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The 411 Wrestling Top 5: The Top 5 Promotion Starting Stars
The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…
Week 339 – The Top 5 Promotion Starting Stars
If you were starting a promotion tomorrow, what five stars/acts would you start your company with. You may select ONE tag team/trio.
Kevin Pantoja
5. reDRagon – When building a promotion, I understand the need for each division to have figureheads. Starting with the tag team division, I thought it would be best to bring in what I consider to be the very best tandem in wrestling. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish have remarkable chemistry that allows them to consistently put on great matches. They are the only team in NJPW’s Jr. Heavyweight division that interests me. These two at the top of my tag division would instantly make it credible, while also ensuring there would be good to great matches. While Fish is up there in age, O’Reilly is still rather young. I could keep Kyle around after Fish leaves and he would be a valuable asset thanks to his accomplished work as a singles competitor. Win/win.
4. Zack Sabre Jr. – Originally, this spot was set for KUSHIDA. If I wanted a Jr./Crusierweight division, he was a top choice. Thinking it over though, I went with Zack Sabre Jr. instead. He’s younger and, even if I didn’t do a Cruiserweight division, he could be the top technician of my promotion, which is always something valuable. Sabre has spent the past few years showing the world that he is this era’s Bryan Danielson, taking over the role as the best technician walking the planet. He is incredibly enthralling to watch and can have great matches with just about anyone. That is perfect because it doesn’t matter if I get the very top talent in the world because Sabre would make it work either way.
3. Sasha Banks – There could be no other choice to spearhead my women’s division. I truly believe that Sasha Banks is the best American female wrestler and she’d be one of the best wrestlers, period on my roster. As a big fan of women’s wrestling, having a viable division there would be crucial to me. There are plenty of other names I’d look to pick up (Nicole Matthews, Cheerleader Melissa, Ivelisse to name a few), but it would all be centered around Sasha Banks. Also, being from the WWE, she has the name value to anchor it that a lot of other girls don’t. And if I ever decided to put on some intergender matches, I think Sasha could more than hold her own.
2. AJ Styles – For the very top of my promotion, I want the best of the best. AJ Styles fits that mold. He may be a bit old right now, but I honestly don’t think Styles has ever been better. His post-TNA run has been tremendous. Styles has gone from a very athletic guy that put on great matches, to an incredibly well-rounded performer that puts on excellent matches. He works so well as a babyface, and always has, but he showed in NJPW that he can play a heel almost as well. As noted with Sasha Banks, AJ Styles comes with name value. While he hasn’t been with the WWE for long, almost everyone knows his name and would pay to see him.
1. Seth Rollins – I was so close to naming John Cena my number one pick. He is the biggest name in pro wrestling, hands down, but if I was starting a company today, I’d choose Seth Rollins. I truly believe that he should be the guy the WWE goes with if there must indeed be one “guy”. Seth checks the box for every demographic. Women seem to like him. Kids would enjoy his aerial ability. Grown men and hardcore fans respect his skill in between the ropes. He comes with a long list of accomplishments, including a run as WWE Champion, some indy cred and is one of the best in the world at what he does, all while not even being 30 years old at the time of this writing.
Rob Stewart
5. American Alpha, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan – First off, I’m going to start with a self-imposed limitation. Just two weeks ago, we did a Top 5 listing our favorite current acts in wrestling, and I’m limiting myself to including guys that I DIDN’T place on that list, otherwise I think this could come off as a bit of a rehash for at least 2 or 3 spots. So no Balor, Nakamura, New Day, Enzo & Cass, or Matanza Cueto for me here. That said, I struggled a bit on this spot and kept typing out and backspacing my two choices, American Alpha and Pentagon Jr. Ultimately, I think that American Alpha was the superior choice not only because they bring instant tag team prestige, but it allows me to bring in two guys who should someday be able to slide seamlessly into solo careers. As a team, the duo is insanely over and just have an It Factor that is hard to describe. They are young, a lot of fun, and would be a great addition to my growing company.
4. Johnny Mundo – The erstwhile John Morrison is a bit old at 36 to be pegged as a guy to grow your company around, but he did wonders hovering around the main event for Lucha Underground in season 1 before settling into the upper midcard of season 2, and I think he could do the same the Stew World Order (… okay, so my promotion needs a better name, I get it. I’m no marketing expert; I’ll hire someone to get on that, don’t worry). He’s in fantastic shape, obviously, can really go in the ring, and is a very good heel character. We could certainly do worse here.
3. Sasha Banks – Obviously I’ll choose one of the best female wrestlers around for my promotion, and Sasha would be the best option there. I see building Sasha as a strong heel champion who takes on any and all comers. She makes the babyface challengers look like a million bucks while also scraping by with her title reign intact. Eventually, it should be a BIG DEAL when she finally drops the title, and it should set up the woman that beats her for life. In the meantime, she just puts on can’t-miss match after can’t-miss match.
