It’s mid-September once again, which means one thing for wrestling fans…
Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s annual PWI 500 has just been released, which means it’s time for some of the dumbest arguments and discussions you’ll find anywhere in the wrestling world. Of course, that means I have to help facilitate some of those arguments and discussions, because it gives me shit to write about, you know?
If you’re new to things, the PWI 500 looks back at the year-that-was (as far as PWI’s evaluation period goes), and ranks the 500 best wrestlers in the world. To clear up a lot of the aforementioned arguments and discussions right off the bat, you have to take a look at PWI’s criteria for what they’re looking at and how they’re coming up with their list. Here are the rules and regulations, straight from PWI themselves…
Evaluation Period: July 1st, 2022 to July 31st, 2023
Criteria:
– In-Ring Achievement: Win/Loss records, championships, tournaments won.
– Influence: Visibility and prestige within a promotion and/or the industry.
– Technical Ability: Quality of moves, matches, and ring psychology.
– Competition: Success against the most varied and highest quality opponents.
– Activity: Minimum 10 singles (non-tag) matches total, or, barring this, six such matches in separate months
Side Note: The list prioritizes success in singles competition and in vying for heavyweight singles accolades (and, to a lesser extent, those in other weight classes)
As I said, all of that is important information to retain and look at as you’re discussing where people are, and aren’t, ranked. It probably shouldn’t need to be mentioned, but I had nothing to do with the rankings, and had no say in who was in what spot. Please don’t bitch to me about why so-and-so isn’t ranked higher, blah blah blah.
If you’re going to start talking about the PWI 500, what better place to start than at the very top? WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, grabs the top spot this year. It marks the third time (2015 & 2019) that he has been given the #1 spot in the PWI 500, tying him with John Cena (2006, 2007, 2013) for the most appearances at the top. It’s merely another brick in the wall, cementing him as one of the greatest in-ring performers in the history of the business.
Is he deserving of the top spot, though?
His “In-Ring Achievement” was pretty clear, as he won the United States Title and the World Heavyweight Title during the evaluation period, holding the U.S. Title for a month-and-a-half and the World Title for two months, taking him right to the end of the eval time. He won his last 13 singles matches on television or pay-per-view, with his last loss coming over five months before the period ended. If you look at his non-tag matches on television and pay-per-view for the entire evaluation period, he has a record of 26-10, which is impressive, but when you go back to the previous sentence and do the math, it means that he was 13-10 at one point. Some of that win/loss ugliness has to do with a back-and-forth United States Title picture, and some of it also had to do with Seth being a heel for the first few months of the evaluation period. Once he turned face, he began winning more and more of his matches, bringing him to where we are today.
When it comes to the “Influence” that Seth has, it can often be a bit of a mixed bag, but through no fault of his own. Does he have an important on-screen role with WWE? Of course he does. Does he always seem to be involved in major storylines and matches, even when titles aren’t on the line? Absolutely. Even with all that, though, he is clearly positioned as a distant second to Roman Reigns, and Rollins is the first to admit that. It wasn’t all that long ago when people viewed the mere idea of creating a World Heavyweight Title for Raw as WWE basically creating a glorified midcard championship because of how far behind Reigns he would be. Again, none of that is Seth’s fault in the slightest, as it is simply about how WWE has backed, and booked, themselves into a corner with Roman Reigns over the last three years.
“Technical Ability” is something that absolutely, positively speaks for itself when it comes to Seth Rollins. At the age of 37, he is probably closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning, but he continues to amaze with his elite combination of athleticism, speed, high-flying ability, technical skill, and storytelling. He is someone who has been a special in-ring talent from the beginning. Long-time readers of my work remember that I was one of the very first wrestling columnists anywhere that was singing his praise, and I said he was going to be a future World Champion early on. Clearly, PWI has always been a fan of his, as well, as he has been in the PWI 500 for 16 consecutive years now, never coming in below the 88th spot. That is tremendous consistency, and he has been squarely placed in the “best pro wrestler in the business” conversation for years now.
There was plenty of check marks in the “Competition” category for Seth over the past year. His success at the very early part of the evaluation period came against the likes of Ezekiel before moving up the proverbial ladder to Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, and then to Matt Riddle. From there, he found success against former World Champions like Rey Mysterio, Bobby Lashley, Finn Balor, The Miz, and AJ Styles. Throw in people like Omos, Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and Damian Priest, and you have “dance partners” of all sizes, styles, and ability levels, up and down the card.
