10 Most Creative Wrestlers On The Planet Right Now

The Mothers of Invention.

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AEW

Disclaimer: yes, this is an AEW-heavy list because WWE is by design light on creativity.

It is heavy on hack writers sprinting around a looped track penning puerile dreck in a bid to pop their 74 year-old boss. Vince has grown cold and distant to this thing called professional wrestling he inserted dried, crushed leaves into one hot summer night many years ago. It is now, and has been for years, this lame, very scripted and contrived serial that, analysed very closely, is actually about the farcical decision-making in the corridors of power, and how, to become champions, the talent must ultimately prove a flawed system wrong over a period of years.

The spirit of professional wrestling rewards the creative individual. Steve Austin thought it darkly amusing that his opponent prayed to win and still didn't at King of the Ring 1996, and his improvised black comedy blasphemy ultimately made him millions. The Rock thought it funny to pull off that which nobody could - speak in the third person - and actually did.

Statistically, the comparative difference between pro wrestlers who got over before and after Stephanie McMahon hired writers to do it for them is staggering. Even the worst swamps of Twitter don't spew up a ratio remotely similar to it.

The company without the writers is the most creative, with few exceptions...

10. Joe Hendry

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YouTube (Joe Hendry)

Joe Hendry!

Lock-al hero!

The one professional wrestler alive capable of getting over on both Josh Barnett's Bloodsport and Glastonbury, Joe Hendry - whom as an ROH-contracted star is as yet unable to wrestle amid this ongoing crisis - has instead taken to delighting the internet by producing piss-funny socially distant content.

Hendry is a very creative, entrepreneurial talent; he can wrestle, he can sing. Joe Hendry made lockdown better with his parody of Tiger King.

Set to Outkast's Ms. Jackson, Hendry revealed the true motive behind that bitch Carole Baskin's killing of her husband: as we're all feeling now, not being allowed to go outside, he was domestically useless and it got on her t*ts. The best artists capture the mood of the times. Joe Hendry is the new Bob Dylan, and gauging by his dead-on Joe Exotic, Marvin Berry needs to give a certain COO a call. The weirdly mandated southern accent has been located at last.

If you're in that conflicted headspace - where you miss wrestling but can't abide it amid this crisis - simply watch a pro wrestler master another craft instead.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!