10 Best Non-WWE Wrestlers Of 2018 (So Far)
Cutting edge entertainers.
The global professional wrestling scene is on fire.
New Japan's state of the art product keeps yielding all-time great matches, the European independents are thriving, Lucha Underground is back, and promotions like Game Changer Wrestling are rewriting the rules in the United States. The talent pool is deeper than an oceanic trench, and your new favourite wrestler is only a few clicks away.
Sifting through such a vast group is tough, particularly when so many are doing so much to distinguish themselves. Thus, honourable mentions are legion. Matt Riddle has taken his game to the next level by diversifying his once-repetitive match layouts and adding nuance beyond routine "fighting spirit" spots. Will Ospreay has become an exceptional in-ring storyteller, and boasts a huge stack of great matches. Chris Jericho is a freelance maverick. New Japan juggernauts Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi have been sublime. The list goes on.
Match quality, ability, business, charisma, influence, and all-round impact form our core criteria. They helped ease the task of sifting through the world's best non-WWE wrestlers, but only just.
These guys don't work on the sport's biggest stage, but their 2018 performances are more than worthy of such a spotlight...
10. Joey Janela
There isn't a wrestler on the planet more in touch with what independent wrestling is in 2018 than Joey Janela.
Aping Streets Of Rage and other 16-bit classics, he unleashed a brilliant promo video as a means of announcing WALTER vs. former WWE cult favourite Pierre Carl Ouellet in February, kickstarting a genius marketing campaign for his Spring Break 2 event. Other slabs of excellence followed (I, II), creating bags of hype for a show held in an ungodly midnight time slot over WrestleMania 34 weekend, headlined by Janela himself versus legendary Michinoku Pro lunatic The Great Sasuke.
'The Bad Boy' isn't the best wrestler on the independents, but he's among the best self-promoters. Nobody generates buzz like Janela. He has, through his own hard graft and ingenuity, created a huge cult of savvy indie fans who'll gladly flock towards anything he attaches his name to. No longer best known for plummeting from a warehouse roof while attached to a human potato sack, he's one of the hottest freelancers in the world in 2018.
You won't get a five-star match out of Janela, but you will have fun. Isn't that supposed to be what wrestling's all about?