All Things Combat- Male Wrestlers Of The Year (Honorable Mentions)
It’s that time of the year again. The calendar says December, there may be snow on the ground and hot chocolate in your mug, as the end of yet another year is upon us. That means that there are going to be multiple outlets putting out their ‘Best of the year’ lists. For the second time in our history, we will be doing our versions of those lists, and we once again start with Honorable Mentions. Many wrestlers had good 2019, but not all of them could make it into the top 10. It doesn’t matter if they are from WWE, NJPW, AEW, Impact, or somewhere else, a good year can end you up here. With such a great year of pro wrestling, there were so many people to choose from. You had breakout performances, great tournaments, and amazing matches from so many promotions. There are so many wrestlers on this list from all over the world of pro wrestling here.
In order to get into the top 10, I have a few criteria. One, they have to have competed for the full year. There are some wrestlers on this list that haven’t competed for the whole year, and have a smaller sample size to grade their year on. Two, championships and tournament wins are important. Three, match quality and in ring skills are also taken into account as well. That being said, onto the honorable mentions.
In order to get into the top 10, I have a few criteria. One, they have to have competed for the full year. There are some wrestlers on this list that haven’t competed for the whole year, and have a smaller sample size to grade their year on. Two, championships and tournament wins are important. Three, match quality and in ring skills are also taken into account as well. That being said, onto the honorable mentions.
30) Jushin Thunder Liger
This was his final year as a pro wrestler, so he was going to be on this list in some way. It is going to be weird turning on New Japan and not seeing the legend that is Jushin Thunder Liger in the ring. While the year didn’t warrant any championships for Liger, we still got to see some special stuff. He’s been a constant in the tag team outings from New Japan, and kind of seemed like he wouldn’t have a meaningful feud in his final year, Minoru Suzuki struck. Suzuki awoke a monster in Liger that we hadn’t seen since 2012. Liger unleashed Kishin Liger and the two clashed at King of Pro Wrestling, and even though Suzuki won, instead of attacking him post match, he threw down the chair and bowed down to Liger. It seems like he will be in those tag team ranks for the remainder of his in ring career. It will be weird to be in the pro wrestling world and Liger is no longer wrestling, so the legend begins our end of year list.
29) R-Truth
Any man that wins 24 championships in one year is definitely going to be on this list. Surprisingly, only 23 of those title reigns were with the 24/7 Championship. R-Truth began the year by winning the United States Championship in January, and then going on a tear in the 24/7 division. Yes this is a bit of a joke entry, but were also here to have some fun as well. Nobody has won more championships this year, at least to my knowledge, than R-Truth so he gets the spot on this list, and that is why he is also so low down.
28) Drew Gulak
You talk about wrestlers that have put shows on their back, you don’t need to look far to find Drew Gulak and 205 Live. He has been the best part of 205 Live for the better part of a year and a half, and he finally reached the mountain top of the division. When it looked like he was going to always be the guy that was destined to play second fiddle in the division, Gulak would win the Cruiserweight Championship from Tony Nese at Stomping Grounds in a triple threat that included Akira Tozawa. He would go on to have a very impressive reign, even defending the title in Evolve against Kushida. After dropping the championship to Lio Rush and moving to Smackdown, Gulak is still trying to find his footing on the blue brand. If he is given the time to wrestle rather than cut promos and get beat up by Braun Strowman, then maybe we can see him develop into a new star for the brand.
27) El Phantasmo
Early in the year, El Phantasmo was just another name in the European independent scene. Now he is one of the premier members of Bullet Club and a name most fans know. El Phantasmo had a breakout performance in the Best of the Super Juniors, coming up just two points short of the block win. Before coming to New Japan, Phantasmo had bounced around the indys, but did find some championship success, winning the RevPro British Cruiserweight Championship just four days before his first match in the Best of the Super Juniors. Add in an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship win with his partner Taiji Ishimori, who himself almost made this list (sorry Taiji), and him winning the Super J Cup, Phantasmo had a rather impressive year. I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to say that once Ospreay makes the jump to the heavyweight division, that Phantasmo will be one of the next faces of the junior heavyweight division.
