80. Arisa Nakajima (25 ballots, 1073 points) – LOWEST 25 BALLOT WRESTLER
Average Rank: 54.08
Last Year’s Rank: 52
High Vote: Bertkardashian (10)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Sareee & Tsukasa Fuijmoto vs. Hanako Nakamori, Hiroyo Matsumoto & Miyuki Takase (SEAdLINNNG, 4/21)
• w/ Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Makoto & Yukki Masahiro (Ice Ribbon, 5/3)
• w/ Sareee vs. Hanako Nakamori & Kaoru Ito (Ito Dojo, 5/12)
• w/ Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hanan & Mayu Iwatani (Stardom, 5/18)
• vs. Crush Yuu (Sukeban, 5/30)
• w/ Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu (Sendai Girls, 6/9)
• w/ VENY vs. DASH Chisako & Syuri (SEAdLINNNG, 6/12)
• w/ Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Mio Momono & Riko Kawahata (Sareee-ism, 7/29)
• w/ Sareee vs. Chika Goto & Nanae Takahashi (Marigold, 8/19)
• w/ Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Hanako Nakamori & Hiroyo Matsumoto (SEAdLINNNG, 8/23)

“In a year of retirements, arguably none stung worse than Arisa Nakajima, and even more arguably none felt more abrupt. I hate that she’s gone from us so soon, but I’m glad to have seen her go out like a boss in the few months she was active in 2024.” ~ Stephen W.

79. “Speedball” Mike Bailey (25 ballots, 1077 points)
Average Rank: 51.08
Last Year’s Rank: 25
High Vote: Andrew Gelinas (3)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Jake Something vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (DPW, 3/10)
• vs. Nicole Matthews (Love Pro, 3/28)
• vs. Yuki Ueno (DDT, 4/4)
• vs. Calvin Tankman (DPW, 4/14)
• w/ Jake Something vs. Judas Icarus & Travis Williams (DPW, 6/16)
• vs. Zilla Fatu (GCW, 8/25)
• vs. Zachary Wentz (TNA, 9/13)
• vs. LaBron Kozone (DPW, 10/13)
• w/ MAO vs. Judas Icarus & Travis Williams (DDT, 11/10)
• w/ Jake Something vs. Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku (DPW, 12/8)

“I suffered from some Speedball fatigue this year, but the tag run with Jake Something made for a good time. “ ~ Stevan S.

“‘Speedball Fatigue’ was a very real phenomenon this year. The man has simply been on too many shows the past few years, and I think it ended up diluting his work a bit at this point. He was still one of the best on the indies when he wanted to be, and the tag team with Jake Something added some much-needed variety. I think his shift to a once-or-twice a week TV wrestler rather than a five-times-a-weekend indie wrestler will do wonders for the guy.” ~ Chris Gibbons

78. Yuu (24 ballots, 1094 points)
Average Rank: 51.46
Last Year’s Rank: 204
High Vote: Roo (6)

Recommended Matches

• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka (Sendai Girls, 2/11)
• w/ Nanae Takahashi vs. Kizuna Tanaka & Sareee (Masato Yoshino Produce, 2/15)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Nanae Takahashi & ZONES (Sendai Girls, 3/17)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka (Sendai Girls, 5/18)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto (Sendai Girls, 6/9)
• w/ Chihiro Hahsimoto vs. Manami & VENY (Sendai Girls, 8/24)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Monono & Yurika Oka (Sendai Girls, 9/28)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Monono & Yurika Oka (Marvelous, 10/27)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Lena Kross & VENY (Sendai Girls, 11/9)
• w/ Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mika Iwata & Sareee (Sendai Girls, 12/8)

“part of the tag team of the year in Team 200kg yuu pops up all over the joshi scheme but by far her best work is in sendai girls where she has a lot of great matches with the very talented roster that surrounded her. “ ~ Padraig

“Wrestlers can often be compelling by either presenting problems for their opponent to solve or by solving those problems, but in 2024 Yuu just was the problem. Her presence in the ring, especially as part of Team 200kg, was a problem for her opponents to solve each and every match, and watching that dynamic made for some of the best matches of 2024.” ~ Conor S.

