Top 25 Wrestlers to Building the Best Wrestling Promotion

[Travicity]

Building the Best Wrestling Promotion
Some of these wrestlers are great workers, others are great talkers, and some just have a fantastic look. But all of these present-day grapplers would be integral to our ideal wrestling promotion. Don't like it, trolls? Tell us who would make your fantasy promotion in the comments.

25
AJ Styles

Though we're already exhausted by TNA's latest "This Giant Group of Guys Fights This Other Giant Group of Guys" angle, we're mostly just delighted to have AJ Styles back as a face. Styles was instrumental in building TNA due to his aresenal of incredible aerial maneuvers and his easy-going charm. In our new promotion, Styles would be an upper-midcard babyface who could easily high-fly his way into the main event when necessary.

24
The Great Khali

No, he's not a good worker - in fact, he's kind of absolutely terrible. But, it's always a mistake to underestimate the draw power of a freakshow, and that's where the Great Khali factors in with our promotion. The guy's scary huge with an absolutely monstrous visage, making for a potentially killer heel. And the fact that his moveset is extremely limited shouldn't even matter if he's booked like a true, terrifying monster. Finally, we'd ditch the translator - a monster is scarier when you DON'T know what he's saying.

23
The Briscoe Brothers

No, not Jack and Gerald, we're talking about tag team wrestling sensations Jay and Mark Briscoe. Since the early 2000s, the Briscoes have been a consistent draw on the American independent scene, but despite reportedly having several tryouts with WWE officials, have never made the jump to the big leagues. With their solid wrestling abilities and thuggish in-ring charisma, the Briscoes would be a crucial part of our promotion's tag team division. And with their Confederate flag-draped gimmick, the Briscoes could easily play as either faces or heels depending on the region of the country.

22
Awesome Kong

Generally speaking, women's wrestling in the United States is pretty awful and on the largest stages is dominated by pneumatic women who look more like pissed off strippers than athletic competitors. Awesome Kong is the exception that proves the rule, and hopefully, upon her impending WWE debut, will steamroll over all those skinny bitches. We'd have Kong rule over our female wrestling promotion with an iron fist, and once she's done beating up women, maybe even have her compete for a secondary men's title, Chyna-style.

21
Dolph Ziggler

We like Dolph Ziggler - he's young, has never been seriously injured, is super-charismatic in the ring and has a great look. More importantly though, we love watching him work. Even though his finishers leave something to be desired, his strong amateur background gives his in-ring work a look and feel that is distinct from that of his colleagues. As much as we love Kurt Angle, the guy's getting up there in years, and we doubt that his body can take many more years of professional wrestling punishment. Ziggler, however, could give our promotion a legit amateur wrestling feel, without all the pain pills and ex-wife storylines.

20
Sami Callihan

Generally speaking, we're not huge fans of hardcore wrestling. Yes, there's a skill and artistry to doing it well, but we don't like having to worry (too much) about the people competing in our fixed wrestling competitions. That said, "The New Horror" Sami Callihan is a real talent, and is in fact better than the hardcore death matches he's known for competing in on the independent scene. Callihan's arsenal includes jaw-shattering punches and forearm smashes, sick-looking lariats and some surpringly technical suplexes and submissions. "The New Horror" would bring a sense of unpredictability to our promotion while acting as a vicious tweener out only for himself.

19
Justin Gabriel

As much as we like Wade Barrett, WWE's Corre stable is really awful, especially since they're all the guys who got kicked out of CM Punk's Nexus, which is also pretty lousy. It's crazy that a guy like Justin Gabriel, who has considerable in-ring ability and an extremely marketable look, is relegated to a background player. In our promotion, we'd turn Gabriel face, give him some guyliner and skimpy (skimpier?) tights, and watch the panties drop. In between counting all the money we'd make off this beautiful bastard, we'd also release a calendar of him shirtless and leaning against various things.

18
The Motor City Machine Guns

The Motor City Machine Guns are the best tag team currently working in the United States - plain and simple. They are high-octane performers that can have stellar matches with pretty much anyone. And if we ever got tired of having them tag together, both wrestlers are talented and charismatic enough to stand on their own as singles wrestlers...after a massive break-up feud, naturally. Also, have you seen the pictures online of the Guns partying and smoking weed? These guys look like a great hang.