His “Activity” is something that has been discussed on WWE programming, and has become part of his current character arc over the last few months. His goal was to win the World Heavyweight Title and be the “fighting champion” that the company, and the fans, deserve. He was playing that role long before winning the title, though, wrestling a total of 42 times on television or pay-per-view during the evaluation period. Even though house show matches don’t count here, it is still worth pointing out that he wrestled a whopping 70 matches at house shows during the evaluation period, and even had two post-television dark matches, as well, giving him a total of 114 total matches in the 13 graded months.
While I wouldn’t exactly say Seth was a slam dunk pick for the top spot like others have been in years prior, he has made a very solid case for himself, and I can’t argue with PWI’s decision to put him at #1 this year.
Could an argument be made for anyone else getting the top spot?
Obviously, Roman Reigns is someone that is going to achieve very high scores in almost every category. If he wrestled more than 11 times during the evaluation period, we might be looking at his second consecutive #1 spot in the PWI 500, which means he would’ve been tied with Cena with three occurrences, and also would’ve made him the fourth man to top the list in back-to-back years, after Bret Hart (1993, 1994), “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (1998, 1999), and Cena (2006, 2007).
Jon Moxley has a strong case for the top spot, as well. He was the interim AEW World Champion at the start of the evaluation period, going on to win the lineal AEW World Title the following month, and that goes with another AEW World Title reign the month after that. What holds him back is that his reigns simply weren’t very long. The two lineal reigns were 70 days combined, and if you include the portion of his interim reign that lines up with the evaluation period, you’re only at 125 combined days over three reigns. No, that isn’t his fault, but like Seth Rollins and his placement on the proverbial WWE totem pole, it’s still worth mentioning when it comes to rankings like this.
I know that Gunther has seen a lot of traction on social media as far as who could’ve and should’ve been given the top spot this year, but I think his #4 ranking is just about perfect for him. He has done a great job in raising the profile of the Intercontinental Title, almost making it a de facto World Title of sorts with Roman Reigns working less and less, and then coming to Raw before the World Heavyweight Title was created. What keeps Gunther ranked below the men ahead of him is probably the overall level of competition he has faced from a kayfabe perspective. He spent a lot of time working with the likes of Ricochet, Shinsuke Nakamura, Madcap Moss, Johnny Gargano, Mustafa Ali, and people like that. Again, from a strictly kayfabe view, those aren’t exactly the top of the mountain when it comes to WWE. Yes, Nakamura is feuding for the World Title right now, but he wasn’t anywhere near that level when he was feuding with Gunther.
Like I always do when I recap the PWI 500, I like to talk about who would come in at #1 for each individual criteria category if that category was the only thing being looked at.
– In-Ring Achievement: If you want it to be more about a win/loss record, especially in singles competition, I’m thinking it would be difficult to beat Gunther here, just like it has been difficult to beat Gunther in the ring itself. If you want it to be more about championships, Jon Moxley has a strong case with those reigns as the AEW World Champion. A dark horse pick here would be Sanada from New Japan, as he won the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, the 2023 New Japan Cup, and was undefeated in the G1 Climax tournament before the evaluation period came to an end. The only thing preventing Sanada from possibly “winning” here is something I’ve mentioned in my PWI recaps from years past… even though PWI prioritizes singles success, it’s impossible to ignore just how many tag, six-man tag, eight-man tag, and ten-man tag matches that wrestlers in New Japan compete in. To prove my point, Sanada competed in 114 (!!!!!) tag matches during the evaluation period, coming in on the losing end of 39 of those matches. Even with the prioritization of singles matches and singles success, that’s still a lot of losses, and it makes wrestlers from New Japan face more of an uphill climb when it comes to the PWI 500. Obviously, with Sanada being #9 overall this year, and with people like Kazuchika Okada (who actually got the #1 spot in 2017), Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Shinto Takagi receiving high rankings in recent years, it’s a climb that can be conquered, but it’s still a climb nonetheless.
– Influence: It’s still difficult to beat Roman Reigns in this category. WWE is the biggest wrestling promotion on the planet, and Roman is the biggest name on the roster. You want visibility and prestige? That will do it.
