Here we go. I have been working myself up to this one as it has been a real ask, and even now I am second guessing myself, but fuck it, here it is. As with the other lists I have put together this will be based on match quality, in ring ability, gimmick and a touch of personal preference. I have also decided to eliminate members of tag teams if they are too hard to differentiate from each other, such as the Usos or Young Bucks. Part 1 will hopefully be nice and snappy and knock off a good chunk of the list. Without further ado, here is the list.
100. Drew Gulak
Gulak has been the brightest point in a post Neville 205 Live and every single time he is on screen I am entertained. The man can go in the ring too.
99. Shane Strickland
Whether wrestling as himself or under the gimmick of Killshot in Lucha Underground, Strickland is one of the most dynamic high fliers around. He isn't afraid to tear it up either as evidenced by his brutal 3 Stages of Hell match against Dante Fox in Lucha Underground.
98. Fred Yehi
Yehi continues to go from strength to strength both as a singles competitor and in tag wrestling. Evolve is where he has done his best work, with great matches against the likes of Zack Sabre Jr and Matt Riddle.
97. Hirooki Goto
While it has by no means been the best year of Goto's career, he remains someone that you can guarantee will come up with the goods when he needs to. His matches with Zack Sabre Jr and Katsuyori Shibata were perfect examples of Goto's quality.
96. Mark Haskins
Haskins is the kind of wrestler that you can put on any card and you know that you will get your money's worth. A fantastic technical wrestler that is definitely not afraid to get very violent indeed, as evidenced in his very memorable death match against Jimmy Havoc at PROGRESS Chapter 55.
95. Jack Gallagher
There was a time earlier this year when I would have put Gallagher higher on this list but he has fallen victim to WWE's repetitive booking of 205 Live. He doesn't work as well as a heel either. His matches with Neville earlier this year were really good though and I hope he gets back on track.
94. Atsushi Kotoge
Kotoge has been a staple of NOAH's Jr division for a number of years but he has really taken the step up to being one of the company's most bankable stars during 2017. He spent part of the year as GHC tag champ, with Go Shiozaki, and was involved in really good matches against the likes of Eddie Edwards and Naomichi Marufuji.
93. Sami Callihan
Callihan has had a return to form in 2017. He has put in good performances in PWG, Lucha Underground and AAW, and made his debut in New Japan at the World Tag League. It was in AAW that Callihan did his best work and it became a sort of defacto home promotion for him.
92. Bobby Fish
The first half of 2017 was a pretty quiet one for Fish, with it mostly being a showcase for reDRagon as opposed to him having good singles matches. He signed for the WWE and was quickly put in a top level feud as part of the Undisputed Era faction. The WarGames match that they were involved in was an absolute blast and Fish, along with O'Reilly, are now the NXT tag champions.
91. Dragon Lee
Dragon Lee is an incredible talent, especially considering he is still only 22. If I watched more lucha libre there is every chance that he would be rated higher here. Every time he steps into the ring against Hiromu Takahashi they produce absolute magic and their match at New Bginnings in Osaka may have been the best yet.
90. Christopher Daniels
This may not have been the highlight year of Daniels' career but it was the year that he finally won the ROH Title, in a feel good match against Adam Cole. He would drop the title to Cody, and headed back into tag team competition with his tag partner Kazarian, but it was a memorable reign for those that have watched ROH for years.
89. Matt Sydal
The one thing that you can say about Sydal is that he almost never has a bad match. You may not remember a massive amount of what he did but you're always glad that he was involved. His best match this year was a spectacular triple threat tag match in PWG, teaming with Ricochet to face the Young Bucks and Lucha Brothers.
88. Eric Young
Look at that picture, that's Eric Young in a nutshell. Mad as a bag of badgers. Top bloke.
87. Moose
MOOSE! MOOSE! I find very few things that keep me from completely giving up on Impact Wrestling, but Moose is one of them. Great size and athleticism with a good amount of charisma, he has recently started wrestling for NOAH in Japan.
86. Mark Andrews
The Welsh highflier has had a good year, both on the UK scene and on his forays to the WWE. His matches in PROGRESS were always good fun and he put in some great matches in the WWE UK Tournament. He is still only 25 too, despite feeling like he has been around forever.
85. Akira Tozawa
Tozawa looked like he could be about to have a superb year when he took the Cruiserweight Title from Neville, only to lose it back 6 days later. He was also involved in a feud with Brian Kendrick that culminated in a superb street fight. He is a great wrestler that doesn't necessarily get put in matches that show this off.