17
Vickie Guerrero

You can't build a promotion with wrestlers alone - you also need managers and company figureheads to keep storylines progressing. For our money, there's no better auxiliary wrestling personality working today than Vickie Guerrero. The screeching harpy has an uncanny ability to rile up fans, capable of getting an obscene amount of heat with just two words. We'd welcome Vickie as a manager, company figurehead, or pretty much anything else she wanted to do as long as she went out and screamed at the fans every once in a while.

16
YAMATO

There's not enough puroresu influence in contemporary American professional wrestling, especially considering reports that wrestling is waning in popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun. While there are countless Japanese performers it'd be great to see competing on American soil, one of the first we'll grab for our promotion is YAMATO, current holder of Dragon Gate USA's terribly named Open the Freedom Gate Championship. YAMATO comes complete with all the stiff kicks and suplexes you'd expect, but unlike many bland Japanese strong style wrestlers, actually has a unique look.

15
Abyss

Our promotion has already got one unstoppable monster in the form of the Great Khali, but admittedly, the guy is pretty limited in terms of what he can do. That's why we'd also bring in Abyss to scare the kiddies while actually moving around a little. None of that "Getting power from the ring, brother" bullshit though, and we certainly wouldn't have him team up with anybody. A guy as big and monstrous as Abyss should be a lone heel in our promotion, more concerned with hurting people and making an impact than winning any kind of title.

14
Beth Phoenix

We've got the monster heel role for our women's division covered by Awesome Kong, so who better to go head-to-head with her than Beth Phoenix? We'd book the Glamazon like Hogan in the 1980s to get her over as an unstoppable fan-favorite before eventually throwing her into the mix with Awesome Kong. The payoff, obviously, would be the two of them joining forces to compete against the Briscoes and Motor City Machine Guns in the tag team division.

13
Samoa Joe

No wrestling promotion is complete without a Samoan, but even with completely different ancestry, we'd still probably bring Samoa Joe onboard with our new promotion. With his mean, aggressive in-ring style and signature scowl, Joe would make a fantastic main event-level tweener, capable of working great matches with pretty much anyone on the roster.

12
Takeshi Morishima

We're going to have stables in this new promotion, but we're going to do something relatively novel: Have the groupings actually mean something. So, our Japanese grapplers are going to group together, with the storyline reason being that they want to show American wrestling's inferiority to puroresu. Naturally, the group will need a heater, which is where the stiff, massive Takeshi Morishima comes in and proceeds to sloppily beat the hell out of every gaijin dog he lays his eyes on.

11
Ric Flair

Ric Flair can still wrestle, and is more than capable of putting younger talent over in a very big way - but that's not the real reason we'd be bringing him onboard. The Nature Boy is renowned as one of the best talkers the wrestling industry has ever seen, and if you've been watching him in TNA, you know that his promos and rants haven't lost an ounce of their potency. We'd let the Dirtiest Player in the Game pull his tights on every once in a while, but he'd be much more valuable to us as a manager to some of our greener talent - Dolph Ziggler seems like a particularly good fit.

10
Kenny Omega

We've already sung Kenny Omega's praises on our Wrestlers To Watch in 2011 list, but in case you didn't read that list (for shame!), we'll recap here: Omega is an American independent wrestler with a slew of both technical and high-flying moves at his disposal. While wrestling nerds will be impressed that Omega has competed in Japan, he'll also get over with gamers and otakus through his frequent references to that particular subculture.

9
Wade Barrett

Whether because of his own natural ability, Chris Jericho's tutelage, the support of the WWE machine or some combination of all three, Wade Barrett has become a top-level star in a shockingly short period of time. Not only is he physically imposing, but his deep voice and British accent make sure that he even sounds threatening. We'd start Barrett off as a cold, calculating heel - none of that "We're all equals!" nonsense - and eventually turn the charismatic wrestler face.

8
Claudio Castagnoli

Though he signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2006, independent wrestling superstar Claudio Castagnoli never made it to the main roster (reportedly due to problems with the Swiss wrestler's Visa). This is a shame, not only because Castagnoli is a tremendously talented tag team and singles competitor, but because he even has WWE main event-level measurements. At 6 foot 5 inches and 222 pounds, Castagnoli is big enough to be a huge threat, but not so huge as to be terrifying, meaning we'll be able to use him easily as either face or heel.

