The 2009 Powerslam Top 50

[Kick Your Face]

1. Rey Mysterio
2. KENTA
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi
4. Davey Richards
5. AJ Styles
6. CM Punk
7. Randy Orton
8. Bryan Danielson
9. Kurt Angle
10. Jeff Hardy
11. Takashi Sugiura
12. Kota Ibushi
13. Katsuhiko Nakajima
14. Naruki Doi
15. Masato Yoshino
16. Triple H
17. Hirooki Goto
18. Chris Jericho
19. Austin Aries
20. Christian
21. Shingo Takagi
22. BxB Hulk
23. Edge
24. Go Shiozaki
25. Shinsuke Nakamura
26. Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness)
27. CIMA
28. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
29. Kaz Hayashi
30. Masato Tanaka
31. Dragon Kid
32. Eddie Edwards
33. Prince Devitt
34. Kotaro Suzuki
35. Chris Sabin
36. Yuji Nagata
37. Alex Shelley
38. Shawn Michaels
39. Jerry Lynn
40. The Undertaker
41. Ted Dibiase Jr.
42. Tyler Black
43. John Morrison
44. PAC
45. Samoa Joe
46. Nick Jackson
47. Tyson Kidd
48. Matt Jackson
49. The Miz
50. Kofi Kingston

1. Randy Orton is way too high.
2. Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton should not be ahead of Big BOSS Sugsy.
3. I'm not sure what Rey Mysterio did to be #1. But okay.
4. Jericho should be a tad higher.
5. Is lacking Dr. Wagner, Jr. and El Mesias.
6. Kotaro Suzuki should be ahead of Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Other than those, it's not too bad of a list.

[James McCloud IS John Godot]

Did PS give its traditional "I know we said this 5 years ago but this MUST be the last time the Undertaker makes the list"?

[simplydurhamcalling]

Jericho should be top in my opinion, the only memorable thing Mysterio did all year was feud with Jericho. Jericho on the other hand did many more memorable things....vs Steamboat, Jerishow teaming.

[hajimenoippo]

this list is so smarkish. Honestly Davey richards? Sure he's been good this year, but he hasn't been great.

Jericho has been greatness this year, so has Orton, AJ styles shouldn't be anywhere near the top 10

[Kick Your Face]

Nakamura is criminally underrated in this list. I doubt we'll ever get a good list unless Wrestling Observer decides to finally put one out.

[Numero Dos]

It seems Power Slam are continuing their tradition of not putting Cena in the list even though he should be. I'm not Cena's biggest fan but he should at least make the 50. The editor of the magazine also seems to have something against Jericho he's often criticised in the magazine for no real reason.

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2009 15:29:09 GMT -5 Numero Dos said:

It seems Power Slam are continuing their tradition of not putting Cena in the list even though he should be. I'm not Cena's biggest fan but he should at least make the 50. The editor of the magazine also seems to have something against Jericho he's often criticised in the magazine for no real reason.

That's the first thing I noticed (regarding Cena) so yeah...I'm not well educated in the indie scene really either so whilst I am aware of Davey Richards I'm wondering what the Hell he did to get #4!

I enjoy Powerslam (and enjoy their proper articles, so still buy it) but it does tend to be a bit cliche smarktastic at times.

[machomadness]

Nah, I think Jericho is just hideously overrated on here.

I'am not Rey Mysterio's biggest fan either but you can't argue with the fact he has been in at least half a dozen barnburners this year including the Royal Rumble, elimination chamber (he was brillant in that match), his series with Jericho, his series with Ziggler (espeicially Summerslam), dropping the belt to John Morrison (which many are calling the best tv match of the year) and he was the best performer in that fatal 4 way aswell which had everybody's favourite CM Punk in it. Rey delivered on the big stage this year when it was asked of him and that's why I knew he'd be number one. He deserves it.

[Wieners=$$$]

Oops, I thought this was the top 50 powerslams of 2009. Really need to learn sentence structure. Um... I'll show myself out. Get your hands off of me!

[Ass Dan]

I don't see what Mysterio did to earn the No. 1 spot. Sure, he was Intercontinental Champion for a while, but I don't know if that's the cause.

[H-Fist]

Orton and Triple H are both a few slots too high, and Cena should be ranked. Orton and Trips lose points for their Mania match, plain and simple. That's fair, considering 50% of Taker's ranking and 25% of Shawn's come from their one match, if I had to hazard a guess.