26) Hiroshi Tanahashi
Not gonna lie, part of me forgot that Hiroshi Tanahashi won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship this year, given how short his time with the belt was. Tanahashi beat Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom for the gold, but dropped the title to Jay White almost immediately. Ever since, Tana has kind of been hit and miss. He got to the New Japan Cup Semifinals before losing to SANADA. He lost to Zack Sabre Jr. for ZSJ’s RevPro British Heavyweight Championship at the G1 Supercard. The Ace then entered the G1 Climax and had a bit of a weird tournament, starting off losing two straight, winning his next four matches, and losing his final three. It seemed like things started to turn around for Tanahashi when he won the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship from ZSJ at Royal Quest. It was a short lived reign, as ZSJ won his championship back at Destruction in Beppu. Now with Toa Henare in World Tag League and only four points, it’s weird that we can’t really tell what direction Tanahashi is going in New Japan. It will be interesting to see where Tanahashi goes and what is next for the Ace of the Universe.
25) Jay Lethal
Mr. ROH has been the backbone of the company for the past nine years, and this year was no different. Jay Lethal started the year as Ring of Honor World Champion after he defeated Dalton Castle in a fatal four way, and would reign for 280 days before losing it at the G1 Supercard to Matt Taven in a triple threat ladder match that also included Marty Scurll. Lethal would remain in the world title picture, but would bounce around to a few different storylines. While Lethal has been out due to injury, the main reason that he is at this spot on this list is because he is one of the smoothest guys in the ring. He’s been wrestling for 18 years, and he hasn’t lost his touch at all. Hopefully we see Lethal return to the ring soon, and he continues to be the great pro wrestler that we all know he is.
24) Lucky Kid
These next three all won big tournaments this year, so that’s the reason that they are on this list. Lucky Kid shocked the world in winning the 16 Karat Gold held by Westside Xtreme Wrestling. Anyone that has the run that Kid had would have ended up on this list. He had to go through Timothy Thatcher, Axel Dieter Jr (Marcel Barthel), Ilja Dragunov, and WALTER in three nights! That’s 3/5ths of Ringkampf (I still count Thatcher as Ringkampf) and last year's tournament winner! Lucky Kid definitely earned that tournament win. Kid also entered this years Super Strong Style 16 and Battle of Los Angeles tournaments, both of those winners actually follow him, but he fell in the first round of SSS 16 to Jordan and the first round of BOLA to A-Kid. If he had gotten out of the first round of either of those tournaments, then he would have been higher on this list. I think we will see him with championship gold again soon, or we may even see him pop up in an NXT UK ring at some point next year.
23) David Starr
Here’s a guy that I don’t think a lot of people are talking about. This year, Starr won the Super Strong Style 16 held by Progress, earning a championship match against then Progress Champion, WALTER. Just like Lucky Kid before him, Starr had a rather interesting route. After he defeated Artemis Spencer in the first round, he and Travis Banks would fight to a double count out in the second round. Instead of advancing the person that Starr and Banks would have faced in the semifinals to the finals, Progress made it a triple threat between Starr, Banks and Ilja Dragunov. Starr would win that and go on to beat Jordan Devlin in the finals. One of the most anti-WWE guys just won a tournament in a company that has a rather strong working relationship with WWE. The question on everyone's mind going into Chapter 95 was if David Starr could finally defeat WALTER, and this time take his Progress Heavyweight Championship? The answer would be no because an opportunistic Eddie Dennis would cash in a #1 contenders contract that he had won at last years Chapter 76 to win the title. This loss wouldn’t deter Starr as he would then make a run to the Battle of Los Angeles finals, picking up wins over Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin and Jeff Cobb in the process. He would be eliminated first in the triple threat final by Jonathan Gresham, and Bandido would win the tournament. As one of the many wrestlers that are remaining loyal to the independent wrestling soil, it will be interesting to see what 2020 brings for David Starr.
22) Bandido
He won the Battle of Los Angeles tournament held by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, he was in the Best of the Super Juniors, and he put on one of the matches of the year with Will Ospreay at WrestleCon. Let’s start with the match with Ospreay. While Bandido had become a name in the Mexico independent scene, not many American fans had gotten the chance to see him wrestle. He signed a contract to Ring of Honor, and fans started to get a taste. After three months of wrestling in front of an American crowd, Bandido got booked in the main event of WrestleCon on Wrestlemania weekend against Will Ospreay. On a card with the likes of Zack Sabre Jr. vs Shane Strickland (Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott), Rey Fenix vs Pentagon and So Cal Uncensored vs Best Friends, Bandido and Ospreay were the final match. They tore the house down and Bandido has been on fire since. He had a great showing in his first Best of the Super Juniors, posting an impressive 10 points. He would then go on to win BOLA, defeating Puma King (and enjoying a short reign as DDT IronMan Heavymetalweight champion), Dragon Lee and Brody King to make it to the finals. There he would outlast Jonathan Gresham and the aforementioned David Starr to pick up his biggest win to date. Now all that stands in his way of the PWG World Championship is Jeff Cobb. The most amazing thing is that Bandido is doing all of this while he is only 24 years old. If he is doing all of this at the beginning of his career, I can’t wait to see what else he has instore. I think that Bandido is someone that we’ll be talking about for a long time.
