The 411 Wrestling Top 5 7.14.10: Week 83 – Light Heavyweights

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions. Most of our topics will be based on recent events in the Wrestling World, looking at those events that make us think of times past.

Criteria: Based on the last known information from the WWE Cruiserweight Title, a wrestler was deemed eligible if he weighed less than 225 pounds.

So what did our group of writers select? Let’s find out…

Larry Csonka

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dean Malenko – Dean didn’t have a ton of personality, but the dude brought it every time he stepped into the ring.

Christopher Daniels – I have followed Daniels for some time, and have rarely been disappointed. He is one guy that has constantly been underused through out his career. It is also forgotten how many careers he helped get started and the numerous guys he put over, whether they deserved it or not.

Jerry Lynn and Sean “Lightning Kid” Waltman – I LOVED their early GWF stuff, and followed them from that point on.

5. Mistico – While I have had numerous favorites from the world of Lucha Libre, Mistico is one guy that has stuck out to me for the last several years. He is a great babyface and has been the lead for CMLL for a while, and was also the first ever Luchadore to win the Wrestling Observer WOTY Award in 2006. That was the same year I voted for him in the 411 Year-End awards, but was about the only one. On top of his skills, he was also a true draw for CMLL.

4. Jushin THUNDA Liger – From 1990-1992, Jushin THUNDA Liger was considered to be one of, if not THE best wrestlers in the world. Not lightweight, OVERALL best. Liger was an artist in the ring, and not only meant a lot to wrestling in Japan, but also made an impact on North America when he came to WCW. Liger is a hero to many lightweight, and spawned a generation of wrestlers that wanted to be the next him.

3. Sabu – Back in the early to mid-90’s, before he was beat down, broken down and just going through the motions, Sabu was quite simply THE MAN. He was innovative, he was doing things that people had not seen before and then, when you added the hardcore element of ECW into it, he was a different breed of lightweight. When I first discovered ECW, Sabu was the first guy I saw, and I was instantly hooked.

2. AJ Styles – AJ Styles is one of my favorite wrestlers, and to watch him evolve as performer has been a joy to watch. AJ Styles went from a talented and athletic kid with a ton of potential who relied on spots to a guy that learned to work stellar matches after working with veterans like Jerry Lynn and Christopher Daniels, and has become Mr. TNA. His portfolio of great matches over the years with a variety of opponents speaks for itself. AJ is simply phenomenal.

1. Tiger Mask and The Dynamite Kid – Call it a cop out all you want, but to me, these guys cannot me separated. In the early 1980’s, these guys were the architects of lightweight wrestling. Their series of matches are so good that you can pop them in today and they will still blow away 90% of what is being put out today, in any promotion, anywhere in the world. Tiger Mask and The Dynamite Kid were THE reason that I got into watching the lightweight wrestlers, and in closing, all I want to say is that there were SO MANY greats to choose from that I had to leave out, and I hate that. Thanks for reading.

Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Bryan Danielson – One of the most talented in-ring performers ever, but not what I typically think of when I think “light heavyweight” or “cruiserweight.”

Mistico – Mistico has been the top draw in Mexico for the last several years and wrestles like the second coming of Rey Mysterio.

Tiger Mask I – One of the most innovative athletes ever; would be in my top five if he hadn’t decided wrestling wasn’t worth his time.

5. The Dynamite Kid – Best known as the tag team partner of Davey Boy Smith as The British Bulldogs, Dynamite Kid helped to revolutionize wrestling in the late seventies and early eighties. His rivalry with the original Tiger Mask is the stuff of legend. Bret Hart has gone on record as saying that he may have been the best in-ring wrestler ever, and while I don’t share that opinion, it’s hard to imagine what wrestling would be like if Dynamite Kid hadn’t shown up.

4. Dean Malenko – Malenko’s WCW gimmick, “The Man of 1,000 Holds” was one that stuck out to me as a kid. It is certainly appropriate; Dean’s technical wizardry was amazing. Malenko never broke into the main event scene like some of his friends (Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero and Mysterio), but that didn’t stop him from being a great in-ring performer, helping all of those men climb the ladder.

3. Eddie Guerrero – Eddie Guerrero was always a talented performer who had success wherever he went, but when he turned heel in 1997 and started targeting the Cruiserweight Championship, he was just flat out awesome. He had a fire in him and was ridiculously on point and polished. Even with his drug issues, he was considering in many circles to be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world during that point.