– Technical Ability: This one is always tough, because a lot of this category comes down to personal preference. For example, if you love Lucha Libre, you’re going to rate someone like El Hijo Del Vikingo pretty high, where others see his matches and hate every minute of them. In this category, I think the evaluation period helps to change the pick. If you’re looking for the Wrestler Of The Year for 2023 so far, I think Will Ospreay is going to get the nod. However, with the period going from July 1st of last year to July 31st of this year, that “hurts” Ospreay, as a lot of his best work in 2023 has happened over the last month-and-a-half, as incredible as that seems. Kenny Omega was another name that came to mind, but looking back at things, his overall grade here is affected by prioritizing singles action. Omega only wrestled a total of eight singles matches during the evaluation period, and one of those was on an episode of AEW Dark, away from the spotlight of television. Was his work in the tag and trios divisions good? Obviously. This is Kenny Omega we’re talking about. However, when nearly 70% of his matches were not of the singles variety during the time when his work is being looked at, that’s going to affect his grade in a major way. My pick here is someone that might surprise a lot of people, but if you’ve been watching closely, it probably shouldn’t… Orange Cassidy. Week in and week out, we were being treated to some superb matches as he continued to defend his All-Atlantic/International Title. I legitimately cannot remember the last Orange Cassidy match I saw that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, even with my dislike of the booking decisions that AEW was making with his title.
– Competition: Honestly? You could make an argument for Orange Cassidy here, too. It would be difficult to top his score for success against the “most varied” opponents. He was able to defeat the lower-tier names in AEW like Tony Nese, Anthony Henry, Ari Daivari, Lee Johnson, and wrestlers of that nature. However, he was also able to defeat people like Rush, Pac, Rey Fenix, Jake Hager, Trent Seven, Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, Zack Sabre Jr. and Daniel Garcia, who have all been World Champions, or at least have been “the” guy for a promotion they’ve worked for in the past. New Japan’s Katsuyori Shibata and Gabriel Kidd? He beat them. Effy at the Mall Of America? He won that match. He even came out on the winning end of two different Battle Royals that featured other big names from the past and present.
– Activity: Does 181 matches during the evaluation period sound crazy? How about if I were to put it into perspective by pointing out that there were a total of 395 days in the evaluation period? Japan has some crazy workloads for their wrestlers, and Dragon Kid is proof of that. He spent most of his time with Dragon Gate, but also made a couple appearances in New Japan, and also one in Pro Wrestling NOAH. It is also worth pointing out that he’s pushing 48 years old, and is taking all this in-ring punishment on a frame that stands 5’4″ tall and has a listed weight of 150 pounds. How did PWI decide to reward him for that grueling schedule? By not even ranking him in this year’s PWI 500. Cold world.
After the three members of The Shield took the top three spots (which is cool as all hell, by the way), and after Gunther ranked right behind them as I previously mentioned, the rest of the top ten is as follows, in order: El Hijo Del Vikingo, MJF, Kazuchika Okada, Orange Cassidy, Josh Alexander, and Cody Rhodes. Maybe… mayyyyybe… you can argue about the order that those names should be in, but to be honest, Cody is the only name that I think you can debate about being included at all. He missed the first seven months of the evaluation period because of his torn pectoral muscle, but there is no doubting the run he has been on since returning at the Royal Rumble. He won said Rumble, and didn’t lose a match, televised or not, until WrestleMania 39. After that, he was only on the losing end of two more matches during the evaluation period, and one of those matches was a Three-Way where he wasn’t involved in the pin. He has looked every bit of a megastar all year long.
Sitting not too far outside of this year’s top ten is a very newsworthy story. At #15, Masha Slamovich becomes the highest-ranked woman in PWI 500 history. What helped propel her to that number is her inclusion in a lot of intergender matches. Whether it was for PWG (Battle Of Los Angeles) or wXw (16 Carat Gold), she was an important part of usually male-only tournaments. She wasn’t just competing, though, as she would also go on to win a handful of titles, both in men’s and women’s divisions, all over the place. The biggest of those titles was when she shocked the independent wrestling world by defeating Nick F’N Gage back in March to become the GCW Heavyweight Champion. She even closed the evaluation period in style, teaming up with Killer Kelly to become the new Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Champions two weeks before the period ended. Some of you may not think so, but her achieving such a high ranking in the PWI 500 is a big, big deal.
