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The Oklafan 2021 Mid-Year Report

Posted: Jul 5th 2021 By: Oklafan Staff

2021 is over halfway done and we at Oklafan.com are pleased to release The Mid-Year Report. In this report, we'll look at the top 20 wrestlers of 2020 (as listed in the Oklafan Top 50) and see where they stand today, what they've accomplished and where they might be going. With a little less than 6 months left before the end of the year, some performers might need that extra motivation to kick things into gear. So, without further ado, let's get to it:

1. Dimitri Alexandrov. The current WFC Hometown Heroes Champion was on top of the list last year, winning so many accolades he needed an extra carry-on to take them all home with him. This year.....not so much. He lost the HTH title in January 2021 to Tim Rockwell. He did regain it 2 months later and has been successful in his defenses and that’s good. His appearances in ASP have NOT been so successful as he seems to be engaged in a feud with Legendary’s leader C. M. Burnham. And presumably he is still set to challenge for the NCWO Title at the end of August, though that remains uncertain as well. Most of Alexandrov’s time seems to be spent in Texas and while he has certainly been successful down there, that doesn’t help things up here for him. If he wants to regain that #1 position, he’s going to need to focus more on the Sooner State.

Current ranking: Unranked

2. Brawler Morrison. He was #2 last year and he is at that point again. Can he reach the brass ring and get himself up that one final spot? That seems to be up to him. He won the UWO Title from Blade [2nd] in June, but has yet to defend the title and rumour has it that he will not be present at the next UWO event in July. He and Thrash are no longer the WFC Tag Team Champions, having lost those titles to the Space Age Cowboys, but with Thrash now a member of Legendary, perhaps they will challenge DNR for the ASP Tag Team Titles. And he is one of 3 participants vying for the vacant WAH Living Hope Title in July. Like Alexandrov, Morrison has recently been focusing a lot of time outside of Oklahoma, though this is still his home base. As long as he keeps the appearance numbers up, he’s almost guaranteed to get a Top 10 spot. And if he adds more gold to his resume, perhaps he can swoop in on the #1 spot.

Current ranking: #2

3. Tommy Dean. The WFC Prime and CPW Champion has been on quite a tear this year. Tommy’s feud for the CPW Title with Double D was a strong contender for Feud of the Year and showed that Tommy could once again by the TOP guy in a company. His victory in the tournament for the WFC Prime Title was even more remarkable as he had suffered serious head trauma during that tournament and still fought his former partner turned antagonist Reed to win the finals. And while the company is currently inactive, Dean captured the BPW Lion Heart Title this year as well, making him a Triple Crown Champion for the first time. So why is Tommy ranked LOWER now with those those accomplishments? Again, he has been spending much of his time in Texas, getting his name established there, and that takes away from his opportunities here in Oklahoma. Tommy has never been ranked outside the Top 10, but the day may soon be coming where he is no longer in the Top 50 at all.

Current ranking: #7

4. Sam Stackhouse. Old time wrestling fans may be familiar with the story of the blood feud between Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer. That feud culminated in a cage match which took so much out of both men that neither was the same ever again. Tommy Rich had been the NWA World Champion 2 years before that. He never came close to those heights again. Why do I bring this up? Because this may be what happened to Sam Stackhouse. His blood feud with former best friend Drake Gallows finally was settled at OKX this year and Sam was victorious in their match. But that match injured Sam tremendously and he has not been the same wrestler since then. He reentered WFC but has yet to pick up a win since coming back. He challenged WAH Champion Cody Burns for his title in May and will do so again in July. But something really seems to be lacking in Sam these days. Maybe if he wins the WAH Title it will reignite the fire he needs. Otherwise the #1 Man won’t be seeing #1 on this list again anytime soon.

Current ranking: #24

5. Dexter Hardaway. According to Dexter, we have seen the last of him in a ring in Oklahoma. He had his final match in this state in June against Pastor Brent and only has a handful of matches left before completely retiring from the sport. While still able to compete at the top level, Dexter is choosing to walk away on his own terms, something many wrestlers do not get the opportunity to do, and move on to the next phase of his life. With that said, while this year was not as successful a one for him as last year and while he will not be able to elevate this ranking any before the end of the year, he still deserves to be recognised as one of the best that competed in this state for the first 6 months of 2021.

