Joey Ryan has been a staple of the California wrestling scene for the past six years. Playing up the role of an oversexed and sleazy-as-all-get-out creep, he carries a confidence and self-assuredness that precious few wrestlers on the independent level possess. His strengths are in his theatrics and his promos, and these aspects were played up during his tenure in Wrestling Society X and for his recent debut for Ring of Honor. What most people lose sight of, however, is that Ryan is great in the ring, and great for all of the reasons professional wrestlers used to be great in the 70s and 80s, and occasionally in the WWE. He is understated, knows how to hit all of the notes and how to tell the story. In an industry inundated with young wrestlers attempting to go a million miles an hour and hit insane moves for fear of losing the crowd, he instead chooses to make the crowd FEEL his matches, to distill the athleticism of professional wrestling to its very essence. After you've watched a big blowoff match featuring Joey Ryan, you may not remember any flashy or intricate moves, but you'll certainly know you watched something special. Ryan is usually booked in smaller independent promotions as a comedy heel or an instantly-hated character to get the crowd riled up, but you should check out some of his matches from PWG this year. I recommend his solo match against Paul London, his matches against Chris Hero, and his recent match against Naruki Doi, which will probably go down as one of the most underrated matches in recent years.
Here's yet another awesome video from TigerDriver98 recapping the Joey Ryan/Chris Hero feud.
PWG: Joey Ryan vs Chris Hero - A tale of two champions. (via TigerDriver98)