Who’d have thought even a year ago that WWE would be hosting a tournament full of indie stars in the year 2016. After months of speculation, all 32 wrestlers and the brackets are now available to us and the CWC looks like it’s going to be one hell of a tournament.
It would have been easy for WWE to fill the tournament with members of its current roster, but instead WWE has scoured the globe and secured a host of wrestlers ranging from indie darlings to relative unknowns representing a wide variety of different wrestling styles.
The Cruiserweight Classic promises to be a fantastic tournament involving a host of really talented wrestlers. Here are 5 wrestlers to look out for from the field of 32.
#5 Brian Kendrick
Brian Kendrick was a young up and coming talent during the Ruthless Aggression Era, a talent that WWE somehow managed to squander. Kendrick’s in-ring work was spectacular and he was dynamite on the mic, but his smaller stature counted against him in the pre-Daniel Bryan era of WWE.
Although Kendrick holds the record for the longest Tag-Team Championship run along with Paul London and is a former TNA X Division Champion, his career could have been so much more.
Brian Kendrick currently works as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center and will be a fan favourite at the Cruiserweigh Classic. At 37, he’s no longer a spunky newcomer but a grizzled veteran with a point to prove.
Interesting Fact: Kendrick’s first professional wrestling match was against the ‘American Dragon’ Daniel Bryan, who was also making his pro wrestling debut that night.
#4 Akira Tozawa
Akira Tozawa looks like he was born to be a wrestler. Everything from the way he carries himself in the ring to the way he seamlessly moves around it just screams Superstar. Although he isn’t that well known around the world, he’s a star back in his native Japan where he wrestles for Dragon Gate, one of the most renowned promotions in Japan.
Tozawa’s offence ranges from a range of stiff chops and strikes to his specialty, a huge variety of German suplexes ranging from the traditional German suplex, the deadlift German suplex to his trademark package German suplex and a host of others.
Interesting Fact: Tozawa has wrestled a host of WWE Superstars on the indies including Neville, Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn. At one point he was also the tag-team partner of Kevin Owens and the duo were aptly name the Nightmare Violence Connection.
#3 Rich Swann
Many wrestlers come from tough backgrounds but few have faced the hardships faced by Richard Swann. Swann’s rise to greatness is particularly inspiring in an industry defined by overcoming the odds.
In Swann’s own words, wrestling saved his life.
His father was murdered when he was 13 and his mother died a few years later. Young Rich Swann then fell in with the wrong crowd and did cocaine regularly at one point in his life, before one of his friends died who introduced him to the drug, died from a heart attack.
Rich Swann wrestled all across the indies from CZW, Dragon Gate USA and PWG earlier in his career before signing for NXT in 2015. Swann is a versatile and charismatic performer and definitely looks like he has a bright future in the WWE.
Interesting Fact: In 2014, rapper Wale tweeted out that Swann and Apollo Crews needed to be in the WWE, a tweet that was seen by Mark Henry who arranged for Swann to get a WWE tryout. A year later, Rich Swann signed for NXT.
#2 Zack Sabre Jr
Some consider Zack Sabre Jr to be the best technical wrestler in the world today. He’s the current PWG World Champion and has won the Bryan Danielson award for Best Technical Wrestler for the last two years in a row.
It’s only a matter of time before Sabre signs for WWE and he’s one of the early favourites to win the whole Cruiserweight Classic. His offence has evolved from his love of Puroseu and technical wrestling and involves a series of holds, locks and pinning combinations mixed with stiff strikes.
Interesting Fact: Zack Sabre Jr has wrestled all around the world and he’s taken on a host of WWE stars in the indies including, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor. Incidentally, ZSJ also considers Finn Balor to be the best wrestler in the world today.
#1 Kota Ibushi
Kota Ibushi is one of the best wrestlers in the world today and the hottest free agent in wrestling right now. Ibushi was one of the biggest stars in Japanese wrestling before his career was curtailed by injury which led to him pulling out of his dual contracts with NJPW and DDT.
Kota Ibushi is a former 3-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a former winner of the Best of Super Juniors tournament. His match with Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 9 is considered to be one of the greatest matches in Wrestle Kingdom history.
Most of WWE.com’s promotion of has so far been based around Kota Ibushi and right now he seems to be the odds-on favourite to win the tournament.
Interesting Fact: Ibushi’s match with Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 9 was awarded the Pro Wrestling Match of the Year award for the year 2015 by the Wrestling Observer.
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