wrestling / Columns
The 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards (Part Ten) – The Most Underrated Performers of 2021
Image Credit: AEW
Welcome back to Part Eleven of the 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards of 2021! The Year-End Awards have been out for a couple of years but they’re back, and here’s how they work. For the next couple of weeks, we will present our top choices for a particular topic relating to wrestling in 2021. All the writers here on 411 will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic and the end, based on where all of the votes rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…
1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1
Once everyone’s had their say, we will tally the scores and get our overall top 5. Tonight we’re looking at the Most Underrated Performers of the year. Let’s get right to it…
Rob Stewart
5. Austin Theory
4. Ember Moon
3. Grizzled Young Veterans
2. MSK
1. Legado Del Fantasma – These are all former or current NXT talents! Weird. And the next two names that come to mibd would probably have been Timothy Thatcher and KUSHIDA.
For me, Legado Del Fantasma is one of those acts that went from lukewarm to RED HOT for me in 2022. They just put on great bout after great bout, and they became one of my favorite parts of NXT. Santos is such a damn good villain, and Wilde and Mendoza put on far too good of matches to be considered as just underlings.
Really, combining them with MSK and GYV, you could say the NXT tag team division was the most underrated performers on 2022. It felt like that area never gets the praise it deserves. I know AEW has a tremendous tag division, but NXT definitely had the talent to at least try to match them.
Jeffrey Harris
5. Christian Cage
4. Sammy Guevara
3. Serena Deeb
2. Damian Priest
1. Miro – I don’t really think Miro gets the credit he deserves for finally getting back to basics and being the monster heel he used to be in 2021. He initially came in as “The Best Man” and buddy of Kip Sabian. It functionally did its job in bringing Miro into AEW, but it wasn’t the best use of his talents. After finally shedding Kip Sabian, Miro transitioned into The Redeemer; God’s Favorite Champion. Miro was doing quality work with great promos, matches, and just like the evolution of he monster heel he used to be in WWE but later got ruined. He had a great run as TNT champion, and the promos where he’d always just casually mention his wife Lana were hilarious. I know he’s MIA right now due to an injury, but I hope he can bounce back with another big year in 2022.
Steve Cook
5. Alan Angels
4. Dalton Castle
3. Brian Johnson
2. Jonathan Gresham
1. Eddie Kingston – Eddie has always had that charisma factor about him. Going back to his earliest days, if you gave him a microphone he’d let you know how he was feeling in entertaing fashion. That’s why I always expected him to make it big. There were bumps in the road along the way which led to Eddie falling by the wayside. There was always a chance though, if Eddie got his stuff together. Eventually, he did, AEW booked him, and the rest was history. Once he got into AEW, he became part of their fabric. Which isn’t surprising to anybody that followed him up until that point. Tommy Dreamer became Mr. ECW, so obviously Eddie Kingston would be Mr. AEW. Yonkers boys.
I do see Kingston falling into that Dreamer spot, where he will always lose major matches. Kingston was one of Miro’s best TNT Championship challengers. He lost, never followed up on. Then Kingston went after CM Punk. We were highly entertained by their interactions. Kingston lost, never followed up on. Punk just went on to feuding with MJF and dressing like Sting while Kingston went on to Daniel Garcia & 2point0. Which is fine in some ways, but at the same time one is left wondering if Eddie Kingston will ever be this company’s top star, which he could be since he’s so darn compelling.
Andrew Cazer
5. Sheamus
4. Joey Janela
3. Chris Bey
2. Matt Cardona
1. Proud n Powerful – Proud n Powerful are severely underused and underrated as a tag team. They should be in consideration for one of the best teams in the world but haven’t gotten the opportunity to completely showcase that side of them yet. They’ve had a few moments here and there to shine but in a way being part of The Inner Circle has actually felt like a hindrance. I know it’s obviously helped as it’s kept them relevant despite being somewhat outside of the Tag Team Scene but I really think this is a team that should be in discussions as best tag team in the world but unfortunately they’re consistently overlooked. I can see why they don’t but i’d love to see them take more independent dates just to see them get a chance to shine and show how good they are.
