Indy Power Rankings for the Week of March 16th, 2015
#1 Bubblegum @Pipbubblegum)-After being #93 in the 2014 IPR 100, he’s well on his way to an even higher ranking in 2015 as the PCW Cruiserweight Champion and ½ of the Infinite Pro Tag Team Champions defeated Ashton Smith at PCW on 3/13, then on 3/14 teamed with Rampage Brown, Sha Samuels and Christopher Daniels to beat Dave Mastiff, Noam Dar, Will Ospreay & U-Gene, then defeated T-Bone in the semifinals, and then defeated Lionheart in the finals to go 4-0 for the week. Despite some good weeks for a lot of the talent in the Top 10 and beyond, it was obvious that the clear cut choice for #1 this week was a man who receives his first #1 ranking after his PCW performances. He is the first talent from the UK to grab a #1 ranking in 2015. More to come?
#2 Santana Garrett (@BrittanyTNA)-No woman has dominated the Indy Power Rankings since the beginning of the rankings all the way up to now. Santana is the current NWA Women’s Champion and a former Indy Power Rankings People’s Champ. She didn’t need the support from the fans after going 4-0 last week. She defeated Tammy Lynn at I Believe in Wrestling on 3/13 to retain the title, then she beat Lena Taylor & Codie Lane in a triple threat at CWE the same day to retain the title, then beat Ashley Mayberry at I Believe in Wrestling on 3/14 to retain the title yet again, and then beat Andrea the Giant at NWA Signature Pro on 3/15 to wrap up the weekend. Catch her on the Tag Team Top 5 Reveal on 3/25 at 3 PM EST on Elite Podcast Network!
#3 Kongo Kong (@RealKongoKong)-The dominant monsta returns to the Top 10 after 2 successful IWA World Title defenses in the span of just a few days. On 3/12 he defeated Shane Mercer once again to retain the title and then followed that up with a first time matchup vs. Zodiak where he came out on top on 3/15. A 2-0 week is enough to get a wrestler of his prestige and reputation and a very high ranking this week amongst a lot of people who either went 2-0, 3-0, or 4-0. Kongo Kong has turned away every single challenge that has come his way since becoming champion at IWA Mid-South. Well…who’s next? It appears that American Viking is next in line.
#4 Akira Tozawa (@TozawaAkira)-What more can be said about Akira Tozawa this year? He has absolutely CONTROLLED the Indy Power Rankings after racking up THREE #1 rankings and now he’s back yet again. The Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Champion teamed with YAMATO at Dragon Gate on 3/9 to beat Dragon Kid & Kzy and Shachihoko BOY & Super Shisa in a triple threat match, then defeated Jimmy Kanda on 3-14, and then teamed with Shingo Takagi on 3/15 to beat Dia.HEARTS (Kzy and Big R Shimizu) to go 3-0 for the week. This ranking just adds to his potential #1 ranking in the 2015 IPR 100 as currently, that’s where he sits. Can he hang on until December? We shall see.
#5 AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg)-You have to look outside of ROH and NJPW to understand why he’s not even higher this week. This past week he DID however knock off John Hennigan for the FWE Heavyweight Title to add to his growing list of accomplishments on the indies. He is also the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion which is a title that doesn’t really play a role in our rankings, but obviously that type of success is hard to dismiss from the minds of any voter. Despite him garnering most of his success at New Japan and ROH so far in 2015, you should probably still expect to see a lot more of him as he does make frequent rounds on the indies.
#6 Chris Masters (@ChrisMasters310)-He is the NEW PCW Heavyweight Champion after defeating Uhaa Nation in a No DQ, Loser Leaves Town Match over the weekend. After a very good 2014, he’s already on the right path in 2015. He also defeated Dave Rayn on 3/14 to run his weekend record to 2-0 for the week. Solid ranking as Preston City Wrestling played a very large part in the Indy Power Rankings this week, proving that UK talent and UK promotions DO get the respect from the official voters when the timing is right.
