Adam Priest

[Grimmas]

josephweirdness on discord said: 

Rapidly making his name as one of the best independent wrestlers of the 2020s. Already amassed an impressive repertoire of matches both on the indies and in smaller TV spots, demonstrating the versatility of his traditionally minded southern rasslin’-esque style. Arguably best in the world in multiple years of the 2020s (some have cited 2022 and 2025), and still actively building a case as both a top championship main eventer and fun midcard enhancement talent on national TV.

vs. Anthony Henry (ACTION 1/20/23)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAOZKOEGUQA

vs. Slim J (ACTION 4/4/24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7T5nMIAeEA

vs. LaBron Kozone (DPW 12/15/24

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

The fact that someone would actually nominate Adam Priest as in contention for "the greatest or most significant or most influential" pro wrestler ever only tells you how far pro wrestling still is from becoming a serious art. 

I'm not saying he's bad, he performs very competently, hits his spots, doesn't fuck up. But come on. The best guys on your local indie show is still just the best guy on your local indie show. I mean this Anthony Henry match. That's what someone is suggesting is GOAT material? I mean he's taking a jumping tombstone piledriver onto a chair, kicking out, and then completely no selling it 30 seconds later so he can rapidly do his figure-4 spot they worked out in the back. Or this Slim J match. What happens? Yeah they just do a bunch of spots and trade momentum back and forth. Adam Priest does a few heat spots that last approximately 50 seconds. There's an apron bump. I am literally just describing any undercard match on any episode of AEW Collision. I'm supposed to watch this, and then watch Flair/Steamboat or Kobashi/Hansen and try compare them?

I understand people have some sort of attachment to people they've seen live. Wrestlers who are "underground" that they feel they can claim some sort of respect by "discovering" first. I also understand how uncool it is to like major WWE stars in today's day and age. But Adam Priest is a good little hand in front of this crowd of roughly 100 people. But he wouldn't even scratch the top 500 wrestlers. Best in the WORLD? Get a grip. 

People that can honestly post on this forum that guys like HHH or HBK aren't top 100 material, and then suggest an indieriffic guy like this have rocks in their head. 

[HeadCheese]

I think with Adam Priest, the people that vote for him will have him in their low 90s.

He is someone who I have really liked but, not loved as much as my friends and other. I have #3 on my wrestler of the year list for 2025, the DPW World Heavyweight championship reign is great. I think he might make my list another time though, One of the things that stands out about him as a character he can be most disliked and liked person in the ring for the show. He seems like fun to watch live. 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

3 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

I think with Adam Priest, the people that vote for him will have him in their low 90s.

He is someone who I have really liked but, not loved as much as my friends and other. I have #3 on my wrestler of the year list for 2025, the DPW World Heavyweight championship reign is great. I think he might make my list another time though, One of the things that stands out about him as a character he can be most disliked and liked person in the ring for the show. He seems like fun to watch live. 

I don't want it to seem like I'm singling you out or being a dick, I'm just saying this as a point of comparison since you brought up "low 90s". 

You yourself have said that The Rock would be a 90-100 ranking on your list, for a variety of well-considered reasons. So people putting Adam Priest even in that last decile is outrageous praise. I'm sure The Rock was fun to watch live as well. He just happened to wrestle in front of tens of thousands of people each night, instead of 100 people in a rec center in Tyrone, Georgia. I'd also say The Rock was far closer to being the best in the world at one stage than Adam Priest has ever been.

Again, I'm not coming at you as you mentioned he won't make your list. But I think people have the blinders on for wrestlers they've had the chance to see live, or feel like they've caught early in their careers, and blown things way out of proportion. 

[highflyflow]

We should absolutely nominate and vote for the best wrestlers ever based on attendance numbers, I agree.

