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Once again, it's time for the Jewish New Year, where Jewish people around the world gather with their families, eat sweet bread, and dip apples in honey. Last year for Rosh Hashanah, the name of the festival in Hebrew, we covered the 10 best Jews in Professional Wrestling History. This time around, we're looking at the 5 best Jewish stars still actively performing today.
The requirement is that the wrestler must not only be active in wrestling today, but be performing either with the biggest promotions in the world: All Elite Wrestling, New Japan, WWE, ROH, or else must be regularly performing at multiple top-level Independent promotions like Progress, MLW, and WXW.
Jewish stars have a long history in professional wrestling, both inside the ring and as promoters. Wrestlers like Dean Malenko, Matt Bloom, Randy Savage, and Billy Kidman are all famous wrestlers with Jewish heritage.
With this in mind, here is a list of the top five Jewish stars still active today.
Honorable Mention - Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman belongs on a list of the greatest wrestling managers of all time. He is up there with the likes of Gorilla Monsoon, Jim Cornette, Paul Ellering and Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan. Heyman is still active in wrestling today, serving as Roman Reign's advocate. The former head of Monday night's RAW, Heyman has never been one to get in the ring, and it's not fair to put him on this list against some of the other names.
However, if we were to include Heyman as an active participant, there would be few better than the former leader of ECW and the man who became synonymous with Hardcore Wrestling.
Heyman is also one of the greatest mic workers in the history of wrestling. His promo ability has helped create Brock Lesnar's incredible image. Shows with Paul Heyman cutting a promo are better off for it.
Heyman even evoked his Judaism during Brock Lesnar's feud with Goldberg. During one of his promos, Heyman recited Kaddish, the mourner's prayer.
Heyman remains a cult figure in wrestling circles owing to how much he was able to achieve with how little he had with ECW. A maverick persona coupled with a genius marketing brain puts Heyman as one of the top promoters in the world of wrestling of all time.
# 5 Colt Cabana
Colt Cabana seems to have led a growing resurgence in independent wrestling. Before Ring of Honor was as well known as it is today, Cabana, alongside CM Punk, Austin Aries, Nigel McGuinness, and Bryan Danielson, helped build the framework for the resurgence. Cabana's initial run with ROH lasted until he signed a developmental contract with WWE. After a short stint in OVW, Cabana was brought on to SmackDown as Scotty Goldman. However, the character was only really used as a jobber and Cabana was released from WWE within a year of making his main roster debut.
After the unsuccessful stint with WWE, Cabana returned to the smaller independent promotions. Since then, Cabana has won the NWA Heavyweight title. He has also returned to ROH and wrestled for NJPW.
Cabana is most famous for his recent legal issues brought against him by Chris Amman. The suit stemmed from an episode of Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast. On the episode, CM Punk aired his grievances with WWE, including the alleged misdiagnosis of a staph infection. Dr. Amman sued both Punk and Cabana for defamation. In the fallout from the lawsuit, Cabana and Punk then both sued each other, over lawyer fees. This latest lawsuit has reportedly now been dismissed via settlement.
Cabana's Judaism came to the forefront during his time at WWE. He was given the Scotty Goldman moniker. Goldman is a traditional Jewish name.
# 4 Drew Gulak
Drew Gulak is a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion and has been signed to WWE since 2016. Prior to signing with the company, Gulak wrestled for Combat Zone Wrestling, Evolve, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Beyond Wrestling, and Dragon Gate USA on a variety of independent shows.
Gulak made his WWE debut at the first-ever Cruiserweight Classic competition. Gulak would defeat Samir Singh in the first round of the competition before losing to Zack Sabre Jr in the second round. Gulak would team with Tony Neese and Ariya Daivari to form a heel faction. The trio often participated in matches at WWE PPV pre-shows.