77. Hologram/Aramis (33 ballots, 1126 points) – LOWEST 33 BALLOT WRESTLER
Average Rank: 53.45
Last Year’s Rank: 269
High Vote: Ducky (5)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Aero Star (Lucha Memes, 1/1)
• w/ Cole Radrick & Oni El Bendito vs. Arez, Demonic Flamita & Latigo (GCW, 1/12)
• w/ Jack Cartwheel vs. Arez & Gringo Loco (GCW, 5/5)
• w/ Noisy Boy & Spider Fly vs. Arez, Latigo & Toxin (Mexa, 6/8)
• w/ Noisy Boy & Spider Fly vs. Gran Pandemonium, Hijo de Pandemonium & Pandemonium Jr. (IWRG, 6/16)
• vs. The Beast Mortos (AEW, 7/27)
• w/ Kyle O’Reilly & Orange Cassidy vs. Johnny TV, Lee Moriarty & The Beast Mortos (AEW, 8/31)
• vs. Dralistico vs. The Beast Mortos (AEW, 9/25)
• vs. Komander (AEW, 10/8)
• vs. The Beast Mortos (AEW, 10/12)

“The former Aramis getting picked up by AEW to do a new, fairly heavily promoted, gimmick was not on my bingo card for the year. I liked Aramis, one of the better spotty dudes working the Mexican indies…but also maybe not my first, second, or third choice to get the treatment. That doesn’t stop him from having a good year though. He gets some shiny toy treatment in AEW. What can you say, he doesn’t waste it. I thought he also had a couple of fun showings in WCPW to start the year.” ~ Sam DiMascio

“Throughout the year, Hologram was the wrestler I most looked forward to watching. His ability to blow my mind over and over almost every time he wrestled was untouchable by any other wrestler I watched. Unfortunately, he got injured before the year ended, only having about 3 months of consistent TV output, but for the time he was wrestling, he was by far the most entertaining part of AEW TV for me. Every week I found myself waiting for whatever Hologram match they would announce, which is more than I can say for most. His run in the Collision Texas residence was some of the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling in a long time. If his year wasn’t cut short I have no doubt he would be at least top 3 on my list. He puts the largest smile on my face every time I watch him.” ~ Ducky

76. Kaito Kiyomiya (25 ballots, 1144 points)
Average Rank: 46.04
Last Year’s Rank: 18
High Vote: Cam (3)

Recommend Matches

• w/ Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kenoh & Yu Owada (NOAH, 3/31)
• vs. Ulka Sasaki (NOAH, 4/1)
• vs. Kenoh (NOAH, 4/11)
• vs. Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. (NOAH, 5/4)
• vs. Gabe Kidd (NOAH, 6/16)
• vs. YOICHI (NOAH, 7/13)
• vs. Ryohei Oiwa (NOAH, 8/9)
• vs. Dragon Bane (NOAH, 8/12)
• vs. Ryohei Oiwa (NOAH, 9/14)
• vs. Masa Kitamiya (NOAH, 10/14)

“Maybe the most stable year yet for Kaito atop the card. Most will point to the GHC and N1 work, but there’s enough fun stuff outside of those to round out his 2024 (the tag league run with Oiwa especially).” ~ Stevan S.

“Suffered this year from nobody really giving a shit about NOAH. But Kaito’s still the damn ace.” ~ Chris Gibbons

75. El Desperado (27 ballots, 1148 points)
Average Rank: 51.89
Last Year’s Rank: 30
High Vote: Lily C. (2)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Hiromu Takahashi (NJPW, ¼)
• vs. Titan (NJPW, 5/11)
• vs. Kosei Fujita (NJPW, 5/13)
• vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NJPW, 5/21)
• vs. Clark Connors (NJPW, 5/22)
• vs. TJP (NJPW, 5/26)
• vs. DOUKI (NJW, 6/3)
• vs. Taiji Ishimori (NJPW, 6/9)
• vs. SHO (NJPW, 6/16)
• vs. DOUKI (NJPW, 7/5)

“The stand-out talent of , admittedly, one of the least stacked junior rosters, in New Japan history. In 2024 El Desperado remained involved in the vast majority of the better matches in that division.