[El McKell]

12 hours ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

 for "the greatest or most significant or most influential" pro wrestler ever

Okay, while I agree that Adam Priest is not even close to a top 100 wrestler of all time. Nobody in the organising of this project ever intended for the list to be a list of most significant or most influential pro wrestlers. You are free to apply whatever criteria you believe constitutes greatness (as long as it's based on footage) but you shouldn't think for most people those things matter at all for their lists.  "Indieriffic" or only wrestling in front of small crowds are not criticisms or negative points for most voters. 

But I do think that Adam Priest as a contender for best in the world in 2022 and 2025 is weird as hell. I don't know who's been saying this.

[highflyflow]

10 minutes ago, El McKell said:

But I do think that Adam Priest as a contender for best in the world in 2022 and 2025 is weird as hell. I don't know who's been saying this.

On Voices of Wrestling’s list of top 50 wrestlers of 2025, Adam Priest ranked #40, additionally impressive considering his brand of professional wrestling does not normally mesh with the tastes of that specific site. 
 

In the 2024 VP100, Adam Priest ranked 15th, making 58 out of 84 ballots and outranking prominent names like Swerve Strickland, Will Ospreay and Gunther. He will probably finish just as high if not higher in 2025’s iteration, which rolls out next month.

[El McKell]

I didn't realise top 40 in the world was the same as in contention for best. It seems too broad, top 40 best in the world in a particular year has to been seen as fairly meaningless for a project for this. From 1980-2025 there are more than 1,800 spots. 

[highflyflow]

If you ignore the contextualization for that relatively low ranking as well as the other, broader pool that has him much higher, then sure I could see that. Doesn’t change the fact that there are plenty of people that consider him one of, if not the best wrestler in the world.

[HeadCheese]

10 hours ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

I don't want it to seem like I'm singling you out or being a dick, I'm just saying this as a point of comparison since you brought up "low 90s". 

You yourself have said that The Rock would be a 90-100 ranking on your list, for a variety of well-considered reasons. So people putting Adam Priest even in that last decile is outrageous praise. I'm sure The Rock was fun to watch live as well. He just happened to wrestle in front of tens of thousands of people each night, instead of 100 people in a rec center in Tyrone, Georgia. I'd also say The Rock was far closer to being the best in the world at one stage than Adam Priest has ever been.

Again, I'm not coming at you as you mentioned he won't make your list. But I think people have the blinders on for wrestlers they've had the chance to see live, or feel like they've caught early in their careers, and blown things way out of proportion. 

I get where you are coming from but. drawing is a near non-factor for me. There's some massive draws I don't connect to on that level and won't make my list (Steve Austin and AntonionInoki) but, Mei Suruga is making my list and she's wrestled most of her matches have been I'm the Ichigaya Chocolate Square (no ring venue that holds maybe 40 often less). I also generally like wrestling in smaller buildings too.

I think it's a help to Adam Priest's case that he can wrestle in front of 100 pepple emotionally connected in ACTION and connect to the crowd to whatever AEW draws. I'm also prone to connect more with indie wrestlers than TV wrestlers (television wrestling has strict structure).

Also with Adam Priest, I get where you are coming from that some pepole that like him might be more emotionally attached to him from him "their guy" but, alot of the pepole I have seen high on him haven't seen him wrestle live or seen have seen him wrestle live very rarely. The person that nominated lives in a country Adam Priest hasn't even wrestled in.

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

9 hours ago, highflyflow said:

We should absolutely nominate and vote for the best wrestlers ever based on attendance numbers, I agree.

2 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

I get where you are coming from but. drawing is a near non-factor for me.

People on this forum have this weird habit of taking one off-hand line and trying to frame it as your entire argument. I notice the criticisms I made about his actual work didn't merit a response? Or is it some sort of statement that modern wrestling is so bad that a competent journeyman is the best thing going right now?