21) SANADA
Is SANADA on this list because I am a huge SANADA mark? Yes, absolutely. But there are more reasons for why he is on this list. This man may be the most under appreciated wrestler in the world. It almost seems impossible for him to have a bad match. Yes the Skull End is a bad finish, but everything before that is a work of art. He makes everything look so effortless in the ring. His year started off well with him and EVIL winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships for the second time at Wrestle Kingdom 13. Despite losing the titles to the Guerrillas of Destiny, SANADA kept on pursuing the singles success that he has yet to find in New Japan. He would enter the New Japan Cup and get victories over Hirooki Goto, Minoru Suzuki, Colt Cabana and Hiroshi Tanahashi to reach the finals. The only person between him and the main event of the G1 Supercard of Honor in Madison Square Garden and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship? The Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada. The two would put on a 33 minute classic that saw Okada get the win. SANADA would look to rebound in the G1 Climax, but was unable to win the tournament. He did earn a victory over Kazuchika Okada, which would set up another 30 minute classic between the two, where Okada was once again victorious. Now participating in World Tag League yet again, and rumored to not be under contract anymore, who knows how much longer we will see SANADA in a New Japan ring.
20) Shingo Takagi
You can’t just have someone run through their entire Best of the Super Juniors block undefeated and not expect me to talk about them! Before he came to New Japan, I knew very little about Shingo Takagi. But when I saw my first Shingo match, I was a fan. Despite him and BUSHI losing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom 13, you could tell that there were big plans for Shingo in New Japan. Enter the Best of the Super Juniors A Block. Shingo ran through everyone that was put in his way. SHO, Titan, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Marty Scurll, Dragon Lee, TAKA Michinoku, Tiger Mask, Jonathan Gresham, Taiji Ishimori, all felt the wrath of the Rampage Dragon as Shingo would go on to post 18 points and earn a spot in the finals. The undefeated Shingo Takagi seemed to have nothing in his way of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, then Will Ospreay happened and 5 star match followed. Defeated, Shingo didn’t hang his head in shame. He wanted competition and he got it in Satoshi Kojima at Dominion. After beating him, Shingo demanded to be in the G1 Climax. He got his wish and was put in the tournament. Takagi was pushed in the tournament, only managing to score eight points, but the experience was valuable to him as he was a fringe junior heavyweight already. Now (possibly, with New Japan it is hard to tell) as a member of the heavyweight division, Takagi finds himself participating in World Tag League with El Terrible. It will be interesting to see what next year holds for Takagi, especially as he finds himself in a new division.
19) RUSH
Bit of a Los Ingobernables run here, but man has Rush looked good since coming to Ring of Honor. As a member of the CMLL Roster, Rush was a founding member of the Los Ingobernables stable with La Sombra (Andrade), La Mascara, Marco Corleone and Tetsuya Naito all the way back in 2014. However, he was never able to get passed being in the promotions tag team ranks. A highly sought after “free agent” in the world of pro wrestling, Rush signed with Ring of Honor in late 2018. My first time seeing Rush compete was at the G1 Supercard, where he squashed Dalton Castle in 15 seconds. I instantly wanted to know more about this wrestler who had just squashed the promotions world champ at that time last year. Rush would bounce around various independent promotions, CMLL, ROH, and New Japan before ROH finally pulled the trigger and made him the top guy in their company. He would win the ROH World Championship from Matt Taven at Death Before Dishonor, under a year since he had been signed by the company. After successful defenses of the championship against Silas Young and Jeff Cobb, Rush has continued a very impressive streak, as, to my knowledge, has not been pinned or submitted since coming to ROH. Now given how things are being run backstage at those shows, who knows how much longer he will be a part of that roster. If he stays, I think we continue to see the dominant Rush that we have grown accustomed to seeing.
