10 Best Wrestlers Of 2023

A tale of two secondary champions summed up the best of wrestling in 2023, and Orange Cassidy as the AEW contrast to WWE's 'Ring General' is funny because it's true.

Gunther leathers his hands across chests instead of casually inserting them in his pockets, but the intent is the same - use your most devastating weapon to beat your opponent. As International Champion first time around, 'Freshly Squeezed' remained a cool customer in increasingly trying times for AEW, and the second time around offered something altogether different.

It's been a brilliant bit, has the supposedly work-shy wrestler cast as the workhorse, but the story resulted in a seemingly doomed belt becoming the number two title in the entire organisation and big enough on its own terms to headline a pay-per-view. And what a headliner it was - the All Out main event against Jon Moxley was the latest in a long line of 2023 coming out parties for Orange Cassidy, with the two potentially crafting the bloodiest chapter of a legacy rivalry in under 20 minutes.

It really was a case of quality and quantity - he put the belt up against Lee Moriarty, Big Bill, Wheeler Yuta, Jay Lethal (twice), Bandido, Dralistico, Jeff Jarrett, Buddy Matthews and loads others, won it back against in fairly vicious fashion against Rey Fenix, retained against Moxley to finally silence his own doubts, and once had a pay-per-view battle royal mini-match with Swerve Strickland that was arguably even better than a sizzling straight singles effort later that year.

The grifters will always grift, but anybody still professing to not really get this gimmick have now been more exposed than ever.