#7 Minoru Suzuki-Despite so many people with multiple wins, it would be impossible to ignore the HUGE single win by Minoru Suzuki as he became the NEW GHC Heavyweight Champion over the weekend after knocking off Naomichi Marufuji for the prize. If he had just one or two more victories/matches over the weekend, he would likely be even higher in the Indy Power Rankings this week, but for now, with so many wrestlers with multiple victories, he gets slotted in right at #7.
#8 Dave Crist (@OIFK1324)-1/2 of OI4K is a title collector on the indies right now, but it was his two title defenses that got him his ranking this week. First, he defeated Jake Omen at Rockstar Pro to retain the American Luchacore Title on 3/11, and then he teamed with Jake Crist at CZW on 3/14 to beat Danny Havoc & Devon Moore to retain the CZW World Tag Team Titles. 2015 has undoubtedly been a year that has been dominated by the Crist Brothers with their title wins everywhere they go, which is true in both singles and tags. Can Dave surpass Jake for the higher spot in this year’s IPR 100?
#9 John Wayne Murdoch (@johnmurdoch25)-“The Duke” drops some from last week due to heavy competition but continues to hang around the Top 10 as 2015 is shaping up to be even better than 2014 so far. He defeated Joseph Schwartz at IWA Mid-South on 3/12 in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match and then followed that up with a MOTN candidate when he teamed with Reed Bentley to defeat The Hooligans on 3/15 at IWA’s Prince of the Death Matches 2015. With a 2-0 week and 5 straight victories, JWM continues to be a force to be reckoned with.
#10 Red Devil-As if further proof was needed that the Indy Power Rankings are truly international, we get representation from Italy this week in the Top 10 as the ICW Italian Heavyweight Champion went 4-0 for the week, as he defeated Stelvio L’Alpinio on 3/13 to retain the title, then defeated Andy Manero on 3/14 to retain the title, then defeated Maestro Manuel Majoli on 3/15 to retain the title, and then finished off the weekend as he teamed with Danny Angel & Nick Lenders to beat Alessandro Corleone, Killer Mask and Superstar Simon Silas. This is his first appearance in the Top 10 and with a weekend like this, you can definitely expect to see more of him if he can build on it this year.
People’s Champ. Teddy King (@JoshuaKing992)-The online voting competition was another hard fought battle this week as Teddy King battled it out with James Anthony and Victor Andrews, but ultimately came out on top with an impressive 122 votes. This is his 2nd People’s Champ award this year and we expect more from him as he is the WWA Heavyweight Champion and the NEW WWA National Champion after defeating Kahn on 3/14 to win the title.
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Honorable Mention. Charlie Kid-NEW ICW Campione del Cartoomics; teamed with Doblone on 3/13 in Italy to beat Alex Flash & Bon Giovanni, then on 3/14 defeated The Joker to win the title, then successfully defended the title against Psycho Mike the same night to go 3-0 for the week.
Others missing out/receiving votes:
Ace Perry-#4 in the online vote with 30 votes
Taka Michinoku
Johnny Gargano
Zane Dawson
Joe Coffey
James Anthony-Tied for #2 in the online vote with 89 votes
Dale Patricks
Victor Andrews-Tied for #2 in the online vote with 89 votes
Ryuji Ito
Corey Hollis
Tommy Mack-#5 in the online vote with 26 votes
Koehi Sato
Brandon Scott-#6 in the online vote with 20 votes
Jimmy Havoc
Brute VanSlyke
Drake Evans
Icarus
Bad Bones
Sassy Stephie
Mike Vaughn
Martin Kirby
Madman Pondo
American Viking
Styrkryn
Angel de Oro
Pompano Joe
Sammii Jayne
Crazy Mary Dobson
Kenso
Kayoko Haruyama
Chris Smith
Logan Steel
Amanda Rodriguez
Maestro Manuel
J Rage
Jed Johnson
Masakatsu Funaki
Takeshi Minamino
Ben Manna
Kai
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http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elitepodcastnetwork/2015/03/18/indy-power-rankings-tag-team-top-5-reveal-ft-crazy-mary-dobson