2. Seth Rollins – Seth is an absolutely great talent who should be able to function perfectly as either a face or a heel or a ‘tweener without any problem. He is incredibly entertaining, he puts on fantastic matches, and he’s only 29 years old. WWE would be wise to build their product around him for years to come… and so would I.
1. Kevin Owens – The best heel in wrestling today. Owens in absolutely engrossing on the microphone and in the ring, and he knows to get heat as much as anyone. Just like Rollins, Owens combines elite talent with absorbing personality. And honestly? I really kind of want an uneasy heel alliance between Owens and Mundo where Johnny can’t stand Owens’ physique and Owens can’t stand Mundo’s pretty boy facade. I think that dynamic would be terrific.
Bradley Hargett
5. CM Punk – Seeing as the guidelines didn’t specifically state that our chosen acts must be active in the industry at this time, I feel like I absolutely have to list Punk. He is a personal top five favorite of mine and I believe he always was, and still would be a huge asset to any company.
4. Enzo and Cass – My one tag team choice is a no brainer. Enzo and Big Cass (Enzo more specifically) are so dynamic and they tend to be one of the best parts of any show they take part in. There are so many tag teams I could have listed in this spot, but coming from a pure entertainment standpoint, I have to give it to Enzo and Cass.
3. AJ Styles – AJ is a great wrestler, but more than that he is a likable character and I believe has the ability to be a key player in any promotion he takes part in. In fact, I think his track record post TNA has proven that.
2. Kevin Owens – Owens is a highlight of any show that he’s on. Everything from the mic to his ring work. A true asset.
1. John Cena – Love him or hate him, John Cena draws money. Despite the fact that he is now 38 years old, I believe his work has gotten better than it has been in years past. I truly believe that bringing him on board to any company is a no brainer.
Wyatt Beougher
5. Sasha Banks – Sasha Banks has the presence and ability of a main eventer, and since I’d make every effort to put women’s wrestling on equal footing with their male counterparts, Sasha is a no-brainer of a choice.
4. Shinsuke Nakamura – For this list, I opted to choose people who could highlight certain divisions within my hypothetical company – a women’s division, a tag team division, a world championship division, and so on. And while I wouldn’t keep Nakamura in the secondary title division, his run with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship showed me that there’s no one I’d want more to establish the upper midcard of my promotion and bring value to the secondary title.
3. El Dragon Azteca Jr/Prince Puma/Rey Mysterio Jr – I would actually handle my company’s tag team division a little differently than what fans are maybe accustomed to, as the tag team championship would be on par with the Women’s Championship and the World Championship, with any division capable of headlining any event. On top of that, with LU and WWE proving that American fans love Trios action (seriously, go back and look at the reactions to any six-man match the Shield were involved in, especially their matches against Evolution and the Elimination Chamber match against the Wyatt Family), the tag team division in my company would be defended in mixed trios and tag matches. If the champions were facing another trios team, it would be a six-person match; if they were facing a standard two-person tag team, then the Freebird Rule would be in effect. And if a two-person team won the belts, they would have an extra belt that they could either give to a third partner or just carry around and defend in tag team matches. With that said, I can’t think of a better team to spearhead the division than the current Lucha Underground Trios Champions, because you’ve got a mix of the past (Rey), the present (Puma), and the future (El Dragon Azteca, who I know is actually older than Puma, but he’s just breaking out in the US now). Plus, if the division was filled with mostly two-person tag teams, Rey could move into more of a managerial role, and Dragon and Puma could really cut loose.
2. The Wyatt Family – No promotion is complete without an imposing stable, and booked properly, the Wyatt Family could go down in history as one of the all-time greats. Between Bray’s charisma, Harper’s in-ring prowess, Rowan’s improvements, and Strowman’s size, the Family has everything you look for in a dominant stable.
1. Seth Rollins – When WWE started referring to Seth Rollins as “the future”, it initially felt like an excuse to give him a better nickname than “The Architect of the Shield”, but over the course of his run at the top of WWE’s card, he overcame terrible booking to demonstrate that he does have everything it takes to be the future of the company. Since I’m planning on my theoretical company to be around for a while, I put an emphasis on youth, hence why guys like AJ Styles didn’t appear on my list. Rollins typifies the all-around talent, charisma, and youth that you could build a promotion around, and that’s why he took my top spot.
List your Top Five for this week’s topic in the comment section using the following format:
5. CHOICE: Explanation
4. CHOICE: Explanation
3. CHOICE: Explanation
2. CHOICE: Explanation
1. CHOICE: Explanation
