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WWE: Five candidates for midyear MVP – Men’s Edition

By Saksham Karakasia

Apr 11, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Roman Reigns (black pants) and Daniel Bryan (green trunks) and Edge (white pants) during their Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 37 at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 11, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Roman Reigns (black pants) and Daniel Bryan (green trunks) and Edge (white pants) during their Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 37 at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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WALTER WWE NXT UK
via wwe.com /

2. Walter

All right, all right.

I wasn’t totally accurate when I said that Johnny Gargano was the only wrestler from NXT to make it on this list. But Walter’s technically not from NXT, right?

To be honest, I debated putting Walter on this list considering NXT UK gets about as much attention as a 205 Live or Main Event. However, Walter’s contributions as a literal Ring General cannot be understated.

Right now, there’s no one, and I mean no one, who can replicate Walter’s aura as a Brock Lesnar-esque unbeatable monster who just murders his way through the entire roster. He’s the longest reigning NXT UK Champion in history, his title reign still going strong at an unfathomable 826 days.

Now, you may argue he’s had much lesser matches than some of the other guys on this list, to which I’d say it only works in his favor as he’s always treated as a special attraction. Everything about Walter works from his entrance to his theme, to his silent demeanor, to his plain ring gear, and last but probably most of all, his wrestling.

Walter is an absolute beast on the mat. He’s a technical savage, twisting people into pretzels beyond recognition. His slaps and kicks and those soul-destroying chops vibrate through the TV screens and shake you to your core. He doesn’t even have an official finisher, because he doesn’t need one. Any move can be a match ender when you’re dealing with the Ring General.

Although it’s now looking likely that Walter’s finally going to drop the title to Ilja Dragunov when they war with each other again in the scheduled rematch, I bet Walter could carry that title for 2 more years and fans would be there for all of it.

You can count Walter’s 2021 title defenses on your fingertips and you can put all of those fingertips in the “blow the roof off the place” category.

His title defense against A-Kid at the beginning of the year, his war with Tomasso Ciampa at TakeOver Stand and Deliver, and his match with Rampage Brown the very next day. Everything Walter does is must-see TV.

If Walter does lose the UK belt and is willing to travel to the US, mouthwatering potential matchups await fans on all three brands. Dream matches against the likes of Kyle O’Reilly, Timothy Thatcher, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Big E, Cesaro, Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns. The possibilities are endless.

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