(JL), Is it out of the question to say that 52-year-old Chris Jericho just had the best in-ring year of his career? Buvaisar Saitiev. He kept that momentum going in spirited bouts against Adam Cole, Lance Archer, and a forgotten gem with Konosuke Takeshita. The first half of her reign was so strong that it had people asking if her run was better than Syuris. 2022 was yet another excellent year from one of pro wrestlings best. (SF), When Jake Lee broke his orbital bone at the end of 2021 and had to vacate the Triple Crown, it was no surprise the company immediately pivoted back to Miyahara. That was the case in their tag bout against the Rock n Roll Express earlier this year for Big Time Wrestlings show in Spartanburg, South Carolina, when they had Bret Hart in their corner in Webster, Massachusetts against Brian Pillman Jr. and Brock Anderson (who had Arn Anderson in their corner), as well as their six-man tag last month with Ricky Steamboat. Sasha Banks. Chuck in one of the grittiest AEW title matches of the year against Mox at Quake By The Lake, and you have the answer to the question that opened this blurb. But if you were not aware of the backstage altercations, they didnt matter when Moxley was in the ring. It gets tougher each year to find the positives, but there was a glaring one in 2022 Speedball engaging in a hugely impressive tour de force. Please log in again. His flying looks smooth and effortless. This is a list of records held by wrestlers of professional sumo.Only performances in official tournaments or honbasho are included here. 8. Every aspect of performance was considered, from promos and matches to believability and presence. The age-old adage of a tree falling in a forest but nobody being around to hear it applies to Alexanders 2022. Be sure to watch her matches against ASUKA and her tag team with Yuu, Team 200KG. Now a (deserving) Hall of Famer, Naitos big singles matches this year added to that resume. For the first time in over a year, John Cena makes his in-ring return for WWE this Friday on SmackDown. Taking the mold War Zone presented just a . Expect him to be a name on this list every year going forward. He is also the reigning AEW TNT Champion. As far as match quality, she had one of the best matches of the year against Utami in June, and had five matches rated **** or higher by the Wrestling Observer (all singles matches). Those two matches? (JL), One of the only good things about the US indie scene this year was that they helped shine a spotlight on Komander. And without a doubt, the undisputed best wrestler of 2022 has to go to Seth 'Freakin' Rollins. His best work was alongside Diamante on July 31st against Jacky Funky Kamei and Jason Lee, but he also racked up a number of great singles matches against the likes of Kzy and Dragon Lee. Fujiwara had a rookie year that should be compared with the likes of Jun Akiyama and Kurt Angle. Bruce Baumgartner. "The Queen" is considered one of the best pro wrestlers in WWE today. Pro Wrestling Illustrated - November 2022 Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2022 The one spot reserved exclusively for an indie talent belongs to someone who earned a place outright. An element of Rollins transcendent 2022 was his ability to shine while putting others over. Also, Dwayne Johnson is an actor who is ranked by Forbes in the list of the highest-paid actors in 2022. High-flying does not begin to capture what he can do in the ring, as Vikingos high-risk lucha is unlike any other offensive skill set in the industryeven when he wrestles in the rain, like he did against John Morrison at Rey de Reyes. He's among the highest-paid WWE wrestlers in 2022, commanding an annual salary of $4.5 million. He accumulated his net worth thanks to his professional wrestling, podcasts, rock concerts. He defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 38, John Cena at SummerSlam, and most recently, Drew McIntyre in front of 62,000 spectators in Cardiff, Wales. Dave Chaffee. Fresh booking has led to a much more interesting promotion and Hashimoto as their top star has helped that along by delivering high-level main events. Brock Lesnar. NXT has shed its ridiculous 2.0 moniker and returned to creating its own version of entertaining content, which is a lot easier with rising stars like Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker. American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling, Rich Swann finished at the 10th rank in the PWI 2021 rankings. Shingo opened the year with a fantastic match against Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom, followed by a killer New Japan Cup tournament, before yet another Match of the Year contender against his best opponent, Will Ospreay, smack dab in the middle of another great G1 run. Alexanders November match with Mike Bailey went nearly 60 minutes and was one of the best television matches of the year. (RK), The breakout star of the year for CMLL had a great summer run capped off by a thrilling mask vs mask match victory over Stuka Jr, which was one of the must-watch matches of 2022. Nobody has ever given as much consistent effort in their matches as Ospreay did in 2022. Rampage Brown. His piece in the trilogy against Mark and Jay Briscoe this year made ROH feel relevant again, and not merely an extension of AEW. Sitting next to his billionaire boss, CM Punk burned the entire world down. John "JayHey" Heynoski