wrestling / Columns

The 8-Ball 10.05.12: Top 8 Underrated Current Performers

October 5, 2012 | Posted by Ryan Byers

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 8-Ball. As always, my name is Ryan Byers, and I apparently know nothing about independent wrestling.

Before we get down to brass tacks this week, I wanted to take a moment for those of you who may not have noticed it and plug 411’s brand new, sleeker, sexier comment section powered by Disqus. I hope that the many of you who felt our old comment section dragged down the level of discourse on the site will check it out, as it requires registration, which will create some more accountability for what gets posted, and it also allows for more efficient moderation of complete idiocy.

In addition to that, keep the conversation going on Facebook, Twitter and . . . Pintrest? Is that what that little “p” logo thing is? I have no idea.

Top 8 Underrated Current Performers

Last week, in a pre-Disqus world, I counted down the eight current performers who I feel are overrated in the conventional opinion of wrestling fans. Though I had what I felt was a surprisingly high number of readers agreeing with my opinions, there were also plenty of folks who were not particularly happy with the list.

So, in order to bring some positivity back into the column and also to satisfy readers like James Jennings, who have written in and asked that I try to do more columns in which I offset “worst” lists with “best” lists and vice versa, this week we are bringing you the top eight performers currently in professional wrestling who I feel are underrated by today’s fans.

8. The Headbangers

The artists formerly known as Mosh and Thrasher recently reunited and returned to the independent scene, including a stop-off in Ring of Honor, where they competed under masks as the Guardians of Truth. This set off a huge backlash against the Tag Team Champions of the Universe, with many people decrying the in-ring abilities of the ‘Bangers. However, they weren’t just saying that the Headbangers suck in their current incarnation. They went as far as claiming that the Headbangers were never any good. I get the people who argue that Mosh and Thrasher aren’t of the generation of wrestlers who they don’t want to see in the indies or in ROH, but to take that and try to argue that they aren’t good at what they do is malarkey . . . and that’s exactly what their detractors have done. Even at their current ages, Mosh and Thrasher move fluidly in the ring, have a great sense of how to time things, and, from my perspective, they have had some fun, flashy, double team maneuvers. Are they an act that could main event a promotion? Probably not, but they’re a solid, well-rounded team that, in my mind, would and should be a welcome addition to the middle of the card of just about any promotion in the world.

7. Hunico

Not many WWE fans realize this, but Hunico is actually one of the more experienced performers on the WWE roster these days, with his career having begun in 1999. He’s been through a variety of promotions in that time, including numerous Mexican companies, Japanese companies, and CHIKARA in the United States before spending a fair amount of time in WWE developmental. It’s rare that such a well-travelled veteran is NOT a very good professional wrestler, and Hunico is far from being the exception to that rule. To the contrary, he is one of the most talented yet underappreciated wrestlers on the entire roster of the E. Fans seem to treat him like he’s just another midcarder, when, in reality, there is a finesse and a whole lot of unique spots in his matches that are missing from the matches of just about every competitor on the national scene. Hopefully the audience comes around on him and realizes that he’s something special.

6. The Uso Twins

The Uso Twins are a pair of wrestlers who I legitimately feel bad for. These guys are in their 20s, they’ve been wrestling for the relatively short time of five years, and, for their ages and levels of experience, they are AWESOME. Unfortunately, aside from a brief run with the Hart Dynasty immediately after their debut, despite their talent, WWE has by and large put them into positions in which virtually nobody in the company’s fanbase can actually view and appreciate their level of talent. I cannot think of a single time that I have ever seen a bad Uso match, and, more often than not, I find their television matches to be better than average. Yet, for some reason, they’re largely ignored by fans and completely ignored by the people who are supposed to be making them into stars. Fortunately they’re still relatively young, which means that there is still time for this issue to be rectified.

5. UltraMantis Black

UltraMantis Black (originally known as just plain old UltraMantis, a play on the Japanese television character Ultraman) has been tearing things up in CHIKARA and other, smaller indy promotions since 2002. He’s consistently been there and he’s consistently been entertaining, but he almost never gets any credit as a top flight independent wrestler. People don’t think that he’s bad per se, but I don’t think that he gets half of the credit that he deserves. The man has created an entertaining character that is like absolutely none other in the history of professional wrestling, the man does commentary that is on the level of the vaunted Excalibur, and, though he’s not going to give you the flashiest performance on any given card, he’s still right there and can be depended upon for a good to great match, whether he’s going up against a more traditional independent wrestler or the more lucha-oriented competitors that sometimes pass through the CHIKARA roster.