Current ranking: #17

6. Father Padge. The BCW Buzzsaw Champion has reverted back to his Dark Redeemer persona and is now happily under the tutelage of his newly discovered father, C. M. Burnham. Padge ended his partnership with Dean Lambert and became part of Legendary. He won the EPW Internet TV TItle in addition to the Buzzsaw Title and in July, will challenge for the EPW Title against Kevin James Sanchez. By himself, Padge has not shown this level of dominance in Oklahoma in almost 5 years. The only criticism we at Oklafan have is that he confines his Oklahoma activities to the OKC region. His ranking might be higher if he were to come up to the Tulsa area more often.

Current ranking: #6

7. Tim Rockwell. Tim began the year capturing the WFC Hometown Heroes title from Dimitri Alexandrov and then defending it all over the state, making it a true Oklahoma title. That reign lasted for approximately 2 months until Alexandrov regained the belt. Tim then formed a tag team with WFC Champion Alex Royal, seemingly making an alliance of sorts between the Villains and the Caballero Cartel. And then Tim suffered a heart attack at age 37. While he recovered and returned to the ring only a couple of months later, that event seems to have really changed some of his approach to what he did in WFC. He still teams with Royal. He still leads a faction called the Villains. But Tim seems more like the Tim who was Terrific back in the ComPro days. Despite that initial burst of desire to get out and wrestle in places other than WFC, Tim finds himself once again heading up the ship he is in charge of. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t get you exposure the way he was doing before.

Current ranking: #25

8. Alex Royal. Almost 9 months as WFC Champion. Just about 17 months as UWE Apex Champion. You’d think a dual Champion would have a tremendous showing on here. But Royal doesn’t. And it’s not like the problem that plagued Tommy Dean. Alex isn’t venturing outside Oklahoma to spread the word of his brand. He just expects that everyone already knows who he is. Most importantly, though, Royal isn’t really interested in being championship material. How many times has he defended the UWE Apex Title since winning it? Pretty sure the answer is zero. And he will likely blame the quarantine for that, but it’s not like UWE hasn’t had events in 2021. He just chose not to defend and somehow is getting away with it. And while he has defended the WFC Championship, his victories have been, shall we say, tainted. July is always the month that the WFC Champion gets the most nervous because the Freedom Rings Rumble occurs and in a field of 30, it could be anyone who is victorious. Alex will be watching for sure, but will also need to make sure he retains his title through the end of the year to make it back into the Top 10.

Current ranking: #19.

9. Derek James.

2021 has been quite the mixed bag for Derek James. He had probably the biggest profile match ever when he lost the BPW Oklahoma Title to Brandon Groom in a Steel Cage Match in January. He teamed with Warren Powers and won the ASP Tasg Team Titles, only to lose them about a month later. He joined the Caballero Cartel, but has yet to taste championship gold in WFC. And like Brawler Morrison and Tommy Dean, James has been working to make inroads outside of Oklahoma. His ability in the ring is unquestionable.. The only thing holding him down on the list is his desire to succeed outside of this state. And that really isn’t a bad thing but DOES have to be taken into consideration.

Current ranking: #11

10. O’Brien. After an incredibly dominating year in 2020, O’Brien was diagnosed with Covid towards the year. He recovered from that and participated in the Fatal 4-Way Match to determine the inaugural NCWO Oklahoma Champion, but was not victorious there. To date, that has been his only in-ring competition this year.

Current ranking: unranked

11. Dean Lambert

After losing the EPW And ASP Tag Team Titles that he held with Father Padge, Lambert all but disappeared from the Oklahoma scene. He did appear at the BCW event in April, but did not compete. Rumor has it that he was recovering from an undisclosed injury, but he has competed on events in Kansas, so it’s unclear why he has not returned to action in Oklahoma. .

Current ranking: unranked

12. Thrash: Thrash won the ASP Mid-American Title in October of 2020 and held it for a little over 2 months. But losing it was the start of a downhill slide for him. He and Brawler Morrison would lose their WFC Tag Team Titles in April and it seemed at that point that Thrash was really directionless. Fortunately for him, things seem to be falling into place. He aligned himself with Legendary in ASP. He is part of a Triple Threat Match for the Living Hope Title at WAH (Ironically,with Brawler Morrison as one of his other opponents). And he remains a member of the Villains in WFC and scored a huge victory over Sam Stackhouse at their most recent event. Maybe it was just a temporary slump. Hopefully for him, he can turn these potentials into success and get back into the Top 20 by the end of 2021

Current ranking: 28

13. No one has held more titles at one time in Oklahoma than EPW Tag Team Champion Drake Gallows. No one has competed in more matches this year than Drake Gallows. We are only halfway through 2021 and Gallows has already competed in 49 matches. That averages to almost 2 matches each weekend, but there have been times that Gallows has competed as many as 3 times on ONE show. No one knows how long he can continue to compete at this pace. Rumour has it that he never intended to be this dominant of a competitor this year. But when you wrestle frequently in this state and are as dominant of a competitor as he is, there really isn’t any reason NOT to put him at the top of the list.