2. Jushin Thunder Liger – I have never seen a Jushin Liger match where Liger isn’t flat-out awesome. In his prime, he was amazingly athletic and even innovated the Shooting Star Press. Later in his career, he slowed down a bit and become one of the most ruthless and entertaining heels in the world. Hugely respected, tremendously talented, and successful everywhere he’s been, Liger definitely has a case for being the best light heavyweight performer of all time.

1. Rey Mysterio – A bit obvious probably, but I don’t care. I’ve been a fan of Mysterio ever since I was a little kid watching him fly around on Nitro. He’s been one of the most popular wrestlers in the world since that point, dazzling people with his athleticism and managing to break the glass ceiling and become a heavyweight champion. Still, Rey will always be a cruiser in my eyes, and that isn’t an insult; Rey is on the short list of wrestlers to never bore me.

Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dos Caras – One of three legendary wrestling brothers from south of the border (the other two being Mil Mascaras and Sicodelico), Caras, in addition to being a first ballot hall of famer by any measure, was always fun to watch due to the insane, pretzel-like submission holds he would bust out.

Ultimo Dragon – Ultimo falls to honorable mention status because he was never really a top guy in any promotion like many of the other candidates, but he deserves mention here not only for his in-ring performances but also for establishing Toryumon/Dragon Gym, a training system which created virtually all of the current Dragon Gate roster and numerous other modern junior heavyweights.

CIMA – A lot of people focus on the “glory days” of Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling, but there are some great modern wrestlers doing the style as well. Of them, CIMA is no doubt the best, both in terms of athletics (earlier in his career) and psychology (these days).

5. Great Sasuke – In 1996, New Japan Pro Wrestling decided that, as a special attraction, they were going to hold a tournament in which eight different junior heavyweight titles from eight different promotions were unified into one grand championship. This was accomplished through a single elimination tournament featuring the eight champions in which the winner of the whole she-bang would be the sport’s first octuple-crown champion. Who did NJPW turn to when they were deciding who they should put the belt on? None other than the Great Sasuke, a man out of northeastern Japan who was one of the pioneers of integrating lucha libre into puroresu and who, for seventeen years now, has operated his own junior heavyweight promotion, Michinoku Pro. The fact that New Japan chose Sasuke to hold eight different championships at once should provide some idea of his level of talent. In addition to his in-ring performances, he is also one of the toughest SOB’s that I’ve known, as he TWICE cracked his skull open during a match and worked through to the finish. On top of all of that, he has a level of local celebrity which has allowed him to be elected to the prefectural assembly of Iwate, essentially making him the equivalent of a state senator in the US.

4. Dynamite Kid & Tiger Mask – Hey, if Big Boss Csonka can get away with putting them down as a tie, I can too. Without a doubt, these two men taught a certain generation of fan what junior heavyweight wrestling could be. The matches that they had against one another, both in the United States and in Japan, still hold up despite the fact that decades have passed since they initially took place. On top of that, they also had outstanding careers apart from one another. The Kid obviously had his big run as part of the British Bulldogs tag team in the World Wrestling Federation, and he also had numerous memorable matches in Stampede Wrestling and even going back to British grappling on World of Sport. Satoru “Tiger Mask” Sayama, meanwhile, not only revolutionized high flying in Japan but also was crucial in creating the hybrid professional wrestling/shoot fighting style that has become immensely popular in the country over the course of the last fifteen years, and he’s still active today as a wrestler, trainer, and booker in his very own Real Japan Pro Wrestling.

3. Verne Gagne – This entry is one that a lot of people probably wouldn’t have thought of. However, when television and televised professional wrestling both became insanely popular for the first time in the 1950’s, Gagne was one of the top stars receiving nationwide exposure on the Dumont Network, and he did it all as a junior heavyweight clocking in at just around 210 pounds. Alongside Gorgeous George and Lou Thesz, Gagne, a former two-time NCAA wrestling champion, was one of the biggest names of the era. Eventually Verne attempted to move up to the heavyweight division of professional wrestling within the National Wrestling Alliance, though politics (and some say his size) prevented him from ever capturing the company’s top championship. The result was the former collegiate wrestler breaking away to form the American Wrestling Association, his own promotion where he would go on to hold his own version of the world heavyweight championship ten times. Though billed as a heavyweight at the time, he would almost certainly still qualify as a junior by most standards, and, if nothing else, it was his performances when billed as a junior heavyweight that laid the foundation for him becoming among the biggest stars in wrestling history and founding one of the most successful promotions in wrestling history.

