Views From The Turnbuckle: Indie Talent Search Vol. 3, Who Is Going To Be Signed Next?

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In both 2013 and 2014, I had a list of indie talents that would make good potential pickups for WWE or TNA. Since the wrestling world is always changing, it is time once again to bring out the "VFFT: Indie Talent Search." Before we get started, I would like to point out that this list will not contain wrestlers who were on the list in the past; so if you are wondering why Adam Cole or Johnny Gargano was not on the list, it is because they had already made an appearance on a previous edition.

ACH

I first saw ACH in July 2012 at a CHIKARA event, and as a young talent, he was already clearly a step ahead of most of his contemporaries. He has made great strides since then, and has rapidly climbed the ladder in Ring of Honor and has already worked with top names like AJ Styles, El Patron and Samoa Joe.
ACH is known as a high-flyer, and while he is a good athlete and a solid worker, what really puts him on this list is his ability to connect with an audience. No matter where he is working or who he is working with, ACH always manages to establish a connection with the audience. An example of this would be at a Pro Wrestling Guerrilla event last year, when ACH came across a fan wearing a Stone Cold Steve Austin vest. After fighting with Kenny Omega over the vest, ACH secured it and wrestled the rest of the match doing an Austin impersonation. Obviously, something like that wouldn't work in WWE, but it is just that awareness and that gift of providing entertainment value that could carry ACH a long way in this business.

Tommy End

Tommy End recently appeared in the shows for EVOLVE and PWG, making his name a little bit more well known, but for the past several years, End has been arguably the most popular wrestler in Europe. Wrestling out of the German company Westside Xtreme Wrestling and touring with various different promotions throughout the continent and in Japan, End has proven himself all over the globe. The 29 year old Dutchman is ready for the big stage, and his ethnic background might make him an interesting target for WWE.

Because of the tattoos it might come across as a lazy comparison, but End is a very similar wrestler to CM Punk. He has a similar look and build, and a similar moveset, focusing mainly on kicks and submissions. He has a different look than most of the other wrestlers in NXT, and his prominence as an international star could only help as WWE tries to expand the WWE Network in different markets. If they are looking to increase network subscriptions, signing the most popular wrestler in Europe to work on NXT would be a smart move.

Timothy Thatcher

Thatcher has broken out in EVOLVE and PWG after floating around smaller indy promotions, make no mistake about it, Thatcher is extremely well traveled, having studied wrestling all over the world, from Westside Xtreme in Germany, to the New Japan Dojo. Thatcher has worked extremely hard to get where he is today, and the results are very impressive. Thatcher is an old-fashioned technician in the model of guys like Dory Fun Jr. and Bret Hart, and he brings a tough, physical style into every match he competes in.

There are several other talented technicians on the independents, like Zack Sabre Jr. and Kyle O'Reilly, but although their technical abilities are unquestionable, they are sadly undersized for WWE and will likely never find their way there as long as Daniel Bryan is around. Thatcher has decent size (6'3" and a lean 225 lbs) and while his verbal skills are somewhat of a mystery, he communicates well in the ring and has a great, icy stare that can instill fear directly into the hearts of overmatched opponents.

Biff Busick

Busick has been around for a while, but he really broke out in 2014 when he won the Combat Zone Wrestling Heavyweight Championship and made appearances for EVOLVE and PWG. The Boston-based wrestler was trained by Mike Hollow of the Killer Kowalski School and by Lance Storm, and has many of the qualities that WWE likes to see in prospective talent. He can wrestle well, he can talk on the mic and he has great charisma in the ring. He also has one of the best entrances in all of independent wrestling. His character, just a tough brawler from Southie is simple but effective.

Busick isn't the biggest guy, but he is 6'1" and has a pretty solid physique. As a career heel, Busick could add a good shot in the arm for NXT, which outside of Kevin Owens and Tyler Breeze, has a lot of top faces but not a lot of heels.

Hanson

WWE has done a great job scooping up top indie talent recently and raided Japan for some their finest talent. Neville, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens have all made impacts in the past couple years. As great as they have been, WWE has always really liked size, and outside of Owens, all of those guys would be classified as "undersized." To counter that, WWE is going to look at some indie names that have real size. The signing of Uhaa Nation (who, if you remember made an appearance on the very first Indie Talent Search) helps, and Hanson would be another smart addition.

Another graduate of the Kowalski School, Hanson already has 13 years of wrestling experience, and has quickly found a niche in ROH, challenging Jay Birscoe for the World Heavyweight Championship back in March. Hanson has a good size, a cool Viking-esque look and is pretty agile for a bulky guy, capable of spin kicks and dives over the top rope. Is Hanson ever going to be a main eventer at Wrestlemania? Probably not, but he could provide a good solid, brawling heel for WWE to work with.

You can follow Jesse Collings on Twitter @JesseCollings