10 Best Wrestlers Of 2021

2021 breathed life back into professional wrestling in the US. Promotions welcomed full live crowds back during the summer, ending over a year of sterile atmospheres to the sport's immediate benefit. COVID-19 is still here, its myriad concerns remain, but the viewing experience is infinitely better than this time last year.

Things are different in Japan, where audiences are still prevented from loudly singing, chanting, and cheering. This harms show quality and makes it difficult for wrestlers to deliver their best work. Inversely, it makes the efforts of those that rose above and delivered Wrestler of the Year calibre work all the more impressive.

Form is critical on this list. Regardless of skill, a wrestler can't enter the WOTY conversation if they aren't regularly producing WOTY-level work. Names like Sasha Banks, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii, all of whom are amongst this generation's finest, didn't make the cut, despite the occasional high.

An impressive body of work is important, though this is more than a list of wrestlers with the most ****+ matches. Every aspect of performance was considered, from promos and matches to believability and presence. Consistency was given as much weight as ceilings and floors. Wrestlers' importance to their home promotions and the business as a whole also factored, as well as their significance to the year's wider wrestling discussions.

For notable omissions, check the list of honourable mentions towards the end.

Let's go...