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WWE's diversification and global expansion has led to an immense influx of talents outside the North American continent.
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With Triple H laying out his plans of expanding the horizons for NXT talent search, things look bright for budding wrestlers all around the world to become part of the largest pro wrestling organization.
With that in mind, here are the ten best foreign wrestlers current in WWE. The only condition for this list is that it does not include wrestlers from Canada or the Anoa'i family.
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Honourable mentions: Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali
The Australian has made a decent impact in NXT, following it up with his pursuits of the Cruiserweight Championship since his debut. With the Super Show Down coming up, things look set for the Melbourne man to finally capture the 205 LIVE belt.
On the other hand, Mustafa Ali is the first WWE wrestler belonging to a Pakistani descent. Having made it to the semi-finals of the Cruiserweight Classic and a debut in this year's Wrestlemania, things look bright for the man who was a police officer before entering WWE.
#10 Andrade "Cien" Almas
Mexican Andrade "Cien" Almas made his debut in NXT in January 2016 and has been quite the revelation. He made his mark as La Sombra in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) from 2007 to 2015, and then went to NJPW, where he enjoyed a decent amount of success.
One of the founding members of Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ), Almas also became the IWGP Intercontinental Champion during that period.
In NXT, El Idolo won the NXT championship after defeating Drew McIntyre. His biggest success was the 5-star classic that he battled against Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia.
The match was the first to be rated five stars by Dave Meltzer in NXT history, and also the first for WWE since John Cena vs CM Punk in 2011.
Although Almas hasn't done anything notable since moving to the main roster, he has already rubbed shoulders with the main event stars of Smackdown Live.
His matches against AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan and Rusev have apparently made Vince McMahon interested in his character and association with his manager Zelina Vega. By the looks of it, he may go on to enjoy a good time ahead in the main roster.
#9 Rusev
Rusev, whose real name is Miroslav Barnyashev, is the only Bulgarian wrestler signed to WWE yet.
Still relatively in his early days in WWE, Rusev has managed to become a two time United States champion, the first of which culminated in a match against John Cena at Wrestlemania. Cena won the match and also ended his 146-day undefeated streak.
Today 'Rusev Day' one of the most over acts in WWE, although they didn't capitalise on it when Rusev Day was at its peak.
A very entertaining wrestler, by all means, Rusev may end up receiving support from backstage in the coming years given all the talent he possesses.
#8 Asuka
Kanako Urai was born in Osaka, Japan and made her debut in NXT in 2015. She held the NXT women's championship for 510 days and topped the Pro Wrestling Illustrated' Female 50 list, becoming the first Japanese woman to do so.
She was undefeated for 914 days, until her loss to Charlotte Flair at this year's Wrestlemania.
No matter how her booking has been since she's made it to the main roster, she will be remembered forever is the first WWE Women's Royal Rumble.
#7 Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura was born in Kyoto, Japan and signed with NXT in 2016. He came into WWE as one the most dominant wrestlers in NJPW, with a phenomenal career spanning 13 years in the Japanese federation.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated had named him at number 5 in their PWI 500 best wrestlers of 2015, while the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named him the best wrestler of 2014.
Nakamura is one of the two wrestlers to have won the NXT Championship on two occasions, Samoa Joe is the other.
He achieved great plaudits from the crowd and backstage officials as he continued his superb work in NXT right from where he left off in NJPW.
His main roster run has been pretty underwhelming yet has managed to claim the United States Championship. He will, however, go down as the only Japanese wrestler to win the Royal Rumble.
#6 Finn Balor
Fergal Devitt, Balor's real name, hails from Ireland. He joined NXT in 2014 and had a quite a successful run in the developmental brand.
He is the longest reigning NXT champion at 292 days and has also won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team classic with partner Samoa Joe.
One of the founding members of Bullet Club, Balor was a highly accomplished wrestler in NJPW.
Upon his debut on the main roster, he quickly got involved in the WWE Universal title picture, even defeating Roman Reigns on the way.
Balor biggest accolade was winning the Universal Title just 27 days into his main roster debut, as he became the first wrestler to win a top championship in his debut pay-per-view appearance.
