This is my list of the 5 wrestlers that I feel influenced independent wrestling the most in 2020, either by their matches, their effect on the promotions that they work for or just their overall influence on the independent wrestling scene. Since this is my list, I do have biases. I know that many other wrestlers have had amazing matches, stories or influence this year, but these are the 5 that I have decided to focus on. You can argue the other 4 but I will stand by my number 1.
5. MV Young
Although MV has had some great matches, he is more on this list for things that he has done outside of the ring to innovate what wrestling can be and share it with a larger audience. He has been able to do this through his work with Uncanny Attractions and the PolyAm Cult Party shows. He also hosted a wrestling show during NY Fashion week, which included live music, drag performances and an inclusive fashion show. Uncanny Attractions redefined cinematic wrestling with the first ever totally cinematic wrestling show that was first broadcast on IWTV in September. It included 4 completely different stories cultivating with MV defending his Ring Light Championship against Big Game Leroy in a 2 out of 3 falls video game match. The PolyAm Cult Party shows were something completely different that gained the attention from not only the wrestling world but also had artists, NFL players and Olympic athletes taking notice. The first party was in a backyard in NYC and was headlined by MV vs Effy, it also featured an outstanding match between Lee Moriarty and Ziggy Haim and introduced me to Erica Leigh, who is becoming a rising star. The second party was in Pittsburgh and featured MV in a three-way match against Jody and Joshua Wavra, where he successfully defended the Wrestle Lab Championship and his Ring Light Championship. The main event of that show was a match between Billy Dixon and Jared Evans, which may be one of my favorite matches of the year. The highest profile match that MV has had this year was at Effy’s Big Gay Brunch where he joined Billy Dixon, Joshua Wavra and O'Shay Edwards to take on the Second Gear Crew consisting of Manders, Mance Warner, Matthew Justice and Levi Everett. My favorite MV match of this year was him against Lee Moriarty at Ryse. It was amazing that this match was so good considering that MV had a no ring death match with Casanova Valentine 2 days before and Lee had a match of the year candidate with Alex Shelly the night before. This match is available on YouTube and I would highly recommend checking it out. Whether it has been on social media where he interacts with his over 100,000 partners, being a driving force behind Uncanny Attractions or having innovative shows, MV is one of the people that is helping to expand the audience of wrestling and make it more inclusive all while throwing suplexes and kicks.
Twitter: @THEonlyMVYoung
Merch: https://whatamaneuver.net/collections/mv-young/
4. Tony Deppen
Tony Deppen has arguably been one of the most diverse wrestlers of the year. He has had great matches against highflyers, hardcore matches, and technical wrestling matches. Even though he is hated pretty much everywhere he goes he is always entertaining and will give you one of the best matches of the night. Deppen has been a cornerstone of 2 of the promotions that have had the best year, GCW, where he is known as the gatekeeper, and ICW No Holds Barred. He was the winner of Synergy’s Garden State Invitational, was an entrant in the Ring of Honor Pure Wrestling Tournament, and was also revealed to be Stokley Hathaway Jr on the Masked Wrestler. As the gatekeeper of GCW he has faced a lot of new or younger wrestler’s but has also had very significant matches with people that were leaving the independent scene. Deppen faced Jake Atlas and Alex Zayne in their final matches for GCW and also faced Joe Gacy at his final independent match at ICW. He may be most known for his arrogance, but can also be very humorous, as shown during the Twink Gauntlet at Effy’s Big Gay Brunch. His interactions with fans can also leave you not knowing whether to get mad at him or crack up laughing. My favorite match that he had this year was his match against Jake Atlas for GCW at I Can’t Feel My Face in January, it was an incredible match and also very emotional. Deppen ended the year very strong by winning a 4-way match on the pre-show of ROH Battle, then having possibly the match of the night against Dragon Lee. Many fans are calling for him to be signed by the company and I think that would be a very smart thing for them to do.