For those not too sure of Davey Richards' #4 ranking, here is a rundown of his 2009:
Ring of Honor: World Tag Team Champion since April 10 TV taping; faced KENTA for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title during WM weekend; feud of the year candidate for American Wolves vs. Steen and Generico; MotY candidate - Wolves/Steenerico Ladder War at GBH 8 with Richards' partner working with a broken elbow; MotY candidate at Final Countdown Tour: Boston against Bryan Danielson; MotY candidate at Tag Title Classic going to 45-min draw against Danielson and Tyler Black.
FIP: held FIP Heavyweight title from May 2 to December 6, losing it at a Dragon Gate show.
Dragon Gate: debuted with Dragon Gate promotion, completing tour in December and apparently affiliating himself with Shingo's Kamikaze faction.
Dragon Gate USA: defeated Shingo Takagi on promotion's debut show and participated in DGUSA tournament to crown first champion.
Pro Wrestling NOAH: completed tour in February for "Second Navigation 2009," including a pair of tag matches against Mitsuharu Misawa and a bit of a series against Naomichi Marufuji.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: Yeah, he had time for them, too.

Basically, Davey Richards was The Guy on the American independent scene in 2009. The term "breakout year" gets thrown around a whole hell of a lot, but this was the year where Richards proved that he can go with anybody in any style. Now that Danielson and Wolfe are off the indies, it is hard to argue that anyone is on a higher plane than him right now.

[rnrk supports BLM]

How on earth did Dibiase Jr. even make the list? I can't recall anything he's even done this year other than the decent Legacy/DX feud (and Cody's by far the more entertaining on their tag team) and starring in an inevitably godawful direct-to-DVD flick.

[strykerdarksilence]

I don't get what was so terrible about Orton/Hunter at Mania. On the night I enjoyed it more than Taker/Shawn, and now I'd say on a par having got the dvd and rewatched a few times.

Taker/Shawn was technically better, but had no drama built going in, so it was just a cold match for me.

[Sir Woodrow]

The thing I find with Powerslam is they do an article praising someone when they're on the way up but once they reach the main event the Magazine turns.

[mcmahonfan85]

Dec 18, 2009 2:44:24 GMT -5 H-Fist said:

Orton and Triple H are both a few slots too high, and Cena should be ranked. Orton and Trips lose points for their Mania match, plain and simple.

f*** the match, they should lose points for the feud period

[thuschongswing]

For such a smarky list (no Cena to be found anywhere; Danielson, Punk, Styles, and Angle in the top ten) why IS Randy Orton #7 anyways? Most smarks consider him to be a talentless hack to begin with...

'course, I could ask why Triple H is in the top 20, considering smarks HATE him AND this was one of his worst years as a performer, but I'll just stop right now...

[hajimenoippo]

Dec 18, 2009 2:44:24 GMT -5 H-Fist said:

Orton and Triple H are both a few slots too high, and Cena should be ranked. Orton and Trips lose points for their Mania match, plain and simple. That's fair, considering 50% of Taker's ranking and 25% of Shawn's come from their one match, if I had to hazard a guess.

For those not too sure of Davey Richards' #4 ranking, here is a rundown of his 2009:
Ring of Honor: World Tag Team Champion since April 10 TV taping; faced KENTA for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title during WM weekend; feud of the year candidate for American Wolves vs. Steen and Generico; MotY candidate - Wolves/Steenerico Ladder War at GBH 8 with Richards' partner working with a broken elbow; MotY candidate at Final Countdown Tour: Boston against Bryan Danielson; MotY candidate at Tag Title Classic going to 45-min draw against Danielson and Tyler Black.
FIP: held FIP Heavyweight title from May 2 to December 6, losing it at a Dragon Gate show.
Dragon Gate: debuted with Dragon Gate promotion, completing tour in December and apparently affiliating himself with Shingo's Kamikaze faction.
Dragon Gate USA: defeated Shingo Takagi on promotion's debut show and participated in DGUSA tournament to crown first champion.
Pro Wrestling NOAH: completed tour in February for "Second Navigation 2009," including a pair of tag matches against Mitsuharu Misawa and a bit of a series against Naomichi Marufuji.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: Yeah, he had time for them, too.

Basically, Davey Richards was The Guy on the American independent scene in 2009. The term "breakout year" gets thrown around a whole hell of a lot, but this was the year where Richards proved that he can go with anybody in any style. Now that Danielson and Wolfe are off the indies, it is hard to argue that anyone is on a higher plane than him right now.