However, it was away from his main employer or on his self-produced show, that Despy’s  passion and talent for a wide variety of types of wrestling shone through. If the cards had fallen differently, he could have been a stand-out member of the roster, in pretty much any men’s promotion in Japan. “ ~ Nick Yeoman

“Desperados’ 2024 was a down year compared to the previous trwo. No deathmatches this year, did not get to do much cool stuff outside of NJPW, spent some time no the shelf, and was in a less than ideal BOSJ block. That being said, he’s still one of my guys, and he’s still one of the best wrestlers NJPW has to offer.” ~ Greed

“El Desperado has been the NJPW juniors ace for years, and has done incredibly in that role. This was one of his weakest years as the ace in some time, but he still did his best to elevate the juniors in a down year for the division.” ~ Chris Gibbons

74. Jake Something (31 ballots, 1167 points) – LOWEST 31 BALLOT WRESTLER
Average Rank: 53.71
Last Year’s Rank: 348
High Vote: Ghash (10)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Bryan Keith (DPW, 2/18)
• w/ Mike Bailey vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin (DPW, 3/10)
• vs. 1 Called Manders (DPW, 4/14)
• vs. Mustafa Ali (TNA, 4/20)
• w/ Mike Bailey vs. Judas Icarus & Travis Williams (DPW, 6/16)
• vs. Mad Dog Connelly (DPW, 9/15)
• vs. Calvin Tankman (DPW, 10/13)
• vs. Donovan Dijak (DPW< 11/17)
• w/ Mike Bailey vs. Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku (DPW, 12/8)

“Jake Something is so good he almost got me to watch TNA, almost. Something’s best work is in DPW where he held both the tag and world title this year. His team with Bailey has been able to produce Bailey’s best work of his career and I give Something a lot of the credit for that. His DPW world title win was a big highlight for the promotion this year “ ~ Padraig

“Jake Something might just have something. Sigh sorry about that. Anyway, between his tag with Bailey and other work especially in DPW, Jake continues to prove he’s more than a body guy. The thing is, he’s been doing this for a while. He was doing this in AAW and even an absolute garbage promotion like Black Label Pro. Something has a lot of tools and in 2024 was the year he got to to do in a promotion that people like and in role that allowed him to show more of the toolbox on a night-to-night basis.” ~ Sam DiMascio

“I’m a high voter on the tag team with Mike Bailey. Combine that with his singles work and he’s an easy top 30 wrestler in the world.” ~ Dan Rice

73. Katsuyori Shibata (28 ballots, 1203 points)
Average Rank: 52.68
Last Year’s Rank: 49
High Vote: HD (19)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Bryan Danielson (AEW, 3/16)
• vs. Will Ospreay (AEW, 3/27)
• vs. Lee Moriarty (AEW, 4/13)
• w/ Orange Cassidy vs. Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor (AEW, 4/21)
• vs. Chris Jericho (AEW, 5/1)
• vs. Rocky Romero (AEW, 5/16)
• w/ Daniel Garcia vs. Anthony Henry & JD Drake (AEW, 5/30)
• vs. Jay Lethal (AEW, 8/21)
• vs. Minoru Suzuki (TAKAYAMANIA, 9/3)
• vs. Tommy Billington (ROH, 12/20)

“Did you know they took Shibata’s brain out of his head? Did you know that? They really did that, did you know? Anyways, Shibata vs Tommy Billington from Final Battle is such a great match everyone should seek out, and his mini tag run with Garcia mid-year got some sleeper hits. His match with Bryan from Collision might also be the best TV match ever, not only because it rules but because it is fucked up that we got to see it. What a match. Shibata’s still got it man.” ~ Andy/Shrimp

“It will never stop being crazy that Shibata is just a full time TV wrestler now. One of my all time faves is just hanging out in the AEW midcard putting on solid performances still after being retired for years, and now he has a text-to-speech bit, hangs out with Samoa Joe and Hook, and did the iron claw for a while. Between this and not having him back at all, I’d take him returning every time.” ~ Greed