But let's go with this point on crowd sizes. I'm obviously not saying that The Rock performing in front of bigger crowds makes him a better wrestler than Adam Priest. It would clearly make this a moot exercise. But crowd sizes/drawing absolutely are contributing factors in trying to determine the greatest, in two ways:

1. It is easier to pop a small crowd than a big crowd

This is pretty clear to anyone who has ever been to a small indie show in their life. Expectations are lower. Tickets are cheaper. Everyone is pretty much seated front row. It is so much easier for a performer to work a crowd when everyone is a few feet away, able to study their facial reactions, hear their banter with the ref, scramble out of the way when the brawl spills near them. Everything was over in Reseda. Everything is over at my local indie that runs once a month. You say it's a credit to Preist's case that he can get over in front of 100 people. Some of the worst wrestlers I've ever seen have been over in front of 100 people. Hell, Flex Kavana was over in the USWA despite being the drizzling shits, because there were 40 people in the audience. But getting a match over in front of 10,000 people at a Smackdown taping in Corpus Christi is a completely different skillset, and given the strictures of TV you mentioned, far more difficult. 

Clearly The Rock is capable of getting a match over with a huge crowd. Curt Hawkins said that when he's working out his matches, he even compensates his timing for the crowd heat he knows will be there. Is Adam Priest capable on entertaining a big crowd in an arena? We simply do not have that data. What's the biggest crowd he's ever had a match in front of? One match in front of less than 2,000 people at a Collision taping? One of the greatest wrestlers of all time needs to have a wide and varied skillset, and we don't even have this basic data point that hundreds of other wrestlers do. 

2. Your employability is symptomatic of your pro wrestling ability

Everyone will be quick to jump to the defence of indie wrestlers. But the question is: if Adam Priest was indeed the best wrestler in the world for multiple years, or even top 40 comfortably: why hasn't he been signed anywhere? WWE vacuums up most talent in the world, AEW is run by a guy who famously hires anyone and everyone. TNA is desperate for talent, international promotions too. You're telling me this guy is the best wrestler on the planet at some stage, in the pantheon of Funk, Misawa, Tenryu, Flair et al. and he can't even get hired by a major promotion outside a couple of freelance dates? What are these companies - with decades of experience and/or virtually limitless resources - missing? Could it be that in fact he is not as highly lauded as everyone says and that he's just an average wrestler that some people have blown out of proportion? Unless this guy is snorting oxy and posting antisemitic conspiracies on X, there's probably a reason with his work as to why he hasn't been snapped up.

The brief of evidence would suggest the wider pro wrestling world agrees with my take. I am still waiting for someone, anyone to actually pitch him to me as a Top 100 candidate. This discussion could have taken place in any number of threads, mind you. 

I reiterate, this is not to say he is a bad wrestler. It is to say there are certainly 100 wrestlers who have ever lived that are better than him in almost every facet.

[EnviousStupid]

This is the dumbest discourse I've seen on any wrestler nominated here. 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

9 minutes ago, EnviousStupid said:

This is the dumbest discourse I've seen on any wrestler nominated here. 

Why would you even bother posting this instead of adding something substantiative? The amount of people crawling out of the woodwork on this normally dead forum to support this ludicrous nomination would be comical if it wasn't so sad. 

[EnviousStupid]

1 minute ago, Mantaur Rodeo Clown said:

Why would you even bother posting this instead of adding something substantiative? The amount of people crawling out of the woodwork on this normally dead forum to support this ludicrous nomination would be comical if it wasn't so sad. 

I am quite content with just commenting that points made in this thread today are really dumb. Not an Adam Priest voter either but go off Mr. Clown

[highflyflow]

Anyway, Adam Priest is a phenomenal pro wrestler, one of my favorites over the past three years. Not to compare them style-wise or even quality wise, but he has a Jim Breaks like approach to his matches when wrestling as a heel: he could outwrestle his opponents, but he’s too busy whining and throwing fits. Very very good as a babyface as well, so add that in for versatility. Wouldn’t consider him yet due to lack of longevity but he’s definitely a guy I could see being a major player in 2026, especially when Tony Khan inevitably signs him to a long-term contract.

[ohheylook]

Probably not even in the bottom 300 of overall nominations. 

[El McKell]

5 hours ago, ohheylook said:

Probably not even in the bottom 300 of overall nominations. 

Don’t tempt me to make that list 😅