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1. Eita (29, Dragon Gate) Being an Eita fan is a roller-coaster ride, as he goes through long periods of ups and downs depending on how motivated he's feeling in that particular year. In 2016 he looked like one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world and one of the next big breakout stars, but in 2017 and 2018 he looked completely demotivated and was coasting completely on his natural charisma. Luckily in 2020 he seems to be fulfilling the promises of 2016 with the change in Dragon Gate management and he has been putting in a ton of hard work that's paid off big for him. Dude has essentially been the linchpin of an entire promotion this year. He's delivered in every big match they've put him in, and his Dream Gate match against Doi was not only the best performance of his career, but also one of the best performances of a singular wrestler I've seen all year. 2. YAMATO (39, Dragon Gate) Despite taking a back seat to the main event mostly in 2020, YAMATO's still my wrestling husbano, and he excels at every aspect of professional wrestling. World-class worker, insane charisma, great talker, and incredible look. He was a key part of the match that got me into Dragon Gate, and he's grown on me more and more over the years until one day I suddenly realized he was one of my all-time favorites. 3. Keisuke Okuda (29, Dragon Gate) Okuda came into Dragon Gate in 2019 and immediately started mouthing off to Mochizuki and had some killer introductory matches with the old man that put him right on my map of guys to watch out for. He had a cool look and a hard-hitting pseudo-MMA style that made him stand out from the rest of the guys in Dragon Gate, and in 2020 he found a perfect counterpart in Kaito Ishida, with whom he had the best feud of year. Dude's put in a ton of work to meld himself with Dragon Gate and I think it's paid off well, as he's always one of the most interesting men whenever he shows up on camera. 4. Ben-K (29, Dragon Gate) Dragon Gate's wunderkid, who paved the way for the company's current crop of seemingly-endless 20-something wrestling prodigies. Essentially what would happen if you combined Brock Lesnar with Goldberg and put him in a cruiserweight's body, Ben-K has a "big deal" aura around him that he backs up with excellent performances in the ring every time he's given a featured spot on the card. If he can lean back on his tendency to take really stupid bumps and also avoid situations like the unfortunate KO he received at Final Gate, he's probably going to be on my top ten list for many years to come. 5. BxB Hulk (40, Dragon Gate) My boy BxB Hulk. The reason I started following Draon Gate. Even though he's a shadow of what he used to be and his shoulder is held together by duct tape and prayer at this point, he's still capable of pulling out decent matches and he's very clearly having a ton of fun as a heel teaming with KAI as giant shitheads. And hell, I'm having a ton of fun watching him have fun. 6. Susumu Yokosuka (42, Dragon Gate) Dragon Gate's quite workhorse, he's secretly one of the best workers in the world, with the most dramatic lariat in the business. Even though 2020 was relatively quite for him, after a fantastic run as Brave Gate champ in 2019, his Dream Gate match with Doi right before the first COVID lock-down was a masterclass of two veteran workers going all in on an exciting psychological match, and his Twin Gate challenges against the Lee/Minoru team were two of the best tag matches in a year filled with great tag wrestling. 7. Riho (23, AEW) Pretty much the only woman in AEW's women's division I really want to see, while she was here in the states she single-handedly made that division worth watching and her absence has been really felt. Incredible babyface fire, her ability to generate sympathy and support is pretty much unrivaled in the entire business. Hopefully 2021 will lead to more of her in AEW. 8. PAC (34, AEW) The total package and most interesting person in AEW's men division. Coward Tony better give him the belt sooner rather than later. 9. MJF (24, AEW) The young guy in AEW who feels like he has the highest ceiling. MJF is the best talker in the company and his matches against Jungle Boy and Mox show that he 100% can go in the ring. After PAC he's the guy I most want to see be successful in western wrestling. Sky's the limit for him. 10. Kzy (34, Dragon Gate) The last two years have really solidified Kzy's position in Dragon Gate and he fills a giant Akira Tozawa-sized hole in my heart. One day his long-suffering fans will see him win the Dream Gate but until then we'll have to be content with one of the best babyfaces in the business operating at a high level consistently.
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Jan 4, 2021 21:15
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 12:16 |
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Glad to do my part with my contrarian takes.
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Jul 4, 2021 16:55
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