Since then he has drawn quite a flak, mainly due to poor booking but with Triple H very high on his abilities, things might get better in the near future.
#5 Drew McIntyre
The "Scottish Psychopath", Andrew McLean Galloway had actually made a debut in WWE way back in 2009 when Vince McMahon introduced him as his 'Chosen One'. Considering the dominant force he is today, his first run in WWE was quite underwhelming.
In his first run, Drew was able to be the Intercontinental Champion for 161 days, before losing to Kofi Kingston.
Along with Cody Rhodes, he was also a Tag-Team Champion, before losing it to John Cena and David Otunga (yes they were a team!). Since then he went on a downward spiral.
He revamped his entire career by returning to Independent wrestling, where he tore down the entire indy scene, winning many top championships on the way. On April 12, 2017, Drew made his return to WWE as part of NXT. He defeated Bobby Roode to become the NXT Champion.
In April this year, Drew joined hands with Dolph Ziggler, making a return to the main roster after four years. They are currently the Raw Tag-Team Champions and McIntyre looks set for a long-term main-event push.
#4 Cesaro
Claudio Castagnoli hails form Switzerland and joined WWE in 2012. He was already an established tag-team wrestler in Ring of Honor, along with Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno in NXT).
Since making his debut Cesaro has won the United States Championship and the Tag-Team championships, pairing up with Tyson Kidd and later with Sheamus as The Bar.
His partnership with Sheamus has thus far been successful, as he and the Celtic warrior have been tag champs on four separate occasions and fifth overall for Ceasro.
Although the Swiss cyborg's capabilities are far more than just being a tag team wrestler, he is still a fan favorite and his tremendous feats of strength complement his smooth style of wrestling. Hope he will have a better push in the coming years.
#3 Becky Lynch
Rebecca Quin made her debut in NXT in 2014, after an extensive run in the independent scene. The 'Irish Lasskicker" was an integral part of the women's revolution, as part the Four Horsewomen that also comprised of Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair.
With Bayley, Sasha and Flair drafted to Raw, Becky was made the inaugural Smackdown Women's champion and her character was hugely over with the crowd.
Becky never lost her support from the crowd, even as she endured a quiet time in the period after her first championship reign.
Struggling her way back into the title picture, 'Becky Balboa' finally got her deserved chance at Summer Slam this year, only for Charlotte to ruin her party.
She did eventually get her hands on the title, and her character development has been so amazing, audiences chose to boo Charlotte Flair, who in this case, is the babyface.
Lynch is an eccentric character at the moment, and probably she is the most talked about superstar across all of wrestling.
#2 Kofi Kingston
Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah, hails form Ghana, West Africa and made his WWE debut in 2008, and has spent a decade in WWE, while still being largely relevant to the audiences. He is the first Ghanaian to win any championship in WWE.
Have a look at his accomplishments: Intercontinental Champion (four times), United States Champion (three times), Tag-Team Champion (eight times).
Kofi also holds a unique record of being tag team champ for the most number of cumulative days.
As of September 25, 2018, he was tag team champion for a whopping 954 days, breaking Billy Gunn's previous record of 953.
In Kingston's illustrious career though, he has been eluded of a top world championship title belt. Here's wishing he might have one run with either of the two top championships in WWE.
#1 Sheamus
Stephen Farrelly is Irish born and is now a WWE veteran, making his debut in WWE in 2008, more relatively in dark matches. He made is RAW debut in October 2009.
Sheamus shocked WWE audiences when he put John Cena through a table in a tables match to earn the WWE Championship. He is the first Irish born WWE champion and it would plant the seeds for a successful run for him in WWE.
His accomplishments include being a three-time WWE champion, one -time World Heavyweight Champion, Tag-Team Champion (four times), a two-time United States Champion, King of the Ring (2010), Money in the Bank winner (2015) and Royal Rumble Winner (2012).
Sheamus and Cesaro together have won the Tag-Team championships four times. Currently, he and Cesaro look to win their fifth tag-team championship at the Super Show Down.
Among all the superstars in this list, Sheamus has been the most successful in terms of major championships won and the amount of time he has been on WWE TV.