In 2019, Gulak would win his first WWE title. Gulak won a Triple Threat Match against Akira Tozawa and former ally Tony Neese. Gulak won the title by pinning Tozawa. Since winning the belt, Gulak has successfully defended his titles against Neese and Money Lorcan, and in a Triple Threat Match against Lince Dorado and Humberto Carrillo.
While Gulak has not seemingly spoken widely about his Jewish heritage, Jewish media outlets like The Forward, and various Israeli publications covered Gulak's Cruiserweight Title victory.
Gulak is currently wrestling for the red brand and is also a seven-time WWE 24/7 champion. He has largely remained a mid-card / lower-mid-card wrestler.
# 3 Matt Sydal
Formerly known as Evan Bourne in WWE, Matt Sydal has become a completely new person since moving to WWE's rival brand AEW. Sydal wrestled for WWE from 2007 to 2017, including a year in the promotion's development territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. During his time with the promotion, he was one of the few people allowed to perform the banned Shooting Star Press. Sydal would go on to win his only title in WWE, the tag team title, with former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.
After being released from WWE, Sydal wrestled for a variety of promotions such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerilla. During this time, he won the IWGP junior tag-team title with King Ricochet for two reigns. In 2017, Sydal signed with Impact Wrestling and won both the X Division title and the Grand Slam Championship before leaving the promotion after his contract expired.
Sydal acknowledged his Jewish connections and has now wrestled in Israel on several occasions, most recently on the 26th of August 2019, At the IPWA's Wrestling Party, Sydal successfully defended his IPWA title against Yuval Goldshmit, after the latter won the 21-man battle royal on the same card.
In AEW's "All Out," Matt was the surprise entrant in the casino battle royal. He has since then gone on to sign a contract with the company.
Sydal was one of WWE's most promising talents. His high-flying maneavours made him a crowd favorite.
# 2 David Starr
If you haven't heard of Starr, you must not be paying attention. One of the fastest and hottest talents on the independent wrestling scene, Starr is involved in all aspects of the business. Aside from being a fantastic in-ring performer, Starr is also helping to improve conditions in the industry by encouraging performers to unionize in order to gain protection when working.
Outside of his efforts to save the wrestling industry, Starr has also had a high profile feud with WWE UK Champion WALTER, in which Starr reportedly angered WWE by stepping on their belt. Starr had also created headlines by calling out WWE for taking their performers to Saudi Arabia. Starr has also been vocal in calling out Ring of Honor's parent company, Sinclair Broadcasting. This ultimately led to the promotion taking away a well-deserved title opportunity at the IPWA show in Israel.
Starr is also known for his long list of nicknames from 'The King of Taunts' to 'The Product' and is extremely active on Twitter, especially in regards to wrestling and his political views. David Starr also previously spoke to Sportskeeda about the wrestling landscape and where he sees himself wrestling in the future.
# 1 Bill Goldberg
It is arguable as to how active Bill Goldberg really is these days. Instead, the former WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Champion spends the majority of his time with his wife and son. However, ever so often, Bill has come down to the ring and usually puts on quite the show.
After an incredibly disappointing performance against The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia, Goldberg returned to his spearing best against Dolph Ziggler at Summerslam 2019. He then went on to feud against the likes of The Fiend from whom he won his second Universal Championship belt, eventually losing it to Brawn Strowman.
Goldberg was also in the midst of a one-sided feud with NXT superstar Matt Riddle. Riddle had frequently called Goldberg out on social media and ridiculed his performances. Riddle recently told the story of how the two of them crossed paths at SummerSlam and had a brief interaction, but the chances of them interacting in the ring are minuscule. Still, despite being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year, Goldberg continues to wrestle for the promotion and is in better shape than other members of the active roster.
There is no doubting Goldberg's credentials when it comes to his Judaism. He gave an interview about his background in 2001.
Fans are still unsure if we have seen the last of Golderg in the ring. Similar to Brock Lesnar, however, he continues to make sporadic appearances in a wrestling capacity.