18) Matt Taven
He was always the bridesmaid, never the bride. But on April 6th in one of the most historic wrestling arenas in the world, Matt Taven was finally the bride. Taven finally won the Ring of Honor World Championship at the G1 Supercard of Honor in Madison Square Garden in a triple threat ladder match with Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll. Taven was able to turn back the challenges of Flip Gordon, PCO, Mark Haskins, Jeff Cobb and Alex Shelly before losing the championship to Rush at Death Before Dishonor. One of the hard things to do with Taven’s reign is that he is the leader of The Kingdom stable, and is hard to book. I think Ring of Honor did a good job of it, and did something very important. With a lack of name draw outside of Lethal, Scurll, Rush and Bandido, they needed to make more stars. They did that with Matt Taven with this championship run. Taven had been with the company for nine years and he was finally getting a title shot and he made the most of his opportunity. Hopefully this is the start of Taven being a staple in the main event scene, and The Kingdom being a feature of the promotion.
17) Chris Jericho
Now, now, now. Before all the AEW fans go crazy, go back and look at my criteria. To be in the top 10 of the year, you have to wrestle the full calendar year. Chris Jericho has wrestled 11 matches. To draw a comparison Liger, who the number 30 entry on this list, has wrestled 101 matches. That being said, there is no doubt that Jericho is a great wrestler. He is one of the greats and has once again reinvented himself. While Inner Circle Jericho isn’t my favorite, it still has been pretty decent. After not wrestling since Wrestle Kingdom 13 against Tetsuya Naito, Jericho was able to defeat Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing and earned a spot in a match to crown the first AEW World Championship match at All Out against Adam Page. Jericho was victorious and is still the AEW World Champion. It will be interesting to see where Jericho goes from here. It’s something that’s going to be interesting to follow as their is a lot of time between big AEW shows, so it will be worth watching to see just how much we see Jericho wrestle, and what he can still do in the ring.
16) Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano has had a very short year, only having 33 matches. But all of those matches were good and he won some championship gold along the way, but they were never long reigns. Gargano would win the NXT North American Championship from Ricochet at Takeover: Phoenix, but would lose it four days later to Velveteen Dream. However, after that match, we saw a reunion that we thought we wouldn’t see for a long time. Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa reunited and reformed #DIY. They would go to Raw and Smackdown as a part of a new superstar initiative thing, and they would enter the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but would fall in the semifinals to Aleister Black and Ricochet. After that loss, Gargano would turn on Ciampa and return to being a face. It seemed like they were setting up for the final Gargano vs Ciampa match at Takeover New York, but that would not be the case due to Ciampa needing neck fusion surgery. Ciampa would relinquish the NXT Championship, and that would set up a match between Gargano and Adam Cole for the vacant title in a best two out of three falls match. After falling behind 1-0, Gargano would tie things up at one a piece before finally reaching the mountaintop, as Johnny Takeover would finally become NXT Champion and be the first wrestler to complete the NXT Triple Crown. The reign would be ended quickly as Gargano would drop the title to Cole at Takeover XXV just two months later, and failed to win it back at Takeover Toronto in another two out of three falls match. Gargano is missing the final portion of this year due to a neck injury, but as he stated that he is NXT for Life, it will be interesting to see what else he can do for the black and gold brand.
15) Tommaso Ciampa
Wherever Johnny Gargano goes, Tommaso Ciampa isn’t far behind. Ciampa started the year as NXT Champion, and got off to a fast start, becoming the first person to pin Aleister Black cleanly since Black came to NXT at Takeover: Phoenix. Then came the reunion with Gargano, and the aforementioned neck fusion surgery. After being out of action for six months, Ciampa returned on October 2nd and confronted NXT Champion Adam Cole. This set in motion the main event of War Games, Team Ciampa (Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominic Dijakovic and a mystery partner (Kevin Owens)) vs Undisputed Era. In only his fourth match back from a possible career threatening surgery, Ciampa was in one of the most dangerous match types. Not only did Ciampa win, but he also hit a huge Air Raid Crash off the top of the cell through two tables on Cole for the win. You wouldn’t know that Ciampa had neck fusion surgery six months ago, as he looks like he hasn’t missed a beat in the ring. I am curious how long he will be in NXT, but I am excited to see where his feud with Adam Cole goes.
