Steve Cook’s Fave Five: May 2021

It’s almost the end of May! You know what that means!

Yeah, it’s a little later than usual. Stuff’s been going on, what can I say? Never mind all that, it’s time to look at my five favorite wrestlers of the moment! These are subject to change the moment after this gets posted. If you’ve got your own favorites, or suggestions for me in general, hit me up on the Twitter!

5. Dalton Castle

We know that Ring of Honor has never really been known for its compelling characters. It’s always been about the workrate there, including recently during their television show taped in an empty arena. It’s solid pro wrestling and the matches do well in the star rating department, but sometimes the show suffers from a lack of people that seem like actual stars. Lots of guys that want to be wrestlers and get the win, but not many that jump out of the television screen.

Castle has always done that, to the point where many wonder what he’s still doing in ROH. Some worry that other promotions would sap him of his charisma & uniqueness, but he’s done pretty much everything he can do in ROH. Except be the Champion of Television, which appears to be his next goal. It’s something to keep an eye on.

4. #InDex

Up until recently, I haven’t been a big fan of Dexter Lumis. Neither his work in NXT or from back in the day in TNA when he was Sam Shaw, Gut Check Winner turned Creepy Stalker did much for me. The moment I saw him pop up in NXT he became an automatic channel-changer.

That is, until he started working with The Way, Johnny Gargano’s happy family of miscreants. Something about how Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae are creeped out by the guy while Austin Theory thinks he’s cool & Indi Hartwell is in love just works. It’s become the most entertaining part of NXT, which makes it my current favorite thing going on in WWE. With the possible exception of Roman Reigns trying to prove he can be a serious actor. It’s a pretty simple story, but it works very well.

Hopefully Dexter & Indi can get things right. If there’s no hope for them there’s no hope for any of us.

3. Anthony Ogogo

I’ve always believed that the best finishing moves are the least complicated. Sure, we love a good Canadian Destroyer or Meltzer Driver or all these other moves that contain needless flips & whirlybirds, but there’s also something to be said for a good legdrop or a thumb to the throat. For Anthony Ogogo, a gut punch is all that’s necessary. First of all, if you’ve ever taken a good punch to the gut you know that it knocks the wind out of you. Secondly, Ogogo is an Olympic bronze medal winning boxer, having taken third place in the middleweight division at the 2012 Games. An eye injury forced him to retire from professional boxing, but he’s making the transition to professional wrestling pretty well so far.

Part of Ogogo making the list this month is that Cody Rhodes promo from a couple of weeks ago that made little sense and turned anybody wrestling him into a tremendous babyface. I don’t know why Cody has chosen this moment to start a political career with a feud against England, but it’s an odd choice. Especially since Ogogo can just punch the daylights out of him. Technically, Cody is the “good guy” in this feud, but Ogogo seems like the better person. Even if he’s cast his lot with QT Marshall.

2. Taylor Wilde

There are few things I love more in pro wrestling than random comebacks. Remember when Ricky Steamboat made an in-ring return in 2009, fifteen years after his original retirement? It was pretty unexpected, but one of the cooler things that happened that year. Now, I’m not equating Wilde with Steamboat, because she didn’t steal the show at WrestleMania III or have classic matches with Ric Flair, but it’s still pretty nice to see her back in the Impact Wrestling ring after a ten year absence.

So far, it doesn’t seem like she’s lost a beat. It might not be long before we see her holding championship gold again, as she seems like the biggest threat to Deonna Purrazzo’s Knockouts Championship at the moment. It’ll be a good match whenever it goes down.

1. Brian Pillman Jr.

Let’s be honest: the odds against Brian Jr. becoming a successful wrestler or anything else were pretty steep. One parent died very early, and the other had so many issues she could have had her own magazine. There were issues with the stepfather that weren’t widely reported until the Dark Side episode. One has to wonder why Brian Jr. would have gotten into a business that ended so poorly for his father.

Then again, you wonder why Brian Pillman Jr. wouldn’t have become a wrestler. Some of these things are just in the blood, you can’t really explain it. So far, Junior has shown the potential to equal his father’s feats. People say he has the same good qualities his dad had, and they hope the bad qualities don’t come out. I think that’s what we’re all rooting for. His Varsity Blonds tag team with Griff Garrison got a shot at the Young Bucks last week, and one has to figure it won’t be the last.

If you watched the Dark Side of the Ring episode on Brian’s father and don’t want to root for this kid, you have no soul.