Gunther broke both the 30 man Royal Rumble record and the Intercontinental Title record and had some great matches. That earns Wrestler of the Year in my book.
Honestly my sleeper pick for this is Dirty Dominik Mysterio. Yeah granted he isn't having the best matches you'll ever watch or had a groundbreaking title run or anything, but in terms of growth--in confidence, in wrestling ability, in character--from start to finish this year he's got to have made the most. His heat is astronomical and his ability to get a crowd engaged has been consistent from start of year to finish which is no mean feat. His mania program with Rey, working all three brands at once for months in the mid-year, he's been a reliable hand and brilliant heel all year and I think his growth and crowd reaction earns him a top spot
He's had 2 great matches. Fewer than anyone on the top 10. Character wise you can make a case, but this is holistic. He doesn't wrestle good enough often enough to make the cut.
I feel like everyone has forgotten about Athena. She has had an incredible year imo, and is definitely the best female wrestler of 2023. She 100% deserved to be on the list.
I dont think Kenny Omega should have been in the top 5 of 2023 due to him being off tv so much but it's wild to me that his two matches with Ospeay alone didn't get Omega in the top 10.
I would personally have Dom in at least the top 15. He's been a workhorse, improved massively, and became the first person the main event all 3 weekly shows in one week. Consistent heat and improving ring skills won me over.
It's a mark list voted by marks just like Wrestling Observer awards. So of course someone who doesn't do marathon matches or doesn't do flips is not on the list.
I have to say im surprised, that adam page didn't get any nominations. On top of the swerve feud he also had that emotional feud with moxley in the beginning of the year, that turned into the elite vs blackpool combat club in yhe beginning of the year.
This doesn't even work when his number one choice was Roman Reigns lmao. He said what he said about Cassidy because it followed up Jey Uso, who he believes should not be in the Top 10. Its basic understanding and not AEW stan lmao
Honestly... just wanted to drop this in... Roman would be more of a dominant champion if he WAS dominant in his matches. He always relies on interference and in the beginning of his reign, he was more dominant in his matches. Now, if not for the rest of the Bloodline, he would've lost that championship way earlier.
Would love to see you guys do one more "of the year" show, where you include a bunch of small categories and just rip through them quickly without going so deep into the discussion (or, you could go deep if you wanted to!) for things like most improved wrestler (since you kind of can't do a rookie of the year in wrestling) best angle, best entrance, best segment, best character work, etc. Put em all together in one video like the annual awards pre-show, and just make it a fun reminder of a whole bunch of awesome things that happened through the past year.
In case there's any random hate comments, there are no specific criteria for the list and it is an average of multiple top 10 lists from many people at wrestletalk.
For me Ospreay, MJF, Gunther and Sami Zayn are my nominations for wrestler of the year, a great year for them Edit: can't believe I almost forgot Dom Dom, I think he's had an incredible year
Putting Swerve because of what of what he’s done since September at 6 while Roman is a 10 because he hasn’t done much since August is insane. For context that means Swerve has had a better year because of his body of work in around a 3 month span over what Roman did at the Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Wrestlemania, MITB, Summerslam, and Crowned Jewel.
Roman reigns has cooled down significantly this year, and Swerve has been catapulted into stardom. It’s downward trajectory versus upwards trajectory. Swerve is over as all hell. Think it makes a lot of sense they were put into their positions. Plus, Prince NaNa’s gotten him over too with his hilarious and stupid dancing. He just has so much more going for him than Reigns
@@XinwithanX That's recency bias lol. Of course Swerve is gonna have more going for him since Roman is barely on TV. Swerve has had a great couple of months but Roman's peaks earlier this year is considerably more significant than Swerve's peaks. Swerve has definitely in top 5 for AEW for me though.
