise it…
Ironically made his Ring of Honor return at the Nashville State Fairgrounds on January 4th, the original home of TNA, with a good win over Roderick Strong that was marred by a scary neck injury to Strong when he took the Styles Clash wrong. That would become an unfortunate theme of an otherwise sparking year for the ‘Phenomenal One’…
Made his first-ever iPPV appearance in February CZW’s 15th Anniversary Show, where he beat CZW champion Drew Gulak by disqualification…
Beat Jay Lethal at ROH’s 12th Anniversary Show and went to a 30-minute time-limit draw with Michael Elgin on ROH TV in February, before going on to put Elgin over in April…
UK appearances for PCW ended in disaster on March 1st when Lionheart suffered a broken neck when he tucked his head on a Styles Clash…
Signed a contract with New Japan in the spring where he supplanted Prince Devitt as leader of the Bullet Club, then, shockingly dethroned Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight title in his first match as a full-timer performer for the group…
Made a pair of IWGP title defences in May against Okada and Elgin at the ROH/New Japan War of the Worlds card in the U.S. and against Okada again at New Japan’s Back to Yokohama Arena card, both in May…
Part of the stunning G1 Climax tournament in July and August where he he wrestled match of the year candidates against the likes of Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki…
Returned to PWG in late August where he defeated Brian Myers (the former Curt Hawkins in WWE) but lost by disqualification to Strong in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament…
Scored yet another quality win at ROH’s All-Star Extravaganza VI iPPV in September, this time over Adam Cole, and followed up later in the month with a win over the returning Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne)…
Dropped the IWGP title in October to Tanahashi to give New Japan time to promote a Tanahashi vs. Okada title bout at Wrestle Kingdom 9, but the promotion has continued to keep Styles in a strong position with another clash opposite Naito on the docket for him at Wrestle Kingdom 9, after which he is expected to make another run at the IWGP crown…
Win over Yoshitatsu at New Japan’s Power Struggle pay-per-view was unfortunately the latest incident in which a foe of Styles suffered a series neck injury after incorrectly absorbing the Styles Clash, raising further questions about the suitability of the move…
One of the only men who can legitimately claim to be any kind of a consistent drawing card on the independent circuit, Styles increased the attendance figures for just about every independent promotion he worked for in 2014, highlighted by a slew of dream matches against the likes of Kevin Steen, AR Fox, Johnny Gargano, Chris Hero, Trent Barreta and Ricochet, most of which Styles won.
2. Kazuchika Okada [NJPW]
CHAOS leader suffered a minor setback at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in January when New Japan allowed its fans to vote on whether his IWGP Heavyweight title defence against Tetsuya Naito or the IWGP Intercontinental title match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi should headline the annual Tokyo Dome spectacular, and they chose the IC bout over his. Still, at least he won…
Defended the belt again in a cracker against Hirooki Goto at The New Beginning in Osaka, beat Kota Ibushi in a stunner at Strong Style 42nd Anniversary Show in March, then shockingly lost the IWGP crown to new Bullet Club leader AJ Styles at Wrestling Dontaku in May…
Attempts to win his belt back from Styles in a three-way with Michael Elgin at Ring of Honor’s War of the Worlds on May 17th, and eight days later in a singles match at Back to Yokohama Arena were both failures…
Entered the G1 Climax tournament in July and August, highlighted by his bouts with Styles, Goto, Minoru Suzuki, and a stunning final against Nakamura which he won to guarantee himself another crack at the IWGP title at Wrestle Kingdom 9…
Not content to be left in limbo, the ‘Rainmaker’ defender is number one contendership in matches against Naito and Karl Anderson, enter the World Tag League with YOSHI-HASHI, and find the time to travel to England to score victories over Joel Redman and TNA’s Austin Aries…
Not shy about his abilities in the ring, the confident Okada has been predicting his bout with Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 9 will reach six stars.
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi [NJPW]
Yet another exceptional year for the undisputed ace of New Japan, despite stiff competition for the spot…
Got off to a flier when he wrested the IWGP Intercontinental title from Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4th, then proceeded to beat him again at The New Beginning in Hiroshima in February…
Dumped the strap back to Nakamura at the Invasion Attack pay-per-view in April in another scorching battle before heading to North America for co-promotional shows between New Japan and Ring of Honor, teaming with Jushin Liger to defeated Nakamura and Jado at Global Wars on May 10th, then beating Michael Bennett at War of the Worlds one week later in a match that was good enough to convince bookers Jado and Gedo to bring Bennett back to Japan with them…
Back on home soil, teamed with Togi Makabe to win the number one contendership to the IWGP Tag Team titles from Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata at Back to Yokohama Arena on May 25th, before putting Bullet Club members Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows over in the title showdown at Dominion on June 21st…
Entered a series of staggeringly good performances during the gruelling G1 Climax tour, highlighted by his bouts against Shibata, Tomohiro Ishii, Nakamura and AJ Styles…
Appeared for wacky comedy and high-flying hybrid group DDT in September with a win over Kenosuke Takashita at Ryogoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life, their biggest show of the year, and a brief European excursion in October saw him somewhat unexpectedly appear on a hybrid wXw/CZW/Big Japan card, where he defeated German star Absolute Andy…
Non-title, non-tournament victory over Styles on the final night of the G1 Climax tour inevitably led to an IWGP championship match between the pair, and after a thrilling victory over Sakuraba at Destruction in Kobe, our man dethroned Styles to reclaim his throne as the King of Strong Style in another gripping bout at King of Pro-Wrestling on October 13th…
Potential appearances in the World Tag League were curtailed after opening night when partner Yoshitatsu suffered a broken neck at the hands of an earlier Styles Clash and the duo were forced to withdraw, but critically for Tanahashi, he was on the losing side opposite title contender Kazuchika Okada…
Still on top of New Japan, it hasn’t escaped some that the ungodly talented Tanahashi is beginning to show the wear and tear of an ageing body that has taken such punishment thanks to the high intensity-nature of his in-ring performances. He sits atop our pile for 2014, but with talented youngsters like Okada on the rise and the likes of Nakamura and Styles gunning for his spot, our advice is to enjoy him at his peak while you still can.