Real Talk 27: The 3rd Annual (Unofficial) SoCal 50 and (Unofficial) SoCal 51-75!

Ladies and gentlemen, the (Unofficial) SoCal 50 and (Unofficial) SoCal 51-75!

Every year, Pro Wrestling Illustrated releases the PWI 500, listing the 500 “best” professional wrestlers in the world. The list always causes controversy, and always seem to rile up the emotions of professional wrestlers, fans, promoters, bookers, and pundits alike. The rankings process for the PWI 500 always has its critics, but one thing we can always all agree on: Mr. Ooh La La and the Japanese Pool Boy always deserved their rankings! Today, PWI released the latest edition of the PWI 500. As usual, people are unhappy about it.

So that last paragraph? Well, I basically said the same thing I said in 2016 and 2017 because that’s how predictable the outrage towards the PWI 500 always is.

In 2016, I decided that SoCal deserved its own (unofficial) list, The (Unofficial) SoCal 50!

Much like previous editions, the (Unofficial) SoCal 50 has a specific ranking system created by myself. The SoCal 50 is put together a little more scientifically than the PWI 500. Basically what I’ve done is put together a list of the (unofficial) Top 50 workers in SoCal based on whoever came to my mind and didn’t suck. Things like championships, rankings, people putting their friends over, and people trying to get themselves ranked were not taken into account. None of that shit. This was just me going “ok, come up with names that pop into your head of wrestlers that don’t suck, and list them in the order they come into your head with no real method of ranking these people.”

While in previous years the workers in the top 3 were usually my actual opinion on the top talents in SoCal, this year I felt like the top 5 guys are the overall best in SoCal at the moment, in that specific order. Everything else is mostly somewhat random.

And now, The 3rd Annual (Unofficial) SoCal 50!

1. Brody King
2. Andy Brown
3. Eli Everfly
4. Adrian Quest
5. Tito Escondido
6. Ray Rosas
7. B-Boy
8. Jeff Cobb
9. Douglas James
10. Willie Mack
11. Jake Atlas
12. Delilah Doom
13. Scorpio Sky
14. Penta El Zero M
15. Matt Vandagriff
16. Peter Avalon
17. Tyler Bateman
18. Brian Cage
19. Luchasaurus
20. Rey Fenix
21. Jesse James
22. Hoss Hogg
23. Ryan Taylor
24. Rico Dynamite
25. Che Cabrera
26. Super Panda
27. Chris Bey
28. Rey Horus
29. Joey Ryan
30. Donnie Suarez
31. Lil’ Cholo
32. Ruby Raze
33. Dom Kubrick
34. Alonzo Alvarez
35. Mariachi Loco
36. Bestia 666
37. Dicky Mayer
38. Heather Monroe
39. Ryan Kidd
40. Dylan Kyle Cox
41. Cameron Gates
42. Rick Knox
43. Kikutaro
44. Ju Dizz
45. Zokre
46. SoCal Crazy
47. Terex
48. Mike Camden
49. Royce Isaacs
50. Famous B

The (Unofficial) SoCal 51-75

In 2016, I caught some unreasonable controversy with my list. Turns out, some workers thought they were being told they sucked because they weren’t in the Top 50 or felt entitled to be on a list. To avoid controversy, I created the (Unofficial) SoCal 51-75. This list is more for the wrestlers who aren’t Top 50 material but also aren’t as shitty as the workers who didn’t make the list.

51. Lucas Riley
52. Danny Divine
53. Brendan Divine
54. Daniel Moon
55. Malkor The Destroyer
56. D’Marco Wilson
57. KC Douglas
58. Michael Hopkins
59. Darwin Finch
60. Owen Travers
61. Vipress/Maritza Janet
62. Sledge
63. The Decapitator
64. Zaida
65. Koto Hiro
66. Guy Cool
67. Calder McColl
68. Sean Black
69. Fidel Bravo
70. Corey Jackson
71. Kevin Martenson
72. Charlie Mercer
73. Aurora Starr
74. Biagio Crescenzo
75. B-Minus

Congratulations to everyone who made the list!

Final Thoughts/Wrapping This Up

I know people are going to be asking “why wasn’t this person on the list?” or “why isn’t this person ranked higher?” The thing is so many SoCal workers who didn’t make the list because so many promoters and bookers in SoCal have done a terrible job at showcasing talent in the last year that so many workers aren’t getting noticed. Another factor is a lot of workers in SoCal that aren’t listed simply weren’t good enough to be on it in my opinion. If you think I’m wrong, please feel free to send me some feedback at andrew@socaluncensored.com.

In the end, the main point of this list is to make people realize that the PWI 500 is just a stupid fucking list that nobody should take seriously. A lot of the rankings on those lists after the top 20 are based on promoters and others involved in wrestling who send in things like profiles and photos. Bottom line is this: don’t take the PWI 500 seriously. It’s not worth it.