10 Hottest Free Agents In Wrestling Today
Who are the next stars to get snatched up by the big leagues?
Today's wrestling landscape is a different place that it's ever been before. Promotions (including WWE) are working together to create some of the best wrestling action the world has ever seen, and thanks to the Internet, fans around the globe can reap the benefits.
Likewise, with Triple H in charge of talent acquisitions, WWE has changed the way it recruits stars, to an extent. The company is still a "big man's territory," but a lot of the old prerequisites about body type have fallen by the wayside in favor of a premium on skill and an ability to connect with fans. Men like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan made a lot of money for the company despite falling short of Vince McMahon's size demands, and today, stars like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens continue in their footsteps.
What that means is that a lot of the world's major companies - WWE, New Japan, Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, TNA - are looking for the same thing: super-talented stars. WWE is especially hungry for new talent, given that the recently-announced brand extension will mean the promotion needs more grapplers for Raw, Smackdown, and NXT.
Fans of independent wrestling know that there's a lot of great talent not yet snatched up by those companies - stars who could seriously contribute to any of them. Though the wrestling landscape changes daily and things may be different tomorrow, here are the 10 hottest free agents in wrestling today:
10. Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle left TNA in January after spending almost 10 years with the company, immediately ramping up speculation as to where the Olympic Gold Medalist would end up next. As it turns out, Angle is largely enjoying some much-needed time off, resting some of the myriad injuries that he's accumulated during his more than 30 years in pro and amateur wrestling.
Still, Angle hasn't been completely inactive since leaving the full-time grind - he lost a two-out-of-three falls match to Rey Mysterio in March, and just defeated Zack Sabre Jr. in a dream match in London on Sunday. The latter bout ended up truncated due to injuries Angle is suffering.
Angle's physical condition is a concern to any major company which has an interest in using him - indeed, that's largely why WWE hasn't taken a chance on what would surely be a big-money retirement run for the former champion. Nevertheless, even three or four Kurt Angle matches a year - even a one-off - could be a huge get for a company like New Japan or Ring of Honor.