Mid-Year Top 50 Workers

The year's roughly half-way over, so now's probably a good time for some easy, feel-good list-o-maniacal content. Half-year awards are too involved, but a top workers list? I think I can handle that. I agonized over this one for a while. The top five I'm very sure about, but after that, it can get murky, especially since I've watched a grand total of 0 minutes of PWG, EVOLVE, DGUSA and SHIMMER this year. However, for the amount of wrestling I was privvy to watching, I think I have somewhat of a handle on this list. This is a good starting point for me for my ballot on next year's A1W 100, but of course, as I dig in and watch more of the DVDs I've ordered and will order this year, things may change drastically. Anyway, here goes:

1. CM Punk

Punk is my top worker for this half of the year, mainly because of his feud with Rey Mysterio. It was an excellent one that produced great matches at every turn. Why do I have him ranked four spots ahead of Rey then? Well, a couple of reasons. First, he was the co-star of the Royal Rumble along with Shawn Michaels. Brilliant performance in his limited time that really made the first third of it pop off the screen. His GTS on Beth Phoenix was probably the best one I've ever seen him do. So stiff, so brutal. He was also pretty good doing yeoman's work on NXT whenever called upon. Punk was good if sloppy in the indies at times and could be bland when working as a face in the WWE, but the first six months of this calendar year, he's been spot on.

After the jump...2. Christian

Christian was tops on my ballot last year. I thought he had fallen off a bit at the very beginning of this year, even though the more I think about his match with Big Zeke at the Rumble, the more I like it, but looking on the year he's had, man, some real good top-level stuff. First off, his match with Edge on RAW was absolutely fantastic. He dragged Edge to an emotional, well-paced, beautifully spotted match. Given the history between the two, it was everything it should have been, PPV-quality. He had great free-TV matches against Wade Barrett, Ted DiBiase and even Kofi Kingston as well. I think the thing keeping him back is that ECW no longer exists. He doesn't get to put on his jets fullstop as a main event player anymore, save that match against Edge on RAW. Not his fault, but still, it hurts the match quality enough for him to be surpassed by Punk.

3. "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush

I might be grading this on a curve, but what other wrestler does the things that Quack does with the kind of back Quack has? Dude can probably retire given Chikara's roster, and with his back being in all kinds of no-good shape, he probably should. However, he's still out there every month at nearly every Chikara event, bumping his ass off, flying off the top rope, lucha-leaping like his life depended on it, generally doing his best to put on a show for the thousands and thousands who show up to watch him and his students wow and amaze. Even if he was at full health, I'd probably still rate him this high though. I mean, if you saw KoT, Night 1 at all, you'd rate him this high too the way he bumped for Team BJW.

4. John Cena

The Champ, who is more likely than not here, has replaced Triple H as the Internet's most polarizing figure for different reasons. The biggest reason is his working ability. Some think he sucks. I, as well as a bunch of other people, think he's great, and the first half of this year, he's proven that worth at the same clip as he's been doing for the last few years. I think his feud with Batista has been a highlight of the year in the ring as much as it's been in promos and angle development. Their WM match was, in my view, the best on the card. I didn't see their Extreme Rules match, but the finish was clever and well-executed from what I saw on replays. Cena's looked good against other opponents too, and I think he'll fare well the second half of the year wrestling Sheamus, possibly Wade Barrett and maybe even Bryan Danielson, should AmDrag return to the WWE as most of us are expecting him to.

5. Rey Mysterio

In addition to his work with Punk, I loved Mysterio's mini-program with Batista that spilled into the New Year. Rey's bumping and selling for Batista did a lot to get Big Dave over as a heel with an audience that had cheered him for the better part of two years now. Of course, I did a whole post on Mysterio the worker last week, so yeah.

6. Evan Bourne

Even if they don't let him get any offense, Bourne is one of the most gifted wrestlers in the company, if only because he makes anyone he's in the ring with look like Brock Lesnar in terms of damage done. Thankfully, Cena and *grumble* Triple H convinced Vince McMahon and WWE Creative that if they let Bourne have some offense, it might draw some money. The result? Evan Bourne may be the most over babyface on the roster, and he's been having some of the most dynamic and well-wrestled matches on WWE TV, be it Superstars where he usually makes his home or on RAW. A few more big-time PPV matches under his belt, and I'm betting Bourne makes top 3 on my ballot at year's end.

7. Batista

Batista's position will not hold mainly due to him leaving wrestling altogether. That is, unless he comes to his senses, returns to the WWE and continues to have matches like he's had in the first half of the year. Still, this is a great place for Big Dave to be on the list, and a spot he deserves.

