My 5 Favorite Non WWE Wrestlers Right Now At This Moment In Time

Ah yes, it's that time of year where my wife has gone to sleep for the evening and I'm wide awake watching youtube videos of random ass wrestling matches from across the globe. It's in this spirit that I give you 5 wrestlers who may not be on the radar (and some who may be) who are doing some ridiculous work right now. Also don't ask where Keith Lee is because rumor has it he has signed with the WWE so in the hopes of willing this to happen I have omitted him from this particular list.

5. WALTER
Kicking off the list we have the big Austrian. He's currently the PWG champion and pretty much most of the upper card in the WWE succeeded in PWG. The big man is  the epitome of the hard hitting powerhouse.

However he is surprisingly light on his feet, and has gone toe to toe with big guys such as the aforementioned Keith Lee, technical wizards such as Zack Sabre Jr. (One of those matches receiving a five star rating from Dave Meltzer) and high fliers like Ricochet. If he went to NJPW you know he'd be a mega star and I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up there as he was trained by the Stone Pitbull himself Tomohiro Ishii.

4. Hiromu Takahashi
Hiromu is what one would call an interesting fella. That being said whatever "it" is, he has it. And he has it in spades. He has the slightly demented charisma that you just can't take your eyes off the guy of he is in the ring and the fact he has a stuffed cat named Darryl that accompanies him to the ring is just outstanding. Inside the ring, hot diggity damn is he a sight.

He's already had damn near classic bouts with some of the foremost Junior Heavyweights in the world such as Kushida, Will Ospreay, and Ricochet. He uses a mix of both high flying moves from his days in Mexico and some more traditional ground based offense from his days in the New Japan dojo. Definitely catch up on some of the matches by the man known as the ticking time bomb.

3. Stokely Hathaway
While not a classic in ring performer this is going to be one of my first inclusions that is mainly a manager. This guy is amazing. His facial expressions, promos on the mic, just flawless execution on all accounts. I am mainly familiar with his work in Ring of Honor as the manager of Moose and in Evolve as the manager of Timothy Thatcher.

He's a throwback of sorts, a loudmouth little guy who generally has the ear of some of the most dominant wrestlers at his disposal. If the WWE was smart a commitment to managers leading wrestlers should happen and this is the man who could be the top of the mountain.

2. Toni Storm
So if you are a voracious viewer of the WWE network you are probably familiar with Toni Storm. She competed in last year's Mae Young Classic and just from that she become my 2nd favorite competitor in the tournament not named Kairi Sane (sup Bianca Bel Air.)

She has all the charisma in the world and once in the ring, hot damn can she go. And not the moves of the late 90s divas, no , no, no Toni Storm is bringing pile-drivers and strong style baby. Given the fact she is only 22 the sky is the limit for this young lady.

1. Minoru Suzuki
Now in terms of will he ever be signed by the WWE the answer is no. He's 49 years old and works a to be honest almost sadistic style. A legit shoot fighter with 50 MMA bouts under his belt he is the leader of in my opinion the best heel stable in all of pro wrestling Suzuki-gun.

Sidenote: the mentor and mentee vibe he and Zack Sabre Jr is probably one of my favorite things in all of wrestling. Seriously, check out when they tag together and let it warm your heart as they attempt to maim their opponents. He constantly insults the crowds, dismisses his opponents and in my opinion he is the top heel in all of New Japan.

Well there you have it wrestling fans. Take this time you have off to watch a lot of wrestling...or spend time with your family. Whatever. I'm not your boss.