“Being an all-time great means knowing how to adapt. As painful as it is, Katsuyori Shibata cannot be the epic main eventer he was ten years ago. He had to retire after they removed his brain and put it back in. But what he’s been doing as a regular TV wrestler has been underrated in my view. He had phenomenal matches with Danielson and Ospreay. He’s a great guy to put with younger grapplers like Tommy Billington and Lee Moriarty. He’s a reliable tag worker. And he had Minoru Suzuki’s best singles match in… well, it’s been a while. The AEW run won’t be the best in his phenomenal career, but it’s pretty damn great for something we never thought we’d get in the first place.” ~ Chris Gibbons

72. Komander (32 ballots, 1205 points) – LOWEST 32 BALLOT WRESTLER
Average Rank: 54.16
Last Year’s Rank: 80
High Vote: pto (5)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Konosuke Takeshita (AEW, 3/13)
• vs. Rush (AEW, 7/3)
• vs. The Beast Mortos (ROH, 7/26)
• vs. Hologram (AEW, 10/8)
• vs. Kyle Fletcher (AEW, 11/2)
• vs. Lio Rush (AEW, 11/6)
• vs. Hechicero (AEW, 11/20)
• vs. Ricochet (AEW, 12/4)
• vs. Darby Allin (AEW, 12/7)

“Komander was made to be the perfect TV wrestler. Throw him into any match and he’ll find a way to deliver something fun. Gives Okada his best match in years. “ ~ Padraig

“Mr. TV Wrestling 2024. In reality he probably has to share a little bit of that with Mortos but I will body shame and say Mr. TV Wrestling should be either skinny or fat and Mortos is neither so congrats Komander. The Lio Rush matches are so good, the sort of thing that gives Mysterio versus Psychosis vibes kind of? I was going to say a Ki vs. Red vibe because I still think Lio is closer to a Ki/Red hybrid than any other wrestler has been. Anyway, Komander is flat-out fun and he found his groove this year.” ~ Sam DiMascio

71. Tomohiro Ishii (25 ballots, 1207 points) – HIGHEST 25 BALLOT WRESTLER
Average Rank: 42.80
Last Year’s Rank: 57
High Vote: Lily C. (9)

Recommended Matches

• vs. Orange Cassidy (AEW, 2/10)
• vs. Jeff Cobb (NJPW, 6/9)
• vs. YOSHI-HASHI (NJPW, 7/3)
• vs. Roderick Strong (AEW, 7/20)
• w/ Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matt Taven & Mike Bennett (ROH, 7/26)
• vs. Swerve Strickland (AEW, 8/10)
• vs. Adam Page (AEW, 8/28)
• w/ Kyle O’Reilly & Mark Briscoe vs. Big Bill, Bryan Keith & Chris Jericho (AEW, 11/6)
• vs. Chris Jericho (AEW, 11/27)
• vs. Yuki Iino (DDT, 12/22)

“This year was a bit of a different one for Tomohiro Ishii. The “Stone Pitbull” spent a good chunk of his year outside of New Japan Pro Wrestling, including a two month stretch outside of Japan entirely with AEW and ROH. While some of his best matches came during that mini-excursion, Ishii’s best matches came whenever he faced someone of his own size and stature. Ishii was able to bounce off of the big men of wrestling, both literally and metaphorically, very well. Rarer matchups and a change of scenery really helped Ishii’s 2024 stand out from previous years for me.” ~ M0ndo

“He may not be physically capable of hitting the same heights or doing it with the same frequency, but in 2024, the fact remained, if you put Ishii in there with someone else with a “big bomb” style offence (like a Masa Kitamiya) , the results were usually well-worth seeing. One of the most tried and true formulas in wrestling, remains affective, for at least one more year!” ~ Nick Yeoman

“After what felt like an eternity of american WrestleCon forearm exhibitions with guys who had worked twitter DMs good enough, 2024 felt like a comeback year for Ishii. His year-end Kouraken Hall main event performance capped off a year of incredibly competent and emotional shifts as a tag team laborer. He also had the greatest “maybe i should be looking at the little box in the corner, not the commercials for burger king” moment when he engaged in a headbutt battle with Chris Jericho. “ ~ L.C. Moe