2. Jushin “Thunder” Liger – Show me somebody who doesn’t love Jushin Liger, and I’ll show you somebody who either isn’t a wrestling fan or has never seen this man compete. Listing all of Liger’s accomplishments would take more space than what I have here, but, suffice to say, the man has been among the top junior heavyweights in New Japan Pro Wrestling (and, by extension, the entire world) for almost a quarter of a century. Throughout that period of time, he has consistently had some of the best matches and performed some of the most breathtaking maneuvers in the industry, all while capturing numerous championships and the adulation of fans. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Liger, from where I sit, is that he has managed to be a consistently awesome wrestler despite the fact that he has had to vary his wrestling style throughout his career. Originally a flyer, he had to ground himself a bit more after brain surgery almost ended his career, and, even after that, he had to integrate more MMA-based offense into his matches in order to keep up with contemporary trends in puroresu. Despite the variance in style, his performances have never suffered, which no doubt helps to explain how consistently popular he is with his fans.

1. Rey Misterio Jr. – Misterio isn’t just a good wrestler. He isn’t just a current WWE main eventer. He is, quite literally, a revolutionary figure in professional wrestling. Rey, born in the United States, began his pro wrestling training in Mexico and spent the first several years of his career there. While there, he completely changed that country’s version of professional wrestling. Yes, he did amazing moves that had never been seen before. However, his true contribution to the sport was the fact that he, for the first time, began integrating American-style psychology into lucha matches, which changed the entire pro wrestling paradigm south of the border. From there, he came to the United States and was a cornerstone of the WCW cruiserweight division. The cruisers weren’t just a flashy undercard attraction as some may believe. They significantly changed the style of wrestling on American television. Their performances resulted in smaller wrestlers being accepted by the masses, and they resulted in a faster-paced, harder-hitting style of wrestling which eventually was adopted not just on WCW undercards but also in several main events of all the country’s major promotions. Misterio was the key babyface leading that revolution, and he probably doesn’t get the credit for it that he deserves. When WCW closed its doors, it looked at first like Rey Rey would be done with wrestling on a major scale in North America until he was finally offered a WWE deal in 2002, which finally gave him an opportunity not just to work for the largest wrestling company in the history of the world but also to become, on two different occasions, its World Heavyweight Champion. That’s a resume any wrestler would envy, regardless of his size.

Robert S. Leighty Jr

HONORABLE MENTIONS (up to 3)

Brian Pillman – Before the car accident and during WCW’s light heavyweight title days, Pillman was tearing houses down in revolutionary matches at the time.

Sean Waltman – He has gone by many different names, but before injuries took a toll he also pioneered a style that US audiences just weren’t used to seeing.

Chris Jericho – Honorable mention for his awesome run as CW Champion were he perfected his heel persona while feuding with Juventud and Dean Malenko.

5. Dean Maleno – He is the man that reigned in the early days of the CW division in WCW. While everyone he wrestled was flying all over the place, Malenko was using his 1001 holds to just punish people.

4. The Dynamite Kid – I only know DK from his tag team days in the WWF, but I have read enough and tracked down enough matches to know that he was putting on matches that influenced an entire generation of smaller workers.

3. AJ Styles – Styles helped make TNA’s X Division, and basically picked up the torch that was lost when WCW and their CW division died. AJ has done things in a ring that have left me shaking my head in disbelief, and I am still hoping to one day see him and Mysterio do battle.

2. Jushin Thunder Liger – Liger’s match with Pillman in WCW introduced me to a style wrestling I had not seen. That match instantly made me a Liger fan and anytime he was brought back to WCW, I was stoked because I knew I was going to see something spectacular. Just a true legend that influenced a lot of guys on this list.

1. Rey Mysterio Jr – I could not justify putting anyone else here. He was the prize and driving force of WCW’s revolutionary CW division and ushered in a style that most casual wrestling fans in the US had never seen. The fact that Vince McMahon had enough faith in the guy to put a World Title on him twice shows how he has changed the business.