10 Best Wrestlers Of 2021

10. Nick Jackson

In the United States, the year's best title reign belonged not to a singles wrestler, but a tandem.

The Young Bucks had an excellent year as AEW World Tag Team Champions. 302 days elapsed before they passed them over to The Lucha Brothers in an acclaimed steel cage war at All Out 2021. Since then, the brothers Jackson have assumed a role further down the card but have continued to excel in a 12-month period yielding excellent work opposite teams as diverse as Jurassic Express, Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley, SoCal Uncensored, The Dark Order, and more.

That the belts felt more important on the night the Bucks lost them than when they took them from FTR in November 2020 cements 2021 as a great year for Matt and Nick. They have found themselves as characters, too, perfecting the obnoxious pr*ck personas they once worked in NJPW, ROH, and on the indies, becoming impossible to root for despite their adrenaline-pumping style.

Nick remains the more impressive of the two, hence why he pips his brother here. This is partly by design, as Matt works a more measured style to contrast with his sibling. Nick, meanwhile, is a freak athlete, an irritant supreme, and also has a wonderful Rampage singles match with Bryan Danielson to bolster his case.

The Bucks will never be for everyone - but nobody is. Nonetheless, for those he connects with, Nick re-emerged as one of his generation's finest tag workers in 2021.