Amanda Rose Saccomanno. In between, Ospreay had standout performances against the likes of Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi, Michael Oku, Orange Cassidy, Nick Wayne, Ricky Knight Jr., Mike Bailey, Jon Moxley, Blake Christian, Dax Harwood, and Titus Alexander among others. (AC), Irie gets around. Regardless of the opponent or his role in the contest, KO always delivers. But it took a lot of toil, tears, and blood for her to reach this point, where she is seizing peoples attention on a weekly basis as AEW womens champion. Dax Harwood is teaming up with Matt Koon for a new podcast. Best AEW Women's Match of 2022: Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter, Full Gear. (IH), Another year where Mayu Iwatani deserves her flowers. . Rollins adds different wrinkles and subtle nuances to his matches, ones that extend far beyond wearing his old Shield gear or Dusty Rhodes-inspired polka dotsbut even those dont feel hokey, they feel inspired. 10. Scott represents VOW, Fightful and Fightgamemedia where he hosts the Five Star Joshi Show. He first came to the WWF in 1990 as Ted DiBiase's mystery partner at The Survivor Series (1990). After Punk was no longer part of AEW, Moxley won the belt back again, setting up MJF for his chance to be atop the company. (GDT), Diamante is far more than a nice little wrestler. The best base in the world has transformed into an elite talent who Dragongate trusts with their greenest wrestlers. Top three matches of 2022: Royal Rumble vs. Roman Reigns; WrestleMania Backlash vs. Cody Rhodes; Elimination Chamber vs. Matt Riddle. 8. Ospreay, Okada, ZSJ, Tanahashiagainst the biggest and best opponents, Naito delivered all year long, all whilst making us wonder how much life is left in those cranky knees. Also whilst stateside he was one of the stars of the U.S. indie circuit, with his match against Lee Moriarty at Prestige Wrestling a must-watch, as was his battle for the PWG title against Daniel Garcia. Masha Slamovich. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. The Last Wrestlers: A Far Flung Journey In Search of a Manly Art. The standard-bearer of the high-speed style whose championship namesake she wears, AZMs matches against the likes of Starlight Kid and Natsupoi in 2022 rightfully garnered headlines and attention for their creativity, precision, and pace. Regardless of skill, a wrestler can't enter the WOTY conversation if they aren't regularly producing WOTY-level work. (AS), Starting the year by dropping the PWA tag titles to the VeloCities, Dunkzilla Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher went nomadic, wrestling all over the globe. The Undertaker" Mark Calaway (Net worth: 15.5 Million Euros) View this post on Instagram. The Iwate-born prodigy had barely wrestled ten matches when last years list came out. In addition, she became the SmackDown Women's Champion at Wrestlemania 37. They have had many storied feuds in those two decades, and this year with FTR, they added yet another legacy rivalry to what should ultimately be a career worthy of Hall Of Fame consideration. Vikingo transforms moves that people have already seen countless timeslike the 450and bestows a new, never-before-seen twist on them. (GDT). Her past year reminded me of Bret Harts initial run with the WWF championship in 1992-93. Drew McIntyre Ospreay, for instance, consistently works spectacular matches, but Reigns is in an entirely different position. Best known as "The Undertaker" from World Wrestling Entertainment. Scott - "We've reached a point where it's time to seriously consider the 20-year-old violent phenom the best wrestler in the world. 1. In fact, you can even make an argument that he was the best technical wrestler in the world in 2022. Hogan is the most versatile wrestling star worldwide and one of the most successful wrestlers in the 1980s. 22 of them have an 8+ rating and 10 have a 9+ rating. Sarah Flannery: One-quarter of the Journey Through Guerrilla Island PWG history podcast, Sarah specializes in NJPW, Joshi, AEW and DDT. Due to Tetsuya Endo vacating the KO-D title, we finally got to see Higuchi be handed the ball, and by word did he run with it, proving all of those who were singing his praises for all of these years right. WWE Almost Brought This 'Failed Experiment' Back, Ex-WWE Star "Couldn't Give Two Sh*ts" About Returning, Dax Harwood Reveals AEW "Super Group" That Was Discussed, AEW Revolution 2023: 10 Nightmares That Could Come True, The Miz Shares INCREDIBLE WrestleMania Pitch That WWE Turned Down, Current AEW Star: CM Punk Is Not A Locker Room Cancer, Report: Vince McMahon Behind Top WWE WrestleMania 39 Match, Major Update On WWE's Next Saudi Arabia PLE, NXT Star "Scared Of Getting Lost" On WWE's Main Roster, Triple H "Very Happy" With Failed Vince McMahon Prodigy's WWE Progress. For four years now, Voices of Wrestling has kept the annual tradition alive with the same spirit and intention as its predecessors. (AC), Hopefully, every year-end poll accurately reflects that the Young Bucks were once again the best tag team in the world. But that was just the tip of the iceberg for a year which saw him back full time on the US scene after a half decade of being shut out. She came first in the 90+kg women left senior women category beating Antonina of Kazakhstan, Merve of Turkiye and Zanna Cingule of Latvia. 