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hellopopculture · 2 years

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Top 20 Wrestlers of 2021 (Part 1)

Description: 2021 was one of the strangest years in recent memory as far as Pro Wrestling is concerned. The pandemic era in general has seen a lot of changes and to a certain degree the business and the products produced in it have not completely gotten back to normal. If you had told me in 2019 we would have Bryan Danielson & CM Punk at the same company and a heel Roman Reigns would be one of the most over guys in the WWE, I would've argued it down, I wouldn't have been able to fathom it but here we are.

5. Shingo Takagi-After dominating Dragon Gate as the top heel for a long stretch, Shingo Takagi showed up in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a much needed addition to LIJ in 2018. EVIL split in 2020 becoming a member of Bullet Club and although he got some championships and a pretty good singles run out of it, I don't think his turn made the impact that was expected. Bullet Club has struggled to find it's footing after losing The Elite (Kenny & The Bucks) and other high profile members like Marty Scurll, Adam Cole & Cody Rhodes but I think LIJ has had the same struggles. EVIL & SANADA's time in the tag division didn't make that big of a splash and Hiromu suffered a significant neck injury that took him out of action for quite some time. Bushi has always kind of been a role player and hasn't been able to stand out amongst the members of the stable and of course Naito is still Naito but they really haven't had another legitimate main event presence until Shingo showed up. Before he and Will Ospreay would become official heavyweights and leave the Junior division, they would began one of the greatest and most exciting rivalries of the era. Their match in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament in 2019 was the spark that lit the fuse. I think that was the moment the fans began to realize we had something here. They would meet again in other high profile matches the G1 Climax of 2020 and then again in the New Japan Cup of 2021 where he would fall to Ospreay in the finals. Ospreay would appear to have the lead in their rivalry but Shingo kept himself in the conversation when he won the World Heavyweight Championship by besting Okada in Osaka. For now, Shingo appears to have solidified himself as a top contender and while he's not exactly young, longevity is common in New Japan. At 39 years old, he could feasibly be a main stay in the rivalry for the ace spot for years to come. 4. Will Ospreay-I first discovered Will Ospreay working for WCPW which later became Defiant Wrestling and is now defunct. The first time I saw him work, I knew he was something special. Guys like him get a lot of flak for their more acrobatic style and Puroresu snobs don't like "flippy shit" in their wrestling but I think the majority of wrestling fans can enjoy his style for what is, and they can agree that he's a skilled worker.

He started bulking up in 2018 as he made his way to NJPW's heavyweight division. He toned his style down a little because he's not going to be young forever. All of those flips and acrobatic moves and throwing caution to the wind could cost him his health, so while he's still a highflyer...he puts more of his core strength into his work. He's been a championship collector all over the world since his early 20's and in 2021 at 27-28 years old, he didn't show any signs of slowing down.

Coming off of a big 2020 where he had finally captured the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship for the first time, which he still holds currently and his United Empire stable was formed in New Japan after he transitioned from under Kazuchika Okada as a member of Chaos, Will Ospreay set his sights on the IWGP World Championship and became one of it's 4 title holders since it's unification after he defeated Kota Ibushi in Tokyo at the NJPW 49th Anniversary Show.

Ospreay had a chance to leave NJPW and maybe seek bigger money and more recognition at WWE or maybe even AEW. Contracts aren't forever, but he has made it clear that NJPW is his home and he's built a legacy for himself in both the Junior Heavyweight Division and now in the Heavyweight Division after he's won the big one. The best part is with Ospreay being under 30 and people who work in Japan having so much longer of a life span in the sport because they work less dates and don't put a lot of wear and tear on their bodies, they can get so much more use out of him in years to come.

3. Kota Ibushi-Ibushi like Ospreay spent a lot of time as a Junior in NJPW but he also wouldn't commit to them fully. In 2019 he made it clear that he was at the company to stay, and they began working on his ascent to the top of the mountain. He didn't follow his long-time friend, Kenny Omega to AEW even after they reunited as "The Golden Lovers" and New Japan rewarded him heavily for it.

In 2019 he became the first wrestler in the history of the company to win the G1 Climax, the Best of the Super Juniors and The New Japan Cup. In 2020 he won the G1 Climax again and then in 2021 @ Wrestle Kingdom 15, he defeated Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental & Heavyweight Championship, making him a double champion. Those titles were unified in March, also making him the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion but he would lose that new title to Will Ospreay after he won the New Japan Cup.

After the departure of Kenny Omega and The Elite, New Japan has had to scramble and make new stars because they lost the new Ace's biggest rival and their strongest Gaijin heel stable was gutted. Ibushi choosing to stay in Japan and make his mark on NJPW was great for them because he's one of the best performers this company has ever seen, and he has history with a lot of their bigger names which will make for some great rivalries moving forward.