Jake Chambers
5. Rey Mysterio
4. Joe Coffey
3. Sheamus
2. Rampage Brown
1. Trent Seven – When NXT US wanted another dopey, paint-by-numbers ladder match to unify the two active versions of the Cruiserweight belt, they effectively stepped on one of the great storylines of the year: Trent Seven making weight to challenge Jordan Devlin for his UK version of the 205-pound title. This to me is symbolic of how underrated Seven, and the entire NXT UK, is in the eyes of the WWE universe. Instead of thinking the better match would be a Rocky-like culmination of an out-of-shape veteran bootstrapping himself to challenge a brash, athletic youngster, they figured people would rather just see two wrestlers with no connection running through a series of cheap pop spots in the excruciatingly overrated ladder match gimmick. Well, Seven did get to have his match with Devlin, and in the self-contained universe of NXT UK it was great, much like his other rivalries and matches over there this year. Trent Seven shouldn’t just be considered some semi-main “good hand” on WWE’s swept under the rug side brand, people should be talking about him as one of the greats who needs to be main eventing mainstream shows.
Ian Hamilton
5. Robbie X
4. Taichi
3. Ricohet
2. Saxon Huxley
1. JD Drake – Some may find it a little bizarre calling JD Drake underrated, considering he’s signed to AEW – but he’s largely been on Dark this year, having split his time on the indies as well. If all you’ve seen of JD Is the Dark stuff, take a look at some of his 2021 indies work – and you’ll understand why there’s a growing number of folks who want to see him more prominently featured in AEW…
Kevin Pantoja
5. A-Kid
4. Damian Priest
3. Liv Morgan
2. Santana & Ortiz
1. Dakota Kai – As always, I’m not going with underutilized for this section. I’m picking people who might get pushed but just aren’t considered among the best even when they are. A-Kid constantly flies under the radar, while Damian Priest has been putting on good matches all year but nobody seems to mention it. Liv Morgan is finally getting proper shine yet not enough mention how she constantly gets better and does new moves. Santana and Ortiz are indeed underutilized but still, they should be mentioned in the same breath as FTR, The Lucha Brothers, and above The Young Bucks, yet I never hear that. At the top of the list is Dakota Kai. She has consistently been the unheralded MVP of the NXT women’s division, stealing the show in multiple War Games matches, and yet she’s never considered when talking about the best in the world, which is a shame.
Jeremy Thomas
5. Eddie Kingston
4. Mandy Rose
3. Jonathan Gresham
2. Matt Cardona
1. Damian Priest – I often find it odd that Eddie Kingston has a sizable group of people who downplay his talents and that you still get a lot of those silly “Who?” comments when Jonathan Gresham is discussed. Matt Cardona is constantly crapped on despite being entertaining as hell, even if I’m not a GCW fan. And people constantly shit on Mandy Rose since she won the NXT Women’s Championship, acting like she’s the modern-day Kelly Kelly when she’s actually become quite competent (if not flashy) in the ring. But for my money, Damian Priest is the guy who most weirdly seems to not be given the credit he deserves. Priest is doing a bang-up job on WWE, carrying some very questionable storylines and feuds (See: zombies, raging out, more) to as watchable levels as they can be. He has everything that WWE needs from him to become a top-tier star, and it just seems like the company is waiting to pull the trigger until the proper spot opens up. The problem with that is that too often we’ve seen WWE wait too long, and the moment passes. Priest is simply too good for that to happen and I feel like most fans (understandably, to a degree) associate him with all those bad storylines so they write him off. Here’s hoping that he can finally get that moment he needs to break into the next level, because I really do believe he deserves it.
5. Eddie Kingston – 6 points
4. Jonathan Gresham – 7 points
T-2. Matt Cardona – 8 points
T-2. Proud & Powerful – 9 points
1. Damian Prest – 11 points
THE 2021 411 WRESTLING AWARDS:
* 1. The Biggest Disappointment of The Year: WWE’s Talent Releases – 28 points
* 2. The Best Non-Wrestler: Paul Heyman – 40 points
* 3. The Best Tag Team: The Lucha Bros – 32 points
* 4. The Worst Major Show: WrestleMania Backlash – 18 points
* 5. The Best Major Show: AEW All Out – 34 points
* 6. The Best Weekly Show: AEW Dynamite – 42 points
* 7. The Best Promotion: AEW – 47 points
* 8. The Best Match: WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov (NXT Takeover 36) – 35 points
* 9. The Most Overrated Performer: Charlotte Flair – 14 points
