Ladies and Gentlemen we are heading into the top twenty names of 2013 in the world of pro-wrestling as decided by YOU!
Before you go any further be sure to check out:
#50-41
#40-31
#30-21
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| KUSHIDA & Alex Shelly: The TimeSplitters |
20. The TimeSplitters
When Alex Shelly left TNA nobody expected to see the Motor City Machine Guns in the TWF50 again. Shelly had other ideas though, and went about re-creating the team almost move for move, using Kushida as a substitute Chris Sabin, in New Japan. That's essentially who the TimeSplitters are, a current day Motor City Machine Guns.
The TimeSplitters entered the year as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag-Team champions and retained the title through to May when they lost the belts to the Forever Hooligans. At this point the two wrestled separately for a short period as Shelly entered The Best Of The Super Juniors Tournament. He reached the finals where he lost to Prince Devitt. Despite earning another opportunity at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles in September, an Alex Shelly back injury meant the team were kept apart for the end portion of the year. The two will re-unite for another shot at the titles at Wrestle Kingdom.
19. Kota Ibushi
In 2013 Kota Ibushi signed a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling and a contract with Dramatic Dream Team. It's the first two-promotion contract of it's type in Japan and should tell how highly he's thought of there. His highlights of 2013 include an unsuccessful challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at Wrestle Kingdom 7, being involved in the G1 Climax and putting on Tokyo Sports Match of the Year (and Wrestling Media Nation Match of the Year Contender) with Shinsuke Nakamura on day 4 of the G1 Climax.
18. Kevin Steen
After entering the year as ROH World Champion, a title he lost at SuperCard of Honor, Steen spent a portion of the year battling S.C.U.M. He reached the semi-finals of the ROH Word title tournament after Jay Brisco was stripped of the title. He's also part of The Mount Rushmore of Wrestling alongside Adam Cole and The Young Bucks.
17. Bray Wyatt
We talked about the Wyatts as a whole when they entered the TWF50 at the number 38 spot so seeing their leader much further up the rankings is actually a little surprising. Wyatt didn't make his debut in WWE proper until July, although the preceding month had seen a number of excellent vignettes tease his (and the groups) arrival. In between picking up an injury Bray Wyatts year has been split between a brief feud with Kane which WWE have since ignored and trying to draw Daniel Bryan into the Wyatt family.
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| Woooaaah, purely smoke & mirrors! |
When the history books are written on the career of Cody Rhodes, 2013 may well be the year remembered as his coming out party. He left the year as he entered it, as half of probably the most entertaining team in WWE, but what happened in between, specifically the latter half of the year, has helped establish Rhodes as one of the most interesting wrestlers in the promotion.
Up until July Cody was on-off partners with Damien Sandow as one half of Team Rhodes Scholars but after having the World Title Money In The Bank match stolen from him at the last by Sandow, the crowd were immediately behind him. A brief feud with Sandow followed with moments including Rhodes throwing Sandows briefcase into the Gulf of Mexico and then, one week later, handing that briefcase back to it's owner only for it to be revealed that Rhodes had stolen the contract it once contained being some of the most entertaining moments of the year.
The real highlight of the once Dashing Ones year though, came about because of a real life situation. Cody was getting married in September and WWE needed a way to remove him from TV for his honeymoon. The situation that played out on-screen to explain his absence was that Triple H fired him. This turned out to be the Wrestling Media Nations Angle Of The Year as both his brother (Goldust) and his father (Dusty) made attempts to get him re-instated. This situation turned into a brief (albeit excellent) feud with Triple Hs dogs of war, The Shield. The Rhodes brothers beat them twice, once at Battleground with their reinstatement on the line (that shows one saving grace) and again on Raw (with Big Show interfering in a no DQ match as retribution for being forced to knock Dusty cold at threat of losing his job) to win the WWE Tag-Team titles.
15. Bad Influence
(Top Placed Tag-Team)
As the highest placed tag-team in the TWF50, Bad Influence our Tag-Team of the year for the second consecutive year! Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian have that "it" factor that means that every segment they're in is must watch. Of course with the addition of Bobby Roode to the Extraordinary Gentlemens Organisation they have the literal It Factor too.
Its interesting to see that a team with no significant titles or victories during 2013 are still the highest ranked in the TWF50. Its undoubtedly a testament to just how entertaining the team is whether wrestling or not. Bad Influence ended the year in an angle with Joseph Park/Abyss.
14. Chris Jericho
Y2J hasn't been seen on wrestling television since mid-July, so ranking in at number fourteen in the TWF50 is a pretty impressive feat. It should be noted that Jericho is a perenial TWF favorite and does well in the listing every year he's eligible. This year he made his return to the WWE after a six months hiatus as the number two entrant in the Royal Rumble, a happening that ranked in as the runner up for our "I'm Markin' Out Bro" award. Jericho spent the time he was in WWE this year bouncing around upper-mid-card feuds with names like Dolph Ziggler and Ryback with his particular high point coming when he was the man to goad CM Punk back from his brief hiatus in June. Jericho also did his very best to make Fandango interesting but failed miserably.
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| The King of Strong Style |
Other than a period of less than thirty days Shinsuke Nakamura held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the entirety of 2013. His gimmick of what appears to be a drug-addled Michael Jackson-wannabe may be initially confusing for newcomers, but there is no denying his ridiculous level of talent when the bell rings.
In the WWE the Intercontinental title is a second tier championship at best, at Wrestle Kingdom, New Japans biggest show of the year, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match main-evented the show and went on last by decree of the fans. THAT should tell you how much you exactly what you need to know about the credibility Nakamura brings to the title and Pro-Wrestling in general.
His match against Kota Ibushi on day 4 of the G1 Climax was a TWF Match of the Year Contender and won the Tokyo Sports version of that award. Should the much expected Heavyweight title feud between Nakamura and Okada take place next year, expect the King of Strong Style to break into our top ten at the very least.
12. Austin Aries
During 2013 Austin Aries had a 76 day World Tag-Team Champion reign and won the X-Division title twice. That's not quite as impressive a title winning record as Chris Sabin (who ranked in at #44), but Aries did those things with much more panache and charisma than Sabin has ever mustered. For example, in one noteworthy incident he stole the entire wardrobe of Suicide in order to steal Suicides TNA X-Division title shot and the ability to take "Option C". He also reached the semi-finals of the Bound For Glory Series before being eliminated by the eventual winner, AJ Styles.
11. AJ Styles
It's been an interesting year for AJ Styles. TNA couldn't decide whether they wanted him to be Sting Circa 1997 or CM Punk Circa 2011 but The Phenomenal one did his best to pull both personas off and did a very credible job in the process.
As one of the best wrestlers of his generation AJ always does well in the TWF50. Admittedly, TNAs writing wasn't the best for either of the personalities they foisted on him in 2013 but the end result was that he was that for the past twelve months, he's been the most spotlighted wrestler in the second biggest promotion in the West.
AJs winning of the Bound For Glory Series, and subsequently the TNA World Title, may have been telegraphed by his year long ban from competing for the TNA World Championship, and he may now be an independent worker once more, but everything he did in 2013 commanded the viewers attention and he is more than worthy of his high ranking in this years TWF50.
Continued Tomorrow....
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