Jack-Hammer
08-29-2019, 02:16 PM
The title of the thread pretty much says it all in that current WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins was ranked #1 out of the 500 best singles wrestlers in pro wrestling by Pro Wrestling Illustrated covering the last 12 months or so.
As you might expect, the internet has pretty much gone off it's nut with its usual fake outrage or general trollish behavior after the top 10 was revealed:
** Seth Rollins
** Daniel Bryan
** AJ Styles
** Kofi Kingston
** Kazuchicka Okada
** Johnny Gargano
** Roman Reigns
** Kenny Omega
** Hiroshi Tanahashi
** Will Ospreay
I love how so many people behave as though they're torn up about this stuff every single year. They act as though some great sacrilege has been committed almost every year when it comes to the #1 spot unless it happens to be someone that's white hot during the time period. A few years back? Rollins was all the rage and, as usual, loads of internet fans SEEM to have turned on him just like they do with just about everyone else. In a few years, for instance, people will be gnashing their teeth in frustration or hatred over Kenny Omega.
Rollins being at #1 this year isn't a huge surprise. He's sorta been WWE's workhorse for a while and we've seen him get a couple of definitive wins over Brock Lesnar, including one at WrestleMania and another one at SummerSlam that didn't have any controversy about it. It's rare that Lesnar loses completely clean so I'd say that factored in a bit.
When I look at the top 10, it strikes me as quite logical, for the most part. Daniel Bryan ended AJ Styles' year+ long 2nd run as WWE Champion in November and had a pretty long and good run with the title himself. He's been a great heel who's delivered some great matches, done great work on the mic and has put over several young stars this year all without taking any damage himself. Basically, Bryan is at the place in his career where I always believed he'd end up at: in the role of Chris Jericho where he can fit in anywhere on the roster, put over a lot of other wrestlers without it damaging him in the least because of how high the quality of his work has been.
As you would imagine, Styles' 2019 hasn't been as hot as his 2018 was but, all in all, he's still had quite a good year winning the US Championship a couple of times, which he still has, and reforming his alliance with Gallows & Anderson.
I'd put Kofi ahead of Styles here as Kofi's been pretty this year, due in no small part to Daniel Bryan's work with him on the road to WrestleMania. Kofi's been a good, likeable babyface WWE Champion and my guess is that he'll hold onto the title until at least Survivor Series.
Okada is the golden boy of New Japan, their heir to Hiroshi Tanahashi, and he's in the middle of his 5th run as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The overall buzz of New Japan hasn't been nearly as much in 2019 as it was last year and the year before and I think that's due in large part to the Elite leaving, forming AEW and all but stopping New Japan's US expansion in its tracks.
Johnny Gargano has been the heart & soul of NXT with a number of classic matches the past couple of years, whether he won them or lost them. He's had quite a year with his epic matches against Adam Cole and brief runs as NXT North American Champion and NXT Champion.
As for Roman Reigns, he shouldn't be in the top 10 in my opinion. Reigns was out for a significant portion of this year battling Leukemia and he hasn't really done anything all that spectacular since his return. I'm guessing that beating cancer and sympathy have a lot to do with him being up so high as his programs against Shane, Elias and Drew McIntyre have been kinda limp when you get right down to it. If anything, I think Adam Cole should be in this spot given the last 8 or 9 months he's had.
I've a feeling that Kenny Omega is sort of riding the momentum of past greatness a bit. Since January, he's only wrestled a very small handful of matches and his time as IWGP Heavyweight Champion was pretty lackluster, in my eyes at least. Maybe it really is a combination of how amazing the last few years have been for him coupled with being IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the 2nd half of 2018, a few mind boggling performances and the buzz of him being part of AEW that's kept him this high.
Hiroshi Tanahashi returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2013. The Ace of New Japan has put on quality for a very long time but my guess is the real reason he's up so high on this list this year is that he's the one who ended Kenny Omega's 209 day run to win his 8th IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom back in January. He only held the strap for 38 days before dropping it to Jay White, who then dropped it to Okada. Tanahashi had some very strong performances in the G1 Climax this year, so maybe they felt all that was enough.