14) AJ Styles
He is one of the best wrestlers in the world, so Styles is always going to be in the discussion for the wrestler of the year. Styles had a bit of a quiet start to the year. After dropping the title to Daniel Bryan, Styles would fail to win it back at both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Styles would then move into a feud with Randy Orton and would get back to his winning ways with a win over Orton at Wrestlemania. After three years of him being the face that ran the place for Smackdown, it was time for Styles to make a move and he headed over to Raw in the Superstar Shakeup. He immediately got a Universal Championship match, but lost to Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank. After that, it was time for a change. We saw AJ Styles turn heel after winning the United States Championship from Ricochet at Extreme Rules, and reuniting with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Styles hasn’t looked back since, as he defended his title against the likes of Ricochet, Braun Strowman, Cedric Alexander and Humberto Carillo before dropping the title to Rey Mysterio. Styles has said that the three year deal that he has signed with WWE will be his last, and with half of a year already gone from it, the question becomes what does Styles have left to prove? He has yet to win the Intercontinental Championship, the Universal Championship, and the Royal Rumble match. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more gold and a Wrestlemania main event in the future for Styles.
13) Tetsuya Naito
Has the booking of Tetsuya Naito in 2019 been inconsistent? Yes, but that is nothing new to fans of New Japan. Naito got his year started the year strong, winning back the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 13. After a successful defense against Taichi at New Beginnings in Sapporo, Naito entered into the New Japan Cup but got a horrible draw. He had to go against Kota Ibushi in the first round, and fell to his long time rival. With the loss, that meant Ibushi had earned an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. We would get Ibushi vs Naito at the G1 Supercard, where Naito would lose the championship. Naito would then win the title back at Dominion in a brutal match. It was then time for the G1 Climax and Naito looked to join the elite ranks of wrestlers that have won three G1’s. Naito had a bit of a tough road, but was able to be in the B Block final against Jay White. Naito would fall to White, preventing fans from seeing yet another chapter in the Ibushi vs Naito saga. Naito would once again have to defend the Intercontinental Championship against someone who had beaten him, and he would once again lose the title, as Jay White would take the title from him at Destruction in Kobe. With a rematch against White on the first day of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Naito could become a double champion if he beats White and advances to the champion vs champion match on the second day. Will we ever see Naito raise above the midcard level of New Japan? Fans want it, I want it, and Naito really should be a consistent main eventer for New Japan. If he doesn’t reach that in 2020, I think Naito needs a change of scenery.
12) Brian Cage
The beginning of the year was pretty slow for Brian Cage. He bounced around to a few different feuds in Impact and had appearances in many independent promotions, but April 28th, things changed when Cage won the Impact World Championship from Johnny Impact at Rebellion. Cage would then become a monster in the ring and become the dominant champion that we all knew he would be. He turned back challengers like Michael Elgin, JT Dunn and Sami Callihan. While he was Impact World Champion, Cage won the World Series Wrestling Tag Team Championships with Flip Gordon in Australia. While Cage had a mix of results, he was someone that helped kickstart wrestling fans to have an interest in Impact Wrestling again. He has since lost the Impact World Championship to Sami Callihan, and lost a five way match to determine the number one contender for Callihan at Hard to Kill. It will be something worth watching to see what is next for Cage in Impact Wrestling.
11) Bray Wyatt
What a difference five months can make. Before the turn of the calendar to 2019, Bray Wyatt was damaged goods. Fans had lost all belief in him and couldn’t get invested in his matches. Due to personal life, the birth of his son, and an injury, Wyatt had been out of action since December 2019. After Wrestlemania 35, we started seeing vintages of the Firefly Funhouse and Bray Wyatt. Fans at first were confused and not interested in it, but then things started to change. Fans got invested in it and started to look forward to the segments every week. It was then that we started to see flashes of The Fiend, and fans were wondering when we would see it in the ring. The answer was Summerslam against Finn Balor, and the unthinkable happened, Wyatt won. He would then move into a feud with Universal Champion Seth Rollins, and while the Hell in a Cell match is something that we aren’t going to talk about, The Fiend won the Universal Championship from Rollins at Crown Jewel. Add in a win over Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series, and Wyatt has enjoyed a five month undefeated streak and his longest championship reign of his career. It’s amazing to see what a few months off and letting a wrestler create a new character can do to a wrestlers career. It will be interesting to see who is the person to finally beat the Fiend and end what seems to be an unstoppable monster.
