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16 Past and Present Oklahoma Talents Place in the 2007 PWI 500

Posted: Sep 21st 2007 By: CMBurnham

Pro Wrestling Illustrated recently released its annual "PWI 500", a listing of the top 500 wrestlers in the world. 16 wrestlers with ties of Oklahoma were nestled on that list, so at this time, Oklafan would like to acknowledge each of those performers and offer our congrautlations.

#19: Sting. Sting made a full time return last year and capped off 2006 by winning the NWA World Title for a second time. While he would lose that title early in 2007, it helped catapult "The Stinger" back into the main event picture. In 2007, Sting teamed with TNA World Champion Kurt Angle to win the TNA World Tag Team Titles, but that reign was also incredibly brief. Feuds with Abyss and Kurt Angle have helped draw national attention to TNA and with their upcoming expansion to 2 hours, many fans of "The Icon" can look forward to seeing him more regularly.

#32: A. J. Styles: Styles seemed content to play the fool for most of 2007, setting himself up as the lackey of Christian Cage. He teamed with Christopher Daniels to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles for the second time in 2006, but lost those belts to LAX. Daniels and Styles then split and Styles would go on to defeat Chris Sabin for hist 6th NWA World X Division Title, which he would lost 2 weeks later to Daniels. Although he is still quite capable of putting on great matches, he seems happier getting the laughs, although his association with Tomko and their pursuit of the TNA World Tag Team Titles might have caused Styles to find that serious side again.

#63: Brent Albright. It's been a stellar year for "The Shooter" and it all started on a bad note as he was let go from OVW after being sent down there from the Smackdown brand. But Brent took it all in stride and made inroads into Ring of Honor, where he has spent most of his time. Never one to forget where he comes from, Albright also returned to Oklahoma to compete for NWA-U, where he pursued his cousin Rocco Valentino and forced him into retirement, taking the NWA-U Universal Title in the process. Capping off the year, he made it to the finals of the tournament to crown a new NWA World Champion, but lost to Adam Pearce, who, ironically, is now his stablemate in the new "Hangmen 3" faction in ROH. Albright is one of only 2 native Oklahomans to make the PWI 500 this year.

#70: Ric Flair. The "Nature Boy" seems to have called it a career after 35 years. He mentored Carlito, then feuded with him. He was then drafted to Smackdown, where he had some tag team matches with WWE Smackdown World Champion Batista, opened many house shows against Kenny Dykstra and was last seen in the vice-grip of (then) WWE Smackdown World Champion The Great Kahli. Flair's name turned up in the steroid investigations that began over the summer and that, combined with several other points of discontent, caused him to give notice to the WWE for his release. Originally, it was planned that he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this March and wrestle his final match at WrestleMania XXIV.

#117: Jeff Jarrett. "The King of the Mountain" has been notably absent since lostin the NWA World Title to Sting. He did engage in a mini-feud with Chris Harris, but then had to take time away from the ring, due to the death of his wife Jill from cancer. Rumour has it that Jarrett is set to make his in-ring return on October 4, when TNA moves to its 2-hour time slot.

#162: Charlie Haas. The other native Oklahoman (although he was technically born in Texas, he grew up in Oklahoma), Haas reformed his tag team with Shelton Benjamin and engaged in great matches with other RAW talents like The Highlanders, Cryme Tyme and Paul London & Bryan Kendrick. Sadly, Haas' name was one of 10 WWE talents who tested positive for steroids and at the time of this writing, he is currently serving a 30-day suspension.

#238 & #241: The Naturals. Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens haven't been seen much on TV since they were released by NWA-TNA. They still make several appearances with the United Wrestling Federation, which uses many TNA (and recently, WWE) talents. They were supposed to receive a WWE tryout match last week, but that was scrapped, presumably because of the publicity that Andy Douglas brought himself and Chase Stevens with a MySpace posting about the match.

#256: Jim Duggan. Hooooooooo!!! One of 4 returnees to the PWI 500, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan hasn't seen the list since 2000. He's returned to the RAW brand and formed a tag team with Eugene, but never won the tag team titles. Mostly he's competed on matches taped for Heat, although he did appear this past Monday on RAW in a Flag Match against Daivari.

#278: Rick Steiner. Another PWI returnee from 2000. The "Dog-Faced Gremlin" has reformed his championship tag team with his brother Scott and they focused on Team 3-D and the NWA World Tag Team Titles. The 2 teams were supposed to face each other over the summer at the Slammiversay PPV, but Scott suffered a life-threatening throat injury in Puerto Rico and Rick teamed with Road Warrior Animal instead. Recently, Rick was the victim of a 3-D through a table which has taken him off the active roster, but it seems a sure bet that he will return and when he does, Team 3-D and all other TNA Tag Teams had best beware.

#281: Jerry Lawler. "The King" appears every Monday night as 1/2 of the Monday Night RAW broadcast team, but he also feuded with King Booker over the "King" nickname. And he has been the centre of controversy in his own federation, Memphis Wrestling. Earlier this year, Lawler was supposed to face Hulk Hogan in a rematch 25 years in the making, but when the WWE refused to allow Hogan to compete in the match (which would have been taped for his "Hogan Knows Best" series on VH-1), Lawler instead faced Paul Wight (AKA The Big Show) in the main event in front of 5000 people, the most to come to an independent show in the Memphis Collesium in ages. Also, he was served with papers to appear on charges of assault by Sal Corrente, a manager in Memphis Wrestling, who claimed that Lawler unprovokedly hit him during a show in Sam's Town, MS. Seems like no matter what "The King" is up to, controversy follows.

#284: Brad Armstrong: For the first time in almost a decade, Brad Armstrong makes the PWI 500. Oddly, he hasn't competed too much this year, spending quite a bit of time as a colour commentator for ECW, then Deep South Wrestling. He has made appearances in some southern indy feds, most notably IWA-Deep South and NWA Wrestle Birmingham.

#426 & #448: The Re-Gex. Seth Shai & Mace claimed the IZW Tag Team Titles in June of 2006 and held them until April, 2007 when they lost the belts to Team Shenanigans. While they were regarded as one of the best duos in the Southwest, it seems their days as a tag team are over for the time being. Mace has entered the police academy, but Shai still competes singly in indies around Texas.

#483: Tracy Smothers. Smother might as well have the nickname "The King of the Indies", but that's already been taken. He spent lots of time competing for lots of different federations and even held titles in Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling and Collesium Championship Wrestling. While some may think he's past his prime, the FACT that he is booked every weekend shows that he's still in high demande and capable of putting butts in seats.

#486: Matt Riviera: He's a young up-and-comer who works a lot in Louisiana, but has competed this year for NWA-U and UWF06. Riviera has a bright future, if he can get himself some more exposure.

Oklafan congratulates all the wrestlers listed in the PWI 500 and wishes then best in the upcoming year.

Tags: Sting, A. J. Styles, Brent Albright, Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett, Charlie Haas, The Naturals, Jim Duggan, Brad Armstrong, Rick Steiner, Chase Stevens, Andy Douglas, Jerry Lawler, The Re-Gex, Seth Shai, Mace, Matt Riviera