Will Ospreay looks like he might be Dave Meltzer's new golden boy since Kenny Omega's desertion of New Japan. He's had four 5 and 5+ star matches this year, most of which happened during the G1 Climax, and is on his third run as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.Even without Meltzer drooling all over the him, the kid's still had an impressive year with impressive showings against a broad range of opponents and styles. At only age 26, New Japan may have something special with this kid,
As you might expect, the internet has pretty much gone off it's nut with its usual fake outrage or general trollish behavior after the top 10 was revealed:
** Seth Rollins
** Daniel Bryan
** AJ Styles
** Kofi Kingston
** Kazuchicka Okada
** Johnny Gargano
** Roman Reigns
** Kenny Omega
** Hiroshi Tanahashi
** Will Ospreay
I love how so many people behave as though they're torn up about this stuff every single year. They act as though some great sacrilege has been committed almost every year when it comes to the #1 spot unless it happens to be someone that's white hot during the time period. A few years back? Rollins was all the rage and, as usual, loads of internet fans SEEM to have turned on him just like they do with just about everyone else. In a few years, for instance, people will be gnashing their teeth in frustration or hatred over Kenny Omega.
Rollins being at #1 this year isn't a huge surprise. He's sorta been WWE's workhorse for a while and we've seen him get a couple of definitive wins over Brock Lesnar, including one at WrestleMania and another one at SummerSlam that didn't have any controversy about it. It's rare that Lesnar loses completely clean so I'd say that factored in a bit.
When I look at the top 10, it strikes me as quite logical, for the most part. Daniel Bryan ended AJ Styles' year+ long 2nd run as WWE Champion in November and had a pretty long and good run with the title himself. He's been a great heel who's delivered some great matches, done great work on the mic and has put over several young stars this year all without taking any damage himself. Basically, Bryan is at the place in his career where I always believed he'd end up at: in the role of Chris Jericho where he can fit in anywhere on the roster, put over a lot of other wrestlers without it damaging him in the least because of how high the quality of his work has been.
As you would imagine, Styles' 2019 hasn't been as hot as his 2018 was but, all in all, he's still had quite a good year winning the US Championship a couple of times, which he still has, and reforming his alliance with Gallows & Anderson.
I'd put Kofi ahead of Styles here as Kofi's been pretty this year, due in no small part to Daniel Bryan's work with him on the road to WrestleMania. Kofi's been a good, likeable babyface WWE Champion and my guess is that he'll hold onto the title until at least Survivor Series.
Okada is the golden boy of New Japan, their heir to Hiroshi Tanahashi, and he's in the middle of his 5th run as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The overall buzz of New Japan hasn't been nearly as much in 2019 as it was last year and the year before and I think that's due in large part to the Elite leaving, forming AEW and all but stopping New Japan's US expansion in its tracks.
Johnny Gargano has been the heart & soul of NXT with a number of classic matches the past couple of years, whether he won them or lost them. He's had quite a year with his epic matches against Adam Cole and brief runs as NXT North American Champion and NXT Champion.
As for Roman Reigns, he shouldn't be in the top 10 in my opinion. Reigns was out for a significant portion of this year battling Leukemia and he hasn't really done anything all that spectacular since his return. I'm guessing that beating cancer and sympathy have a lot to do with him being up so high as his programs against Shane, Elias and Drew McIntyre have been kinda limp when you get right down to it. If anything, I think Adam Cole should be in this spot given the last 8 or 9 months he's had.
I've a feeling that Kenny Omega is sort of riding the momentum of past greatness a bit. Since January, he's only wrestled a very small handful of matches and his time as IWGP Heavyweight Champion was pretty lackluster, in my eyes at least. Maybe it really is a combination of how amazing the last few years have been for him coupled with being IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the 2nd half of 2018, a few mind boggling performances and the buzz of him being part of AEW that's kept him this high.
Hiroshi Tanahashi returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2013. The Ace of New Japan has put on quality for a very long time but my guess is the real reason he's up so high on this list this year is that he's the one who ended Kenny Omega's 209 day run to win his 8th IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom back in January. He only held the strap for 38 days before dropping it to Jay White, who then dropped it to Okada. Tanahashi had some very strong performances in the G1 Climax this year, so maybe they felt all that was enough.
Will Ospreay looks like he might be Dave Meltzer's new golden boy since Kenny Omega's desertion of New Japan. He's had four 5 and 5+ star matches this year, most of which happened during the G1 Climax, and is on his third run as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.Even without Meltzer drooling all over the him, the kid's still had an impressive year with impressive showings against a broad range of opponents and styles. At only age 26, New Japan may have something special with this kid,