Indy Power Rankings for the Week of March 30th, 2015
#1 Drew Galloway (@GallowaySpeaks)- As if holding the EVOLVE, ICW, DPW, and OCW Titles wasn't enough, Galloway unified the EVOLVE and DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Titles on 3/28 when he defeated Johnny Gargano. Not only that, he also defeated PJ Black at EVOLVE on 3/26 to retain the title, then defeated Uhaa Nation on 3/27 in a non-title match. Just for good measure and to really solidify his #1 ranking, he defeated Joe Coffey on 3/29 to retain the ICW Title to go 4-0 on the week. What more can really be said about the former Drew McIntyre at this point? He truly is one of the very best in the world and this ranking just further solidifies that point.
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#2 Adam Thornstowe @RockLegendScum)- The King of the Indies returns with a boom and had it not been for the dominance of Drew Galloway on the weekend, the KOI would have produced a likely #1. That being said, you can't ignore what Adam Thornstowe did over the weekend when he defeated Shaun Ricker on 3/27 in the First Round, then beat Luster the Legend (his partner) on 3/28, then defeated Timothy Thatcher in the semi-finals the same day, before defeating Willie Mack in the finals. A 4-0 weekend gets Thornstowe into the Top 10 for the very first time in 2015 after securing a #1 ranking at one point in 2013.
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#3 Kay Lee Ray (@Kay_Lee_Ray)- The Scottish Women's Champion and Queen of Southside Champion came to the U.S. and had a great weekend as she won SHIMMER's Chick Fight Tournament on 3/28. First she defeated Kimber Lee in the First Round on 3/28, then beat Nikki Storm in the semi-finals, and then wrapped up the tournament by defeating Cheerleader Melissa and Evie in the Finals to go 3-0 on the weekend. While she didn't get a lot of support in the online voting, she did receive a ton of support from the official voters, usually between a 2 or a 3 ranking. After missing out on the 2014 IPR 100, she may have a great chance going forward in 2015 to make the cut.
#4 Akira Tozawa (@TozawaAkira)- Well, here he is again. We said last week on the Indy Power Rankings Reveal that it's going to be VERY difficult for anyone to catch up to him this year in the IPR 100, but this ranking just continues to add validity to that statement. The Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Champion and NEW Open the Owarai Gate Champion defeated Flamita on 3/24 to retain the Brave Gate Title, then teamed with Masato Yoshino & Syachihoko BOY on 3/28 to defeat MAD BLANKEY (Cyber Kong, Gamma & Naruki Doi) and then defeated Yosuke (loves) Santa Maria on 3/29 to win the Open the Owarai Gate Title to go 3-0 for the week. We'll pose the question again. Can anyone stop Tozawa?
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#5 Ultimo Dragon- The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion and 1/2 of All Asia Tag Team Champs teamed with Takao Omori at AJPW on 3/23 to beat Suwama and Hikaru Sato, then teamed with Jun Akiyama on 3/24 to beat Go Shiozaki and Yohei Nakajima, and then wrapped up the HUGE weekend when he defeated Juventud Guerrera on 3/28 at King of the Indies to go 3-0 for the week. With 8 straight victories to his credit, he's really starting to gain some momentum and become one of the surprise stories of 2015 leading into the mid-year update for the IPR 100 on June 30 th (look out for that by the way).
#6 Robert Dreissker- 1/2 of GSW Tag Team Champions defeated Axel Dieter Jr at wXw on 3/27 in the Mitteldeutschland Cup semifinals, then defeated Absolute Andy, Bad Bones and Ilja Dragunov in the final to win the tournament. He then defeated The Rotation on 3/28 at wXw in the Czech Republic and then defeated Ivan Kiev at wXw in Germany on 3/29 to go 4-0 for the week. Hell of a week for Dreissker who gets his very first ranking in the Top 10. Germany has played a major role in the Indy Power Rankings this year and we expect a lot more of that going forward.
#7 Ricochet (@KingRicochet)- There's a reason why he was #1 in the IPR 100 last year. The man is GOOD. Great, even. He's struggled a bit so far in 2015, but make no mistake, he can get hot again at any time. While his Lucha Underground results are not included in the Indy Power Rankings eligibility, he overcame that obstacle with a good weekend. He teamed with Rich Swann and Uhaa Nation to beat The Premier Athlete Brand (Brian Cage & Caleb Konley) & TJ Perkins at Evolve on 3/26, then defeated PJ Black on 3/27, then defeated Matt Cross and Joey Ryan at King of the Indies the same night, then teamed with Uhaa Nation at WNN Supershow to lose to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, and then wrapped up the weekend with Jushin Thunder Liger and AR Fox at Wrestlecon to defeat Roderick Strong, Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels to go 4-1 for the week. Could this be just the beginning for the "King" of the Indy Power Rankings in 2014?
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#8 Kyle Roberts- We've got another first-timer to the Indy Power Rankings as the NEW RCCW City of La Crosse Champion joins the Top 10 after he defeated Damon Knight, then Kidd Riot, and finally Nathan Sensation to win the inaugural tournament for the title. Solid weekend and even more impressive that he was able to find his way into the Top 10 on a week where no matter where you look, some of the best talent had multiple victories. With him getting his first ranking, time will tell if he's able to build on that in the future.
#9 Santana Garrett (@BrittanyTNA)- The NWA Women's World Champion added a new title to her mantle as she won the Ring Warriors Battling Bombshell Title over the weekend when she defeated La Rosa Negra on 3/28. No woman has ever dominated the Indy Power Rankings like Santana Garrett has in 2015 and quite frankly she's a serious contender for a top 5 spot in this year's IPR 100 ALREADY. Go back and check out her interview on the Tag Team Top 5 Reveal from last week here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elitepodcastnetwork/2015/03/25/indy-power-rankings-tag-team-top-5-reveal-ft-santana-garrett-brittanytna
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#10 Kotaro Suzuki- The NEW All Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion gets a lot of respect from the official voters this week as he teamed with Go Shiozaki and Yohei Nakajima at AJPW on 3/23 to beat Akebono, Yutaka Yoshie and SUSHI, then defeated Yuma Aoyagi on 3/24, and then defeated Atsushi Aoki on 3/27 to win the title. With a 3-0 week he gets into the Indy Power Rankings for just the 2 nd time, but it's clear that he's having a very successful year thus far.
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People's Champ. Phage Pumpkinking (@PumpkinsGoBoom)- The new UWC Internet Champion (and only man to beat Frank Wyatt last week) won the title on 3/27 (defeating Frank Wyatt for the belt) and then defeated Stonewall on 3/28 at PWA to go 2-0 for the week. With 65 votes, he EASILY won the online voting competition this week. Congrats to him!
Others missing out/receiving votes:
Islami Kodaka
T-Hawk
Big Daddy Walter
Frank Wyatt
Masashi Takeda
Deadly Dale
Bull Dredd
Nixon Newell
Ron Mathis
Timothy Thatcher
Cheerleader Melissa
Zack Sabre Jr.
Evie
Willie Mack
Dragan Spazic
Kongo Kong
Kurumi
Devlin Kain
Bubblegum
Joseph Schwartz
Zulu Warrior
Chris Smith
Barackus
William Stars
Sha Samuels
Kid Fite
Ilja Dragunov
Harker Dirge
Yuji Okabayashi
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