Twitter: @Tony_Deppen
Merch: https://www.doublehell.com/category/tony-deppen
3. Alex Colon
This year seemed to be the year of the deathmatch in independent wrestling. There was more attention on deathmatch wrestling this year than I can ever remember, and Alex Colon is widely believed to be the best deathmatch wrestler in the country. He won the Tournament of Survival by defeating SHLAK, Atticus Cougar and Rickey Shane Page, made it to the finals of the H20 Danny Havoc Hardcore Title Tournament, and the Semifinals of the Nick Gage Invitational tournament, where he had an incredible match with the eventual winner Mance Warner. Colon was one of the few people that got to wrestle in Japan this year having some brutal matches for GCW and Freedoms in February. For me, the matches that really caught my eye and showcased how great Colon is at deathmatches were his 2 matches at GCW Homecoming against AJ Gray and Zachary Wentz. These were both AJ and Wentz’s first ever death matches, and in Wentz’s case his only death match, but it looked they had been doing it forever. Neither wrestler nor Colon held anything back and they were 2 of the most memorable matches of a very packed weekend. My favorite match that Colon has had this year and probably his highest profile match was at Joey Janela's Spring Break against Matt Tremont. This was Matt Tremont’s final GCW match and it was the main event of Spring Break, the biggest event of Collective weekend. This match was a brutal, enthralling, and emotional 26-minute death match that could be a contender for match of the year. Towards the end of the year Alex also helped start The Danny Havoc Creative Arts Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children gain access to art supplies in the memory of Danny Havoc. If you would like to help this organization, you can purchase arts supplies through their Amazon wish list at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/104XGEZHZ59O?ref_=wl_share
Twitter: @alexcolon0139
2. Lee Moriarty
Lee Moriarty may be the wrestler who has had the best matches of the year. Some call him the best wrestler in North America, although he constantly disputes this, as he is a very humble man. He started to get noticed on a larger scale with his matches against Alex Shelly. This feud came to an end with a submission match at AIW’s debut even on IWTV, Built to Last. They had gone into this match with each getting a victory over each other in the previous matches and this was the rubber match. Lee got the win and after the match Shelly said that he would eventually like to team with Lee and would also get Lee to Japan, as that is one of his goals. After the matches with Shelly, Lee was in high demand, working for most of the major independent companies. His first major match after the series with Shelly was at Bizzaro Lucha against Tripp Cassidy and as soon as he came through the entrance the crowd was behind him. He was not able to defeat Tripp on this occasion, but Tripp said that he could tell that Lee would be star. Lee debuted at GCW with a victory in a very competitive, high paced match against Tre Lamar at The Wrld On GCW Part 2. He then had the busiest schedule of any wrestler at the Collective, as he had 6 matches in 2 days. These matches included the top stars in the indies, ACH, Isaias Velazquez, Mike Outlaw, Jonathan Gresham, Daniel Makabe and a 3 way with old rivals Tre Lamar and Alex Shelly. Lee is a student of wrestling as he is constantly studying different styles. He brings a Lucha style, submission and striking to his matches. He was also able to show off is toughness this year in some hard hitting UWFI rules matches at Paradigm Pro. He stood toe to toe with Chris Dickinson at the Heavy Hitters tournament and was able to defeat Max the Impaler in the first round of the Fighting Spirit Heavyweight Grand Prix before falling to the eventual winner Mo Atlas. It is really hard to pick a favorite match of Lee’s for this year, but I am going to have to go with Jonathan Gresham at Spring Break, mainly because these are 2 of my favorite wrestlers and 2 of the best technical and submission wrestlers right now. The future seems limitless for Lee right now, he has had a match at IMPACT and will undoubtably be one of the most in demand wrestlers going into 2021.
Twitter: @apexofcombat
Merch: thirtysevengoods.bigcartel.com
1. Rickey Shane Page
RSP has to be the undisputed number 1 wrestler in the independent scene in 2020. Independent wrestling would have looked completely different if it were not for RSP and 44OH. They seemed to be on almost every show that you turned on. RSP gets the strongest crowd reaction that I have seen in years and he does not even need to do anything other than show up. When he does wrestle, he has had some of the most exciting and chaotic matches of the year. Going into GCW’s Run Ricky Run most people thought that Nick Gage was going to win their match and regain the GCW World Title. When RSP won the match, through interference from fellow 44OH members, the crowd began to throw trash at the ring in a scene that I had not seen the likes of since ECW. 44OH has not only had a huge effect on GCW, but they have also made an impact and get the loudest crowd reactions wherever they go including No Peace Underground, ICW No Holds Barred, IWA Mid-South and Beyond Wrestling. 440H has really made a statement in IWA Mid-South. RSP lost in the first round of the King of the Death Matches, but helped his stablemate Eric Ryan win the tournament, and fellow 440H member Atticus Cogar was the winner of Prince of the Deathmatch. RSP has been the champion of the most popular and most consistently running independent promotion, GCW for the entire year. Yes, in that year he may not have put the championship on the line as much as some would like, but he was still winning matches and when those title matches came around, they seemed very important and everyone was hoping that would be the day that someone would take the belt off of this ass hole from Ohio. We all know that RSP is great on the mic, but this year the promos that he has been making and releasing have been some of the best that are being put out. The first one that I noticed that was really good was the one for his match against Nate Webb. They then followed with most of his matches, including the great Homecoming video and most recently the video where all the members of 44OH do Tracy Smothers impersonations. My favorite RSP match of this year was the No Rope Barbed Wire 200 Light Tubes Death Match against Matt Tremont, which was Tremont’s final match. There were very emotional promos by RSP and Tremont going into this match, then RSP attacked Tremont after his final match at IWA Mid-South to add some fuel to fire. Just watching from home, you could feel the excitement in the air whenever these 2 men finally hit the ring. This was a brutal and emotional match with RSP coming out the victor to the dismay of the crowd. All of the members of 44OH have had a great year, but RSP is the leader, so I will give him most of the credit.
Twitter: @RickeyShanePage
Twitch: twitch.tv/rickeyshanepage
Merch: 44ohmerch.com