Current ranking: #1

14. Double D. There are some who call it the “Age of D”. It began July 20, 2018 and ended June 5, 2021. During that almost-3 year span, Double D held at least one championship in Oklahoma. He often held as many as 3. None questioned his ability. Many questioned his ethics as many of his wins came due to Erica and her interference. But few have sat atop the Top 50 as many times as Double D. And while it could be considered normal to suffer a certain amount of depression after losing championships, D almost seems reinvigorated. He has recently targeted ASP Mid-American Champion Luke Savage, so perhaps he doesn’t intend to be without championship gold for long.

Current ranking: #5

15. Samedi

After years of drifting in the mud, it seemed like Samedi might finally be on the path to becoming a main event star. In UWE, he led the Plague against his cousin, Mr Nasty. In CPW, he attempted to force Drake Gallows to follow him. He began this year as 1/2 of the BPW Oklahoma Tag Team Champions with Shadow Gemini. But it seems like bit by bit, things are moving back to the way they were. Yes, he beat Gallows in a Samedi’s Sanctuary match, but Gallows never followed. BPW is inactive and his status in UWE remains unknown. And while he is a member of the Order of Thorns in WFC, that group appears to be crumbling apart. What will all this mean for the Dark Priest?

Current ranking: #46

16. Luke Langley. Last year, Langley couldn’t buy a win in WFC. Now, one year later, Langley has fought off the Villains and has made it clear he wants to win the WFC Championship. While Langley has made periodic appearances in ASP and NCWO, it’s WFC that remains his primary focus at this time. After being thought of as a tag team competitor for so many year, Langley, like his partner Graham Bell, has established himself as a threat to anyone he steps in the ring with. And his goal remains the same: Get the job done.

Current ranking: #16.

17. Cody Burns. The WAH Champion has fended off the challenges of Maui Mike and Rob Cabella and now has to deal with a man he has faced many times before: Sam Stackhouse. Burns is almost an exclusive to WAH, though he has made appearances in UWO and NCWO. His longevity as WAH champion speaks a lot to his ability. If he can surpass Sam Stackhouse, he may well be champion until such time as he chooses to retire.

Current ranking: #22

18. Gemini [2nd]/Shadow Gemini: If nothing else, 2021 solved the mystery as to the difference between Gemini [2nd] and Shadow Gemini. Answer: There is none. They were always the same. And they have accomplished quite a bit for themselves. They began the year as BPW Oklahoma Tag Team Champions with Samedi. The captured the EPW Internet TV Title. And he lost his son to Drake Gallows. Ok, so maybe that last one isn’t an accomplishment, but he has recruited some new assistance to take on DNR in the form of Team Boner, Boner and Bigger Boner. Yeah, it really does sound goofy and that the thing: When Gemini is serious about what he does, he accomplishes great things. But when he surrounds himself with people in skeleton suits, well......you can come to your own conclusion.

Current ranking: #29

19. Brian Dixon. Dixon suffered a debilitating hip injury last year that required surgery and presumably forced him into retirement. He did return to do some ring announcing for CPW, but in May, he reformed his tag team with Samuel Savage one more time as he substituted for Sam Stackhouse in a CPW Tag Team Title defense against Pierce, Inc. That match ended with no decision as the top rope snapped and Dixon has not appeared at any Oklahoma wrestling events since that point.

Current ranking: unranked

20. Elijah Sparks. Until June 26th, he and El Greengo Loco were the first and only WAH Tag Team Champions. But on that day, their 6 month long title reign was ended and Most Wanted became the new champions. This seemed to awaken something in Sparks. Something that hadn’t been seen for a while. He verbally berated his tag team partner, challenged Paul Puertorico, his former leader in Space Age, and was very aggressive in demanding a rematch to WAH Commissioner Toney Marcus Jones. This more aggressive attitude has been more akin to what fans in the Oklahoma City area have seen in recent months as Sparks and Greengo (or Dr. Corvus, as he’s called down there) captured the EPW Tag Team Titles. A great accomplishment, but it broke no new ground for Sparks. Sparks seems very comfortable in tag team competition and has been his whole career, but at some point, he’s going to have to break away and establish himself as a singles competitor if he is going to climb up the Top 50. Maybe this is the beginning of that. To early to tell.

Current ranking: 34