10 Most Badass Wrestlers In The World Today
Real tough guys (and girls) in a fake, scripted world.
NJPW icon Jushin Thunder Liger exploded in a fit of fury during the promotion's recent Destruction in Kobe show, transforming into his feared Kishin alter ago while brawling with Minoru Suzuki, willingly removing his own mask and tearing his bodysuit before attempting to drive a steel spike through his rival's skull. A startling act from a wrestler so often presented as the most virtuous of heroes and a big reminder of just how badass wrestling can be.
While true badasses are harder to come by today than they were in the past, they're still out there. Here, we celebrate the tough, hardnosed, uncompromising, intimidating bruisers of the sport based on how they come off on television, not just how many MMA fights they've won or light tubes they've had cracked over their skulls. Said factors matter, but not as much as the wrestlers' ability to project the aforementioned badass traits.
Haku or Harley Race these men and women most certainly are not, but each is an awesome modern threat for this era of wrestling...
(Honourable mentions are always legion with lists like this, so go ahead and throw yours down in the comments section below...)
10. Jon Moxley
Watching Jon Moxley's transformation from Sports Entertainer to badass professional wrestler was like witnessing a butterfly burst free from its cocoon.
Wacky Dean Ambrose was forgotten about the moment Moxley strode out at AEW Double Or Nothing, smashing Chris Jericho and a referee before throwing Kenny Omega from the set. Then, at NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors 26 finals, Moxley's transition was solidified. Mox entered a career-best singles performance against Juice Robinson. Their IWGP United States Championship brawl took them all across the arena and the challenger fought with a dangerous, violent edge missing from his work for years, even drawing blood by sinking his teeth into Robinson's eyebrow. Immediately, the Ohioan felt like the most vital thing in wrestling.
Subsequent matches and angles have taken Moxley's rediscovered badassery further, with the 'Purveyor Of Violence' supplementing said violence with genuine ring generalship in the G1 Climax. Every aspect of his game has improved since May. No longer the pillow-fisted rodeo clown of old, he has gone from goofy 'Lunatic Fringe' to genuine lunatic, and he's absolutely fearless with it.