Eh really didn't feel like a big break out year for the dude though, his biggest feuds were with the Briscoes and SteenERICO and after that he's felt sort of blah.

I think Kenny Omega has had an even bigger year than Davey, PWG bias aside, along with well Davey Being the type of guy that PS would rank high, generic look, does kicks, does head droppy moves, and is short.

Seriously throw in top Puro and Lucha guys, leave the big WWE guys down the list, and put the smaller guys at the top regardless of effort this year.

Blah.

I wouldn't even call this year Davey's break out that was '06-'07

This year was all about Tyler Black, not Davey.

[mcmahonfan85]

Dec 18, 2009 12:45:10 GMT -5 hajimenoippo said:

Dec 18, 2009 2:44:24 GMT -5 H-Fist said:

Orton and Triple H are both a few slots too high, and Cena should be ranked. Orton and Trips lose points for their Mania match, plain and simple. That's fair, considering 50% of Taker's ranking and 25% of Shawn's come from their one match, if I had to hazard a guess.

For those not too sure of Davey Richards' #4 ranking, here is a rundown of his 2009:
Ring of Honor: World Tag Team Champion since April 10 TV taping; faced KENTA for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title during WM weekend; feud of the year candidate for American Wolves vs. Steen and Generico; MotY candidate - Wolves/Steenerico Ladder War at GBH 8 with Richards' partner working with a broken elbow; MotY candidate at Final Countdown Tour: Boston against Bryan Danielson; MotY candidate at Tag Title Classic going to 45-min draw against Danielson and Tyler Black.
FIP: held FIP Heavyweight title from May 2 to December 6, losing it at a Dragon Gate show.
Dragon Gate: debuted with Dragon Gate promotion, completing tour in December and apparently affiliating himself with Shingo's Kamikaze faction.
Dragon Gate USA: defeated Shingo Takagi on promotion's debut show and participated in DGUSA tournament to crown first champion.
Pro Wrestling NOAH: completed tour in February for "Second Navigation 2009," including a pair of tag matches against Mitsuharu Misawa and a bit of a series against Naomichi Marufuji.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla: Yeah, he had time for them, too.

Basically, Davey Richards was The Guy on the American independent scene in 2009. The term "breakout year" gets thrown around a whole hell of a lot, but this was the year where Richards proved that he can go with anybody in any style. Now that Danielson and Wolfe are off the indies, it is hard to argue that anyone is on a higher plane than him right now.

Eh really didn't feel like a big break out year for the dude though, his biggest feuds were with the Briscoes and SteenERICO and after that he's felt sort of blah.

I think Kenny Omega has had an even bigger year than Davey, PWG bias aside, along with well Davey Being the type of guy that PS would rank high, generic look, does kicks, does head droppy moves, and is short.

Seriously throw in top Puro and Lucha guys, leave the big WWE guys down the list, and put the smaller guys at the top regardless of effort this year.

Blah.

I wouldn't even call this year Davey's break out that was '06-'07

This year was all about Tyler Black, not Davey.

January 2009, people were calling for Black to be the next ROH World Champion
March 2009, people were saying f*** Black, Davey Richards should be the next ROH World Champion, and have been saying that for the rest of the year.

yes Davey's two big feuds of the year were against Steenerico and the Briscoes, but the feud between The American Wolves and Steenerico is ROH's feud of the year. besides the tag team feuds, he's also had a hell of a lot of great singles matches against the likes of KENTA (which was the second most talked about match Wrestlemania weekend), Austin Aries, Bryan Danielson, Roderick Strong, etc. he's also been competing all over the US indy scene and in Japan, while Black just mainly competes in ROH and a couple Midwest promotions. basically besides beating Jimmy Jacobs in a steel cage match and winning Survival of the Fittest, Tyler Black as done jack s*** in 2009 when compared to Davey Richards.

[hajimenoippo]

MEH I don't like either Man.

Jericho is the Superstar of the Year 2009

[mauled]

Dec 18, 2009 4:56:04 GMT -5 @strykerdarksilence said:

I don't get what was so terrible about Orton/Hunter at Mania. On the night I enjoyed it more than Taker/Shawn, and now I'd say on a par having got the dvd and rewatched a few times.

Taker/Shawn was technically better, but had no drama built going in, so it was just a cold match for me.

So you dont think Hunter squashing somone in the main event has not been done 1000 times before (with about 500 of them with Orton) is not fresh or original or that people might be bored with it??

As for Taker/Shawn it was incredible specially after Taker almost killed himself but the real test is whether they can do as good a job in the rematch??