84. Shuji Ishikawa
Ishikawa has been a necessary piece in the revival of AJPW and has been putting on a series of great matches. He won the Champion Carnival tournament and then won the Triple Crown from Kento Miyahara in a great match. He would later lose it back to Miyahara in an even better match. He is enjoying one of the best periods of his career at 42 years of age.
83. Kofi Kingston
While all three members of New Day are great wrestlers I feel like Kofi is the least striking of them nowadays. The New Day have had a fantastic year though and Kingston was involved in a lot of their matches but, perhaps most importantly, he wasn't involved in their best match inside Hell In A Cell.
82. Ilja Dragunov
Russia is a country that doesn't have the strongest history of professional wrestlers, at least ones that are actually Russian, but Dragunov is trying his best to change that. He is only 24 and he is getting better every year. At the moment he mostly wrestles for wXw but he should start to branch out in the next few years. He won the 16 Carat Gold tournament and his final against WALTER is spectacularly brutal.
81. Jay White
White has put together his best year in 2017. He had his first really great match against Will Ospreay in ROH, while he was on excursion from New Japan. By the end of the year he was back in New Japan with a new gimmick and the future is bright for the young Kiwi.
80. David Starr
"The Product", "The King of Taunts", "The Cream in Your Coffee", "Your Favourite Wrestler's Favourite Wrestler", "The Jewish Cannon", "The Physical Embodiment of Charisma", "The Most Entertaining Man in Pro Wrestling", "Mr Americanrana", "Davey Wrestling", "The 104 Minute Man", "The Main Event" David Starr. He is a fantastic wrestler and his match against WALTER in wXw on October 28th was in the upper echelons of the year's efforts.
79. Go Shiozaki
Shiozaki is one of the stalwarts in NOAH, and one of the most consistent performers on the roster. He hasn't been involved in the GHC Title picture this year but he made it to the final of the Global League and held the GHC Tag Titles on two occasions. His best matches of the year came against Kenou and Eddie Edwards.
78. Eddie Edwards
Speaking of Eddie Edwards, during the year he has held the TNA World Heavyweight Title and the GHC Heavyweight Title. He got a really good match out of Bobby Lashley early in the year but it was his run in NOAH that was most impressive. His matches with Go Shiozaki, Kenou and Katsuhiko Nakajima are all well worth your time.
77. Jay Briscoe
Briscoe continues to be one of the major players in ROH but that didn't stop him from spending a large portion of the year in a nothing team/feud with Bully Ray. Even in the matches that seem somewhat pointless, though, he still manages to put in good performances. His best match of 2017 was as part of a Bullet Club vs CHAOS 8-man tag match at the ROH/NJPW Honor Rising show.
76. Jimmy Havoc
Havoc is definitely the most violent wrestler on this list. He was the 2017 winner of CZW's Tournament of Death and a number of his best high profile matches in the UK came in death matches. His matches against Pete Dunne and Mark Haskins in PROGRESS are some of the best examples that incredibly violent matches can still tell a great story.
75. Hideo Itami
Itami has had a rebuilding year in 2017 after his run of injuries. He was used as a sort of gatekeeper to the main event on NXT, having very good matches against Bobby Roode, Aleister Black and Kassius Ohno. He moved to 205 Live at the end of the year so he may end up lower on this list next year.
74. Minoru Suzuki
Suzuki is only rated this low because roughly 90% of matches involved a ton of interference by Suzuki-gun. When he does have a match that is actually one on one, such as his matches against Kazuchika Okada, they are fantastic. Nobody in wrestling is as genuinely terrifying as Minoru Suzuki.
73. Xavier Woods
I would say that Woods has surprised a lot of people in 2017 with just how good he actually is. I would say that if it wasn't for the obvious greatness of Big E he would be talked about a lot more. He was involved in the best tag team match this year, inside Hell In A Cell against the Usos.
72. Rusev
I really wish I could put Rusev higher than this, as I think he is one of the most underutilised talents in wrestling. He missed almost four months of the year through injury and wasn't really pushed upon his return, ending up in an interminable feud with Randy Orton, but he has still managed to make himself one of the most over superstars on Smackdown. He has really good in ring skills and his charisma is off the charts, hopefully he gets the push he deserves in 2018. It's RUSEV DAY!
71. Shingo Takagi
For years Shingo has gone about his business, being one of the most underappreciated wrestlers in the world (unless you watch Dragon Gate) and putting on great matches. In 2017 he was at his best when wrestling as part of the Verserk faction, with the No DQ 10-Man Elimination Tag Match against Jimmyz at Dangerous Gate being a particular highlight.
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