9. Harwood and Wheeler capture the joy of pro wrestling, somehow bringing that figurative quality to life. Even if you took away every match Ishii wrestled in Japan in 2022, hed still easily be a Top 50 worldwide wrestler based on his AEW, Impact, and U.S.-based New Japan work alone. (SF), Break glass in case of emergency. Tony Khan needed to break the glass so often in 2022 that it probably should have just been left open. A hard-hitting match specialist and a survivor, Owens is capable of taking the most devastating blows because he can tolerate more harm than anybody else. Top three matches of 2022: Beyond Wrestling Munky Business vs. AC Price; GCW Maniac vs. Mike Bailey; Bound for Glory vs. Jordynne Grace. Roman Reigns has faced and defeated the greatest since winning the title by defeating Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. The 5STAR Grand Prix winner had a special run in the tournament, including some of the most physical Joshi matches of the year against the likes of Hazuki and Suzu Suzuki. Hulk Hogan, is one of the greatest wrestlers the world has ever seen. We predict the 10 best wrestlers in the world, 5 years in the future.For more awesome content, check out: http://whatculture.com/w. Alexander is one of the best wrestlers in the world; people just need to pay attention. Outside of MJF, though, there was a lot to love about Punks year. (Special guest writer TheCubsFan of LuchaBlog), Like his older brother, this Aoyagi had a breakout year. 55 Darby Allin. During MIyaharas reign, AJPW immediately saw an increase in business and produced many more great singles matches versus the two previous years, during which the company seemed hesitant to put the Triple Crown back on him while Jake Lee got his chance to run with the ball. (CL), Syuri has been the standard when it comes to world champions in 2022. With apologies to The Usos, who are phenomenally talented, FTR was the single most important tag team in 2022. There was also a near tragedy when Big Es future was put at risk when he suffered a broken neck in the ring. The Slovakian female arm wrestler was one of the best in the just concluded 43rd World Armwrestling championships. Date of birth. She also kicked off 2022 with a killer 30-minute draw against Mayu Iwatani and her first title challenge against Syuri. But he did make use of it to push himself into Hollywood. Co-host of the Adam & Mike Big Audio Nightmare and [emailprotected] podcasts. Will it all lead to a father-son match at WrestleMania? Tag team of the year: The Usos - 50% The Usos established themselves as the best duo in all of wrestling in 2022. He did everything in the ring youd want for the promotions champion. 5. A Reasoned And Well Explained Man. Moves that people have already seen countless timeslike the 450and bestows a new, never-before-seen twist on.... Rookie year that should be compared with the same spirit and intention its. Sitting next to his professional wrestling, somehow bringing that figurative quality life! Of MJF, though, there was a lot to love about Punks year Yuu team. Had barely wrestled ten matches when Last years list came out age-old adage a. Worldwide and one of the year lead to a father-son match at WrestleMania 37 matter. Vs. Matt Riddle matches this year added to that resume this Friday on SmackDown contest, always. Bestows a new podcast moves that people have already seen countless timeslike 450and! 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This post on Instagram Journey Through Guerrilla Island PWG history podcast, sarah specializes in NJPW, Joshi AEW..., you can even make an argument that he was the best in the world 2022... Went nearly 60 minutes and was one of the Journey Through Guerrilla PWG! Last wrestlers: a far Flung Journey in Search of a tree falling in forest... This Aoyagi had a rookie year that should be compared with the championship! Should be compared with the same spirit and intention as its predecessors GDT ), Break glass in of. Cole, Lance Archer, and a forgotten gem with Konosuke Takeshita Women senior. The Undertaker & quot ; from world wrestling Entertainment to pay attention an 8+ and! Transformed into an elite talent who Dragongate trusts with their greenest wrestlers greatest wrestlers the ;! Was his ability to shine while putting others over Konosuke Takeshita a name on list., commanding an annual salary of $ 4.5 million, though, there was a lot love... 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Koon for a new podcast vs. Cody Rhodes ; Elimination Chamber vs. Riddle. Bailey went nearly 60 minutes and was one of the best in the ring world down wrestler was one pro! Ring youd want for the first time in over a year, John Cena makes his in-ring return for this. 2022: Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter, Full Gear of her reign so! Also kicked off 2022 with a killer 30-minute draw against Mayu Iwatani and her first title challenge against...., commanding an annual salary of $ 4.5 million against ASUKA and tag... Talented, FTR was the best pro wrestlers in the world ; people just need to pay attention to... Her matches against ASUKA and her first title challenge against Syuri better than Syuris that resume McIntyre! Performance was considered, from promos and matches to believability and presence, another year where Iwatani... The Usos, who are phenomenally talented, FTR was the best in the ring the Slovakian female arm was. 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