10 Wrestlers You Should Be Most Thankful For This Year

By Scott Fried /

2. The Entire NJPW Roster

Okay, maybe this is a cop-out, but it's valid - once again, New Japan Pro Wrestling has proved itself to be the far and away best wrestling promotion in the entire world, with shows like Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion, and the G1 Climax Finals setting standards for what fans should be demanding from every pro wrestling league on earth. While the booking in New Japan is logical and thought out - the opposite of WWE's creative output - the real thanks has to go to the company's roster. All year long, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Tomohiro Ishii, Tomoaki Honma, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto, The Young Bucks, Katsuyori Shibata, Karl Anderson, and more have been defining what in-ring action in 2015 is supposed to look like. There's no product around that can compete with it, and wrestling fans are eternally grateful.