@@stevenjoseph6048 being barely on tv is part of the criteria unfortunately, at least for me. Roman hasn’t has screen time to keep himself hot. Swerve is HOT, and has solidified himself as a Main Event player in one of the best matches of the decade against Page. Sorry, but i just think Swerve had a better year
@@XinwithanX I see what you’re saying but its best wrestler of the YEAR, and Roman has had a far better year than swerve. Let’s not forget about the road to wrestlemania and mania itself. Roman has made the biggest moments of the year while swerve did not much of anything for like nine months of the year
The year of mjf is one of the best. begining as the most f u heel and end up as beloved face is amazing character work. and the adam cole mjf stuff was one of the funniest and interesting stuff this year and the matches he's had this year were phenomenal. But holy shit osprey matches were insanely good and the kenny matches were the best all year❤
My top 10: Honourable Mention to Sami Zayn, Ilja Dragunov, Mascara Dorada, and both members of the tag team of the year, Astronauts (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura) 10. Jon Moxley 9. MJF 8. Darby Allin 7. Swerve Strickland 6. Bryan Danielson 5. Christian Cage 4. Athena 3. Orange Cassidy 2. Will Ospreay 1. Gunther
Only people who I would say should’ve gotten some recognition would be some of the nxt guys like ilja, melo, Wes or mike bailey but that definitely has to do with eyes on them
Mine would be 10. Samoa Joe 9. Will Osprey 8. Cody Rhodes 7. Swerve Stickland 6. Roman Reigns 5. Gunther 4. Christian Cage 3. Jey Uso 2. Orange Cassidy 1. MJF
Eddie fkn Kingston… should be there next year as he was robbed this year… Honourable mentions: Mike Bailey Ricky Starks 2024: possible sleeper picks based on projections for a top 15 Kyle fletcher Damien priest Dominik Takeshita Julia hart Athena MCMG Vikingo Tiffany Stratton
Would be nice if like the Ballon D'Or all the votes from people were made public, Luke seemed very hesitent to reveal someone's vote but what exactly is there to hide it's hardy someone's credit card details? 😂
@@muhammadHassan-kj1jy While I don't disagree there are far too many weirdos that can't handle an opinion nearly every channel, including WT, does best of lists all the time so how would this be different
@@jamescurrall9341 no reason to add unnecessary that to that person's day. The toxic fans is unfortunately par for the course when you do this job, but avoiding it whenever it's avoidable seems to be a good idea.
I think it’s a very accurate list I think these are ten best wrestlers right now & it shows how great & healthy both WWE & AEW are right now half the list was WWE guys with Roman Jey Sami Cody & Gunther. While the other half was AEW guys like Cassidy Bryan Swerve MJF & Osprey. Only two things I’d charge is I’d rank Roman higher than Jey & Gunther higher than MJF I agree on Will being the best wrestler right now. Solid list shows how great & healthy the industry is. WWE & AEW being great means everyone wins
What if Oli's booking is right... Cody vs Roman at mania 40, Cody hits Roman with a, 4th or 5th cross rhodes falls to the floor reaching for the cover. Damian Priest comes down and actually cashes in on the match attempts to pin roman which would of got him the win but Cody broke it up and it leads to Roman beating Damian and costing Cody his 2nd Chance. To me that is the only way Cody can actually lose without costing his momentum with the fanbase. I call this Heist of the Century gone wrong
No matter how you look at it.. Cody losing in anyway, getting pinned or not.. he will lose momentum because this would be the 2nd time he's failed to finish the story. After this people aren't going to give 2 shits since it's been going on already too long.
It's great on paper but there is such thing as too long. You're asking your fanbase to have the patience of a zen monk YET AGAIN, while asking them to trust you for yet another whole year to keep BOTH Cody and Roman (who is VERY quickly running out of opponents) interesting, it's just too much.
@@thegreenpianist7683 yeah I agree. I'm not saying that this idea is by any means a good idea or that they should do however I can see them wanting Roman to take Hogan's record and this idea is to me the only way they can do it that does the least damage to Cody although you could easily argue it instead damages 3 people with Cody losing momentum, fans even more fed up of Roman's reign, and having another wasted MITB and priest not getting a world title which honestly I think he deserves
Will Ospreay and it isn't even close. Omega (x2), Jericho, Alexander, Bailey, Cardnoa, Marufuji, ZSJ, Shingo, Okada, Shota, Tsuji. The only ones he hadn't wrestled were any on the WWE roster of course, MJF, Danielson, Moxley and a few out with injuries.
@@Nitemerican Maybe the best in WWE but unless he can do what he does in WWE across the globe, which mind you I think he can, you cannot put him the conversation IMHO. Also I cant think of a single MOTY for Gunther but Will has at least two.
I look forward to these episodes, and how excited Luke gets by his stats every year, especially since im stuck in qaurantine for the week and maybe Christmas this year.
I don't really watch AEW so can't really comment on those guys much, but i did watch Double or Nothing and MJF stood out for me as easily the best thing on that show so I can see why he's as highly rated on this list as he is. For me Gunther was number 1 this year. every time he's on screen I'm interested in what's happening, either because he's having another absolute banger of a match, or because we're setting up who he can batter next. I was one of those guys who didn't "get" Gunther, but throughout this year his consistent excellence has completely turned me around on him.