4. Sheamus

For reasons I can’t understand, there is a fairly sizeable, fairly vocal contingent of fans out there that just has no time for Sheamus. I can understand not being into Sheamus’ character that much. His happy-go-lucky jokester persona is a bit obnoxious, though that has a lot more to do with WWE’s creative team being horrible at writing comedy than it does with any fault in Sheamus himself. What I really don’t get are the people who attempt to claim that Sheamus is a boring or otherwise deficient performer from bell-to-bell. He’s a coordinated, agile big man who has absolutely no qualms about taking a small wrestler and throwing him around the ring (remember Jamie Noble?) and who also has absolutely no qualms about taking a larger wrestler and hitting him as hard as he possibly can in safe places (remember what he did with Wade Barrett or Mark Henry?). Both of those provide entertaining formulae for matches when Sheamus is in the ring. Hell, just this past Monday Night, the guy took DAMIEN SANDOW, who has been a professional wrestler for over a decade and has almost never gotten a positive review for his in-ring prowess and carried him to a perfectly acceptable sixteen minute match. If that’s not an indication that Sheamus knows what he’s doing, I don’t know what is.

3. Suwama


Over the past ten years or so, All Japan Pro Wrestling has really gotten the short shrift from English-speaking wrestling fans. Pro Wrestling NOAH and Dragon Gate got a lot of coverage amongst the English language press online because of their past connections with Ring of Honor, and New Japan has gotten some coverage by default because they’re the largest promotion remaining in the country. Meanwhile, AJPW has sat there in relative obscurity, which is a shame, in part because it means a lot of people have missed out on the development of one of the best heavyweight wrestlers in the Eastern Hemisphere, namely Koehi Suwama (more commonly referred to solely by his surname.) Suwama has had two reigns as the company’s Triple Crown Champion, and he’s had some of the best matches of the past two years against the likes of Taiyo Kea, Yuji Nagata, Daisuke Sekimoto, and several more. Also hampering him somewhat is the fact that Suwama rarely if ever seems to venture outside of his home promotion. An extended run in a G1 Climax tournament or some similar event outside of All Japan could really do a lot in terms of upping his profile on this side of the Pacific.

2. Sin Cara

If you believe the most vocal of wrestling fans on the internet, the Spanish-to-English translation of “Sin Cara” is “botched spot.” People love to brutalize the luchador for what they perceive as being less-than-fluid in-ring performances. There is very little love for Sin Cara out there. Respectfully, I disagree. Sin Cara isn’t just a good professional wrestler. Sin Cara is one of the best professional wrestlers the planet has seen within the past five years. Do you want proof of that fact? Take look at his track record in Mexico, where he competed under the name of Mistico. It is an undisputed fact that, in his prime, Mistico in CMLL was the single biggest box office attraction in all of professional wrestling, even drawing more on an individual basis than any single wrestler within WWE. In order to accomplish something like this, particularly in Mexico, a wrestler has to have the ability to connect with audiences in addition to the athletic ability to put on quality, main event level matches. That’s exactly what Mistico/Sin Cara did throughout Mexico . . . and it can hardly be considered his fault that he thusfar has failed to do the same thing in WWE. To contrary, it is WWE’s fault. They failed to provide him with sufficient training to adapt to an American style, and, for whatever reason, they made his initial opponents a group of guys who knew virtually nothing about how to have a quality match against a luchador (and, yes, I’m including Chavo Guerrero in that group). Fortunately, Sin Cara’s tag team with Rey Misterio seems to be slowly rebuilding his reputation in the eyes of fans.

1. Kane

Kane has now been a part of the WWE roster for over fifteen years. And, for the first time in those fifteen years, I’m really starting to understand Kane’s appeal and appreciate the skillset that he brings to World Wrestling Entertainment. Yet, there are a ton of folks out there who aren’t appreciating him in the same way, and I’m beginning to think that they’re a little bit misguided. Has Kane ever had a **** match during his career? Will he ever have a **** match for the remainder of his career? The answer to both questions is probably no. However, that’s not what Kane is on the WWE roster for. Kane is on the WWE roster because the company needs some variety. It needs some big men, and it needs some big men who are competent performers who can round out a card without overshadowing the main event workhorses. That’s what Kane does on the current WWE scene. He’s not good enough to be great but he’s also not bad enough to be in any way, shape, or form offensive, and, moreover, he has an incredibly popular character which he plays better than virtually anybody else could, and longtime fans feel a degree of loyalty towards said character, meaning that he will almost perpetually over. Kane has an undeniable value in contemporary professional wrestling, and more people need to recognize this.

That’s it for this week’s 8-Ball. If you can’t get enough of Ryan, follow him on Twitter here.

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