THE NXT UK TOP 50! (Covering Episodes 1 - TakeOver: Blackpool II)

It's the 3rd wrestler ranking for my NXT UK Guide! Here's the Original Top 50 (which covered episodes 1-TakeOver: Blackpool), and then I had the Next Top 50 (which factored in every match from Episode 1 thru Episode 50). Now we have another 25 shows under our belt, and TakeOver Blackpool II felt like a great end cap for the 3rd Top 50. 75 different shows gives us a great sample size to draw from, and I will again state that these rankings are based ONLY on matches from NXT UK. It does not factor in any matches any of these wrestlers had anywhere else, *only* on NXT UK. All wrestlers' placement on the prior 50 will be listed in parentheses after their current ranking (a dash means they were previously unranked). 

1 (1). Kassius Ohno

2 (11). Noam Dar

3 (2). Jordan Devlin

4 (6). Wolfgang

5 (3). Mark Coffey

6 (9). Fabian Aichner

7 (13). Marcel Barthel

8 (14). James Drake

9 (4). WALTER

10 (10). Joe Coffey

11 (7). Dave Mastiff

12 (5). Wild Boar

13 (12). Ligero

14 (22). Zack Gibson

15 (19). Flash Morgan Webster

16 (17). Tyler Bate

17 (20). Mark Andrews

18 (8). Jinny

19 (21). Trent Seven

20 (15). Eddie Dennis

21 (49). Alexander Wolfe

22 (18). Travis Banks

23 (16). Toni Storm

24 (24). Kenny Williams

25 (23). Tyson T-Bone

26 (25). Rhea Ripley

27 (30). Joseph Conners

28 (32). Ashton Smith

29 (26). Isla Dawn

30 (31). Primate

31 (-). Piper Niven

32 (29). Saxon Huxley

33 (-). Ilja Dragunov

34 (47). Kay Lee Ray

35 (27). Jack Gallagher

36 (-). Cesaro

37 (-). Kona Reeves

38 (28). Pete Dunne

40 (-). Oliver Carter

41 (34). Nina Samuels

42 (-). A-Kid

43 (-). Riddick Moss

44 (-). Dorian Mak

45 (-). Sam Stoker

46 (33). Mansoor

47 (-). Lewis Howley

48 (35). Dakota Kai

49 (36). Amir Jordan

50 (48). Xia Brookside

As expected, with a larger sample we've more or less established our Top 20. There is plenty of movement within the Top 20, but 18 of the 20 wrestlers from the last Top 20 are still there. Most of the drops on the list can be chalked up to "wasn't featured as much" and several of the gains are due to someone being more featured. Kassius Ohno retains his #1 status, as I don't think there's anyone else in NXT UK who comes close to having the most consistently high end matches with the biggest variety of opponents. It's that easy. He's obviously the best and he feels like the least contentious #1. What's going to be interesting is how many years after he stopped working NXT UK that I'll be able to justify keeping him in the Top 10. 

The most consistent high end wrestler (other than Ohno) was Noam Dar, who jumped from #11 to #2. Not only was he featured more during this ranking period, but he was responsible for 3 of the best ever NXT UK matches during this period alone. WALTER dropped in the Top 10 due to being the least impressive member of Imperium during the ranking period. It didn't feel right to have him above Barthel and Aichner, so I moved them up a bit and moved him down a bit. James Drake is a definite Top 10 at this point, Grizzled Young Vets had their best run of the series, and I bumped him and Zack Gibson up accordingly. 

The biggest gainer was Alexander Wolfe, a guy who seems destined for the Top 5-10. He was only so low to begin with because he only had one eligible match in the last ranking. Now that he's a regular, he's having standout matches, and will likely be the biggest gainer on the next ranking too. 

Most of the women dropped during this ranking, as NXT UK devoted less time to the women's division than ever. I wanted to keep Jinny in the Top 10, but the overall role of the original NXT UK women changed so much during this period that it made that tough to justify. Overall, Jinny, Rhea Ripley, and Toni Storm were either featured less or moved to other brands, their TV time replaced by Kay Lee Ray and Piper Niven (who each bumped up the list accordingly). 

The Bottom 20 is a mix of wrestlers who haven't been on NXT UK since the early episodes, and wrestlers who have only been on NXT UK starting with the latest episodes. The middle of the list is mostly home to wrestlers I like who I wish I could rank higher (Tyson T-Bone still my guy who would be Top 5 if he showed up more often). 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO NXT UK