8. Pinkie Sanchez

This might be the shocker of the list, but if you've seen him in Chikara this year, then you'll understand why he's on the list and this high. Right now, he's probably the best heel worker in the indies that I've seen this year. He's already got workrate, but what puts him over the top for me are his mannerisms and facial expressions during matches. The guy has got a bright future ahead of him, and luckily for us, part of it is becoming realized in Chikara right now. He was good against Green Ant in the season opener, but I bet if they had that match again tomorrow, it'd be a MOTY candidate. His work at King of Trios was spectacular as well.

9. Kevin Steen

He's been almost as good as Pinkie but for different reasons. After turning on El Generico at Final Battle, Steen has taken on a Joker-esque heel persona that has been the highlight of any ROH event that I've viewed this year, and it has bled into his already excellent ring work. He and Steve Corino have had an excellent series of matches with Colt Cabana and Generico for the first half of this year. I expect it to continue as Steen gets mixed into the main event.

10. Jack SWAGGAH~!

All Swagger needed was a chance. After looking like he was headed to the scrap-heap in the beginning of the year, he was given the MitB win and a surprise title win over Chris Jericho days later at the Smackdown tapings. The result? More Swagger on TV and PPV against high-profile opponents like Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. Swagger was able to show his top-level abilities the way he had in ECW in the first half of last year, and it was good.

Okay, now that the top 10 is out of the way, here's the rest of the list, with only blurbs for select guys:

11. El Generico

12. Chris Jericho

Jericho is an interesting case. His high-end matches are really, really good. He was the best thing about the excellent JeriShow/DX match on 1/4 by far, and he had a great WM main event-level match against Edge. However, he's looked uninspired at times too. Take for example the highly-touted match he had with Bryan Danielson on the first episode of NXT; Danielson worked his ass off, and Jericho blew a few spots. Still, he was good enough for #12 so far.

13. Sheamus
14. Randy Orton
15. Undertaker
16. Claudio Castagnoli
17. Dolph Ziggler

18. Frightmare

He was good last year, but Frightmare has seemingly taken the next step this year. I think what sealed it for me was that Rey de Voladores qualifier when it was just him and Ophidian left. It was such an awesome spotfest, and yet, Frightmare showed me a lot of other things other than ZOMG AWESOME SPOTZ. But the awesome spots were pretty neat too. Like this:



19. Goldust
20. Steve Corino
21. Luke Gallows

22. Kaval

Kaval might be a lot higher on this list had I seen more of his FCW work. The first two matches I saw of his this year (vs. Bryan Danielson on FCW TV via Youtube, vs. Alex Riley on NXT) were outstanding. Plus, he did his best to make Eli Cottonwood look more than terrible last week. If he keeps it up, he'll be top 5 on my A1W 100 ballot.

23. Zack Ryder
24. Eddie Kingston
25. Cody Rhodes
26. The Miz
27. Green Ant
28. Doug Williams

29. Bryan Danielson

He spent a lot of time on NXT in shortish matches where he was only able to show flashes of his ability. His best match was the aforementioned Kaval match on FCW TV. Granted, if I had been in Taylor, MI and Cleveland, I might have bumped him up a little higher, but he'll get there, especially if he goes back to WWE and gets the treatment we all think he will.

30. Ted DiBiase

31. Daisuke Sekimoto

Weird to have a guy this high who only made three appearances in the States on this list, but he was definitely one of the stars of King of Trios. The guy was just a spectacle with his freakish feats of strength, including German suplexing both Quack and Frightmare at the same time. I imagine he'll drop as the year goes on, but his performance was definitely memorable.

32. Delirious
33. Colt Cabana
34. Jigsaw
35. Big Show
36. AJ Styles

37. Shawn Michaels

Another guy who won't have a chance to build on his first half... or more like third, Shawn Michaels had an inconsistent 2010 when he was active. However, his good - the Rumble Match where he was the unquestioned star and his WM match against Undertaker where he proved that he could be the ultimate big match wrestler in WWE history - was good enough to net him this spot.

38. Wade Barrett
39. Beth Phoenix
40. Chuck Taylor
41. Austin Aries

42. Santino Marella

Yeah, he's been confined to comedy matches, but he's the best at them, the best that the WWE has had in a long time, actually. While they've given him less time to cut promos, his matches have picked up in comedic value.

43. Tyson Kidd
44. Chris Masters
45. Sara del Rey
46. Christopher Daniels
47. Yoshi Tatsu

48. Skip Sheffield

Seriously, the guy proved to be a more-than-competant brawler on NXT, and even if it didn't happen in actual matches, when the nXTWo Nexus angle called on him to lariat people with no remorse, he looked damn good doing it. Of all the NXT season 1 guys, the only two that have better prospects than he have to be Barrett and Danielson (should our hunches be correct and he comes back).

49. Edge
50. Chris Hero

I wouldn't be surprised if this top 50 looked even more different than it does now when it comes time to submit the A1W 100 ballot. I still have a bunch of DVDs to sift through, and I imagine that there'll be even more shows to watch. However, for the first six months, I think this is a good barometer. Feel free to disagree if you will.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

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