10 Best Wrestlers Under 30 In The World Today
1. MJF
MJF seems to hate it when fans and the media caveat his brilliance relative to his age.
It's fair. He's great beyond his age of 25, but his tender age informs his character. MJF exists to drive resentment in the audience, and that he's so gifted, and has accomplished more with his life before you even knew what to do with yours, is the perfect means by which to do it.
He's a phenomenal promo: piss funny, cruel, and loathsome, he has recently explored the depth of his character in a seminal origin story that underscores the extent to which the man he portrays is a sociopath. These promos don't simply work in isolation to arrive at brilliantly delivered soundbites; a true storyteller, MJF fuels investment week to week. The man is so gifted as an episodic storyteller that his perfection of the TV medium has made entire generations of great in-ring talent just that: great in-ring talents who just feel woefully uninteresting in contrast to a performer who is almost inarguably the greatest all-rounder in the business.
That he's also a great in-ring performer - in a more interesting way than so many of his peers - propels him to the top of this list. He has mastered the space between moves and nailed his character. He is the anti-get-your-sh*t-in wrestler. He deprives fans of flashy spots because he's a pupil of the old school. That way, when he does get his sh*t in, as he did when blasting CM Punk with Made In Japan, it means so much more than most big moves. He uses consistent in-ring discipline to inform a big, cool move as a story beat of desperation.
MJF is the best heel in wrestling - so good that it may feel now like he can't ever turn - but he's even better than that. Watch him sell a limb. Listen to the quiver in his voice last week. One day, he'll turn face, and be just as good as he is now.
When that day arrives, the 'Under 30' qualifier in the title of the article won't be necessary.