2. Kenny Omega-It can be argued that Kenny Omega deserves to be #1 on this list over Roman Reigns. Kenny has never had the massive corporate machine behind him in the sport but he's managed to keep his name relevant and in the midst of that "Best in the World conversation" for quite some time now. At the close of 2020, he defeated Jon Moxley to win the AEW World Championship and he not only became the focal point of that company's business but the focal point of several others as well. In April of 2021, Omega would add a 3rd World Championship to his name after he defeated Rich Swann to become Impact's World Champion. He had already been holding AAA's Mega Championship since 2019. AAA does big business in Mexico, so much so that WWE even being the largest pro wrestling company in the world and having huge international stars can't really compete with them on that front. When Omega vacated the title in November of 2021, he ended his reign as the longest reigning champion in the history of the title.

Indy wrestlers or guys who work promotions outside of the U.S. like Progress and NJPW are no strangers to winning multiple titles at the same time, but I don't think it's ever been done on this scale. Even when Cody Rhodes was both the IWGP United States Champion and NWA Champion, NWA didn't even have a home, their product wouldn't re-launch until 2019 when "NWA Powerrr" started airing on Youtube. Kenny doing all of this as a heel made him attractive opponent for babyfaces looking to make a name for themselves. That babyface would be Hangman Adam Page. It's not talked about often in Pro Wrestling any more what different characters actually gain by working with or against one another or what heels/babyfaces are supposed to contribute to their stories or to their peers in competition with them. Kenny's run doesn't have value because of what it did for him, he's already a legend on his resume alone but it has value for what it did for Page. He put him in the highest position he's ever been in his career.

1. Roman Reigns-If someone keeps giving you the ball, eventually you have to dunk it and that's exactly what Roman Reigns did in 2020 and continued to do in 2021. Roman became Vince McMahon's "golden boy" around late 2014-early 2015. Out of the members of The Shield it was evident that he was the Superstar Vince wanted to be the face of the company in the future. He had the look, he had the Pro Wrestling lineage, he was a solid worker and best of all in Vince's eyes, he was homegrown. He was the one member of that faction that Vince could take credit for. Seth Rollins as Tyler Black and Dean Ambrose as Jon Moxley already had careers in the business before they came to WWE. Roman was also the last member of the group to shed the image and the branding of the stable. While Dean Ambrose went for a more everyman look and Rollins went for a more superhero/vigilante style look as "The Kingslayer" and then later a supervillain look as the "Monday Night Messiah", Roman kept his typical look, the tactical vests and even the Shield theme music for the bulk of his time on the main roster.

Roman floundered as a babyface for years. He didn't get over organically with the fans. Many felt that everything he is was manufactured, he was a corporate created entity. For the boos we gave him, the fans suggested a heel turn but WWE wouldn't pull the trigger on it until Summerslam 2020. After allying himself with Paul Heyman, Roman Reigns set his sights on the Universal Championship, a title he vacated when the pandemic hit. His Leukemia put him at risk for COVID-19. Bray Wyatt had become "The Fiend" at this point and was in a heated feud with his former brother-in-arms, Braun Strowman. At Payback Roman would defeat them both, becoming Universal Champion for the 3rd time in his career. With the top title in the company in his possession he declared himself "The Head of the Table". He would later clash with his cousin Jey Uso while his brother Jimmy was out with a knee injury. This was the biggest moment of Jey's career because without his brother he was free to go out on his own and make a name for himself but Roman asserted his dominance over him even while getting him into main events and pushing him to his limits. Roman didn't want to beat Jey, he just wanted him to "acknowledge him"; to acknowledge him as his "Tribal Chief" and the head of the Anoa'i Family Table. When Jimmy returned to stand up for his brother, that put him in harm’s way and ultimately The Usos as a unit ended up bending to the will of Roman giving him what he wanted. At the close of his feud with Jey, Afa & Sika (Roman's Father & Uncle aka The Wild Samoans) would officially crown Roman the "Tribal Chief" as they placed the Ulafala around his neck.

With his family in his corner, forming the Bloodline, Roman would leave a trail of bodies behind him. The bodies of those who were gunning for the Universal Championship. He laid waste to the biggest stars on the SmackDown brand between 2020 and 2021 and killed the momentum of anyone who thought they were gonna knock him off his square, which included, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, John Cena, Montez Ford and even the Raw World Champions, Drew McIntyre and Big E.

Roman is undoubtedly doing the best work of his career. His promos seem more natural even though you know they are scripted; he's embraced the hatred he has received over the course of his career, and he has settled in to his first actual "character" since he's been on the main roster. He's been having stellar matches too. Usually, I would trash this sort of booking because there doesn't seem to be much benefit for anyone else but for the time being it is working. WWE is finally getting their wish. Roman has completely changed the perception of him in the eyes of some fans. He gets more positive reactions as a heel than he did as a babyface. He's maybe the biggest star of his generation and he continues to put eyes on the product and carry the flag for the company. For me, there is more value in the final payoff when he puts someone else over, but I can wait until they get to their destination.

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