Gunther is my. #1 and I don't quite think it's particularly close Osprey is 2 in fairness. I just don't give osprey more points because he did well in every promotion vs Gunther being in 1 and still having 5 stars as often and arguably on a bigger stage.
Great vid guys. I really miss these types of videos. Miiss your reviews of all the weekly shows. Now it seems just a show of..."We've heard this wrestler farted in public. Need an exposé." Have a great day.
Can't believe I just realized this, but no Athena mentioned in this! ROH separation really hits hard I guess. Next year she should be in it if she keeps it up. Also, maybe too complicated, but thoughts on a men's and women's list with a final short list made from them? Using the 5 to 1 rubric for submissions, but also use a bit of the NXT Year End Awards how they have Men's and Women's winners and then the better of those is Superstar of the Year.
I love Will Ospreay. He is the most talented wrestler in the world right now (and possibly of all time) but 2023 was Gunther's year imo. Iron Man rumble performance, broke IC record, had the best match of the WrestleMania weekend and has put on banging matches week in, week out on free TV.
His enterance is over but his "joker" gimmick was outright awful. Him ditching it to be a more serious edged champ as we have seen with Shin, Drew and Punk is exactly what he should have done a long time ago.
I really enjoyed the show. I just think that it's sad that Rhea isn't in the top 10 and Cassidy is. What a weird world. And Gunther should be number one every year.😁
I mean it makes sense to me. Rhea has only had one great match this year, and the Rumble. I can’t think of a single highlight she’s done since winning the title
@@LordBlakeWhitehouse I understand your point. However, it's not Rheas fault that she has no believable competition. WWE keeps throwing these opponents at her that are in no way believable contenders for her. But still, she is doing her hardest to make others look better. Her selling and facial reactions are amazing. She's believable as a heel badass. She's over as any top guy. She is awesome in every way possible. Just because her competition isn't as good as it should be, it's not her fault. And to think that Cassidy is having the same indy style goofball match where he kicks out of everything and nothing means anything. And Cassidy is in the top 10? It's really sad.
I love how they justify none of them putting women's wrestlers on their lists as "oh it was the company's fault". Like Even I could put at least 4 women on my list, Statlander; julia hart; rhea;. For the choices to be completely up to them and they still don't put women on their lists shows how much empty lip service their complaints are. Does the booking need to improve? Absolutely. but c'mon wrestletalk, put your money where your mouths are.
Athena has been the best female wrestler all year and it hasn't really been that close. If they spent half as much time listening to people telling them "Hey, this Athena ROH stuff is worth a look" as they have complaing about every single thing TK does with ROH, they would know it too.
@@derekebert8819 Not really it's all copy and paste with Roman. Name one match this year he has won without interference? He's playing a character of dominance and being a great leader and he can't win clean. It's boring watching matches knowing someone has to interfere just so he can win. I would rather it be he beats at least a few on his own.
@@reeslj1757 I will say that the interference in his matches has become tedious and overdone but at the same time every match that Roman is in feels like the most important thing in the world. Roman creates the biggest moments in wrestling as well as having amazing promo segments
Man when I was on number two and you guys hadn't said someone who didn't make the top 15, i was worried he was going to be the top 1. Just happy he didn't win. (I won't say who for spoiler reasons)
I feel strongly that Orange is too low. Way too low. NO ONE has been as consistent as OC. Actually no one, he's like Moxley last year but with even more matches somehow.
Can’t say I’m surprised there are no women in the top 10 given for all the reasons you guys mentioned but if you look back there were some great women’s matches worth highlighting (maybe in its own top 10 list???) - the Bianca/Iyo match at Backlash was incredible as was Rhea/Charlotte at Wrestlemania! Give them some love despite the overall booking being less than great
Where Luke is correct: Both companies did poor to bad with the their women's divisions. Where Luke is wrong: "AEW did way worse (at above)". Rhea is very over, despite her booking. The most talked about womens match has more to do with the atmosphere it was in (Backlash in PR). The back half the year I think AEW has done considerably the best of the entire year across both companies. Running with Toni, Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Statlander while the stories were hot, Shida staying a major player, the weakest point was Saraya's title reign and it was still connected to a good match with a great moment, also in front of an incredible atmosphere (All In).
