Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 7th, 2013

1. Benjamin Kimera-3 up and 3 down for the Rockstar Pro Champion. He got a lot of Midwest love this week for his victories over Dustin Thomas on 10/2, Jock Samson on 10/4, and his 6 man win at W.A.R. on 10/5 vs. Jock Samson, Cousin Samson, & Cody Hawk. Though Jock Samson physically stole his title, he remains the champion and once again ascends to the #1 ranking after months without a blemish on his record.

2. Adam Cole-The ROH & PWG World Champion couldn’t hang on to the top spot for more than a week, but he does get the #2 this week. In another tight voting week, Cole came up short. His victory over Roderick Strong, while big, wasn’t quite enough to get him the votes. Can Cole prove himself once again by turning back the challenge of Kyle O’Reilly on 10/19?

3. Eddie Kingston-“The War King” did what he does best this week and that’s win. He went into ROH on 10/5 expecting to take on Monster Mafia with his partner Homicide, but due to border issues, he was thrust into a match with BLK Out. Despite the change of plans, Outlaw Inc. came out on top and Kingston stayed right where he was at #3 in the Indy Power Rankings.

4. reDRagon-Another week and another successful title defense for the ROH World Tag Team Champions. This week they turned back the challenge of Michael Elgin & Jay Lethal to retain the gold. They have still only lost to two teams since becoming a tag team (American Wolves & Forever Hooligans). With both teams not actively teaming, who can stop the champs?

5. Shane Hollister-The AAW Heavyweight Champion makes his much deserved and long awaited return to the Indy Power Rankings with 2 wins this weekend. First, he knocked off 5 other men in a 6 Way Match at St. Louis Anarchy on 10/4 (Christian Rose, Matt Knicks, Travis Banks, Pete Dunne, & Evan Gelistico) and then he followed that up with a victory over Lince Dorado at DREAMWAVE Wrestling on 10/5. “The Shug” has been absolutely dominating the Midwest as of late.

6. Scott Parker-Though his celebration was short lived, it cannot erase the 3 victories in one weekend at Wrestling is Awesome for one half of 3.0. On 10/5 he defeated Juan Francisco de Coronado, then on 10/6 he beat Max Smashmaster, and finally he shocked the world by defeating Francis O’Rourke (Biff Busick) in the finals to crown the champion of Wrestling is Awesome. Unfortunately, it appears he will never get a chance to defend his title as the company was promptly shut down after the match.

7. Matt Taven-The ROH TV Champion returns to the Indy Power Rankings this week after a successful title defense vs. Cedric Alexander on 10/5. After a brief slump with a period of back and forth weeks, he finally establishes himself with a string of victories and gets the votes he needs. Can he continue his success going forward?

8. Marshe Rockett-After a 3-0 weekend last week, Marshe Rockett jumps back into the Indy Power Rankings with a successful defense of his DWW Alternative Title vs. Arik Cannon on 10/5. He just simply wins.

9. Matt Tremont-“The Bulldozer” makes his first official Indy Power Rankings appearance as he defeated Drew Blood at CZW on 10/4. He has been on a strong win streak lately heading into his big match with Joe Gacy this weekend. Can he continue to win and increase his momentum heading into a potential CZW World Title Match (down the line)?

10. Jamin Olivencia-The OVW Champion finally put together the type of consistent weeks of wins that got him enough votes to get into the Indy Power Rankings. This week he had a very big victory as it was OVW career vs. career in his title defense vs. James Thomas on 10/5. Luckily for him, he came out on top. With some more wins, look out for him to start moving up the Indy Power Rankings ladder.

Since January of 2013, we have been ranking the very best independent wrestlers on a weekly basis. The concept spawned from former ESPN.com writer, Jon Robinson, who ranked the best WWE wrestlers from 1 to 10 on ESPN.com every week. ESPN.com still does the NFL Power Rankings, while Jon Robinson is no longer there, but has given us the blessing to carry on with our project. In fact, he was one of our very first followers. Our goal is to not only to educate everyone on who some of the best independent wrestlers are in the bigger promotions, but to also expose some of the less heralded wrestlers in smaller promotions.
This is a KAYFABE list, meaning it is not centered around our opinion of who the best worker is on a weekly basis, but rather, more sports-oriented in the thought process of wins being the most important factor in getting ranked. Many various independent wrestling writers spend their time debating who the “best in the world” is while we simply seek to prove it via wins and losses.
In order to be ranked and to avoid personal biases, we have a group of voters from around the country who have 3 main criteria for voting (in a similar manner to ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings):
1. Win-loss record for the week & overall
2. Strength of opponents for the week
3. Overall public perception of the wrestler in question (i.e. Davey Richards has a stronger following than a regional independent wrestler who most people have never heard of)

Only wrestlers who did not wrestle for the WWE or TNA during the voting period are qualified. This means that OVW wrestlers who are contracted to TNA are eligible, providing that they did not wrestle for TNA during the voting period. NXT wrestlers are not eligible for this list. Any wrestler who does NOT wrestle during the week are not eligible for that week’s list. This is a list of wrestlers who primarily compete in the U.S. or they can qualify by going on an extended tour of the U.S. (i.e. if Jushin ‘Thunder Liger goes 3-0 on American soil).

With all that being said, please sit back and enjoy this week’s rankings and if you have any questions/comments, please feel free to tweet us @IndyPowerRankin, visit our Facebook page at Facebook.com/IndyPowerRankings, or email us at IndyPowerRankings@Gmail.com. Thanks!