7
Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy was a huge get for TNA, but the company completely squandered this ace up their sleeve. If you had one of the most likeable and beloved wrestlers in recent history working for you, why would you turn him heel for shock value? Even worse, why bury this unique, iconoclastic talent in a giant unwieldy heel stable? In our promotion, Hardy would be a slightly rebellious, but ultimately heroic face for pretty much ever...or until the drug charges caught up to him.

6
Manami Toyota

While her name might not be familiar to your average wrestling fan, a quick YouTube search will show you why Manami Toyota is revered as not just one of the world's finest female wrestlers, but one of the finest wrestlers working today, period. Toyota isn't a Diva or even a Knockout, she's a serious female wrestler with an arsenal full to bursting with aerial maneuvers and power moves that everyone in our fresh new locker room could learn from.

5
Daniel Bryan

Wrestling under his own name on the independent scene, Daniel Bryan once called himself "The Best Wrestler in the World" - and he wasn't far off from the truth. We'd sign him in a New York minute and even let him go back to using his real name, as long as he agreed to ditch the nerd schtick WWE has been pushing him with. Why would anyone want to cheer a self-professed nerd? The fact that Bryan is over at all is a huge testament to his in-ring charisma and storytelling ability. In our fantasy promotion we'd want him to bring all of his cocky mannerisms and gimmicks back, especially "I have till five!"

4
Sheamus

Sheamus is a massive guy with a distinct look who is absolute dynamite on the microphone. He's only played a heel in WWE, and he's done a tremendous job of it, so we'd hope to keep him on that track for a while. But no more cowardly chickenshit heel tactics, instead, Sheamus would fully embrace his proud Celtic Warrior gimmick, and we'd actually have the poor guy go over clean every once in a while. Eventually, we'd even turn him face though, as there's clearly something likable behind Sheamus' heelish posturing.

3
KENTA

We need another Japanese guy, and we couldn't possibly think of a better one than KENTA. We'd leap at the opportunity to bring KENTA onboard, though we'd probably need him and YAMATO both to quit the ALL-CAPS thing. A former kickboxer trained by Kenta Kobashi, KENTA is one of the premiere examples of a Japanese strong style wrestler, with a potent blend of punishing strikes and kicks combined with a solid technical background. In fact, several of his signature and finishing moves, including the Go 2 Sleep and KENTA Rush, have been adopted by another of our favorite wrestlers...

2
CM Punk

Fans of Japanese wrestling will rightfully point out that CM Punk's versions of the Go 2 Sleep and KENTA Rush aren't near as crisp and impressive as their originator. However, Punk has pretty much everything else in his favor, as the finest all-around wrestler currently working on these shores. Not only has Punk single-handedly brought a number of puroresu moves and styles to WWE, but he has one of wrestling's best gimmicks. We'd play up the Straight Edge angle like nobody's business, bringing back his Straight Edge Society and pursuing angles with drug users, drunks and other degenerates.

1
John Cena

John Cena is wrestling's biggest star - why wouldn't you want him in your promotion? In addition to the instant recognition and star power he brings, Cena is way more talented than the "internet wrestling community" ever cares to acknowledge. Yes, he relies on a few basic recognizable moves...but so does every other top star in WWE, because those moves get absolutely MASSIVE pops. Personally, we don't think it's possible for someone to be simultaneously really cool and really funny, but Cena seems to do a good job bridging that gap for his particular audience. We'd keep the guy face for as long as he was making money, but as soon as merchandise sales started to flag, we'd turn him into the most vicious heel imaginable and brace ourselves for massive crocodile tears and massiver box office receipts.

UGO

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

erm I can understand what Khali says

[Travicity]

One of the best lists ive ever seen actually lol.

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

I might do this on EWR

[Travicity]

That would be a great promotion though . Wouldnt even mind Khali or Cena or Vickie.

[JohnCenaFan28]

They need some Dashing and Goldust then we're good

[The Mac]

replace cena with orton and it would be awesome

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

^^ Hell no they're both kinda boring except that Cena is clearly better than Orton.

[A Blissful Ass]

^^ Hell no they're both kinda boring except that Cena is clearly better than Orton.

How? Orton can Wrestle Cena can't ah well Cena Marks for ya

& Whoever did this list really didn't grow up watching Wrestling imo the person who wrote this is 15 years old

[Dragón De Muerte]

sorry but aj styles should be higher up