Next up is another regular part of my PWI 500 analysis, where I look at who made the biggest rise and the biggest fall from last year’s list.
– Biggest Rise: The official winner here is Samoa Joe, who wasn’t ranked last year and came in at #14 this year. He only wrestled seven times during last year’s evaluation period, so it was no surprise that he wasn’t ranked, but he came back with a vengeance this year, coming into the period as the RoH Television Champion and holding it all this time, as well as adding two AEW TNT Title reigns to the mix. If you want the biggest riser that was actually listed in the 2022 PWI 500, that would be Dragon Rojo Jr. out of CMLL in Mexico. Last year, he was the 457th name on the list, but this year, he rose 374 spots, coming in at #83. Being the CMLL World Middleweight Champion for the entire duration of the evaluation period will do that for you.
– Biggest Fall: CM Punk is the “winner” here, scoring the #3 position last year, and following that up by being unranked this year. That’s what happens when you have a total of eight matches during this year’s evaluation period. If you’re looking for who took the biggest fall while staying ranked in both years, that goes to Dragon Gate’s YAMATO, who went from #107 last year to #354 this year, a drop of 247 spots. What held him back was a lack of singles success. Actually, it was a lack of singles matches, period. He only wrestled 22 singles matches during the evaluation period, and nine of those matches came during two different excursions to the United States. If he was racking up the wins and titles in tag matches, that might make things different, but he spent most of his time in Dragon Gate on the losing end of things.
Next, I like to go from the more factual and statistical based side of things to delivering more of my own personal opinions by looking at some names I feel were ranked too high and some that I feel were ranked too low.
– Too Low: Andre Chase. The leader of NXT’s Chase U took the “Mr. Irrelevant” spot of #500 this year. It’s very rare to see anyone under WWE contract ranked this low. The fact that they’re employed by WWE in the first place is usually good enough to rank them at a certain point based on some of the listed criteria, and then their work moves them up or down as necessary. While he wasn’t the most active member of the NXT roster with 18 matches on television or pay-per-view during the evaluation period, he wasn’t helped by the fact that only nine of those matches were of the non-tag variety, and in those nine matches, he went 1-8. He remains one of the more consistent performers on the roster, though, providing a solid workrate and a veteran presence on a young roster. I figured that would’ve had him higher than the last spot, at the very least.
– Too High: Alex Hammerstone. He was draped in championships at the start of the evaluation period, holding titles in several promotions, but that ended quickly. In his first match during the period, he and Ace Perry dropped the AAW Tag Team Titles. Three months later, he lost the PCW ULTRA Heavyweight Title. Finally, in his last match during the period, he had his 644-day reign as the MLW World Heavyweight Champion come to an end. With only 20 total matches during the evaluation period, and with his year more known for the titles he lost, I think his #18 ranking is entirely too high.
– Too Low: Will Ospreay. I’m not sure what else Ospreay needed to do to get a higher spot than #17. Like Alex Hammerstone, Ospreay did see his title collection lessen at one point during the evaluation period, sure. He dropped the RevPro British Heavyweight Title, and then the IWGP United States Title four months later. The difference between Ospreay and Hammerstone, though, is simple… Ospreay lost the titles in Match Of The Year contests. On top of that, he would regain the IWGP United States Title a month before the evaluation period concluded, and he also added the 1PW Title to his collection. He wrestled in several countries, and was successful everywhere he went. Really, all he was missing was a WWE appearance.
– Too High: Tyrus. #58. LOL. Even with the NWA World Heavyweight Title (LOL), he wasn’t even the 58th best performer on the NWA roster, let alone in the entire world. The members of the rap group NWA would’ve been better choices, including Eazy-E, and he’s been dead for over 28 years. Get the fuck out of here.
– Too Low: Tetsuya Naito. He wasn’t even ranked at all. Huh?!? If I had to take a guess, I would say that this was a major goof on the part of the eight-person ranking committee at PWI. If not… and I say this was no hyperbole at all… it might be the biggest mistake in PWI 500 history, and that actually covers some ground. I’m not saying Naito should’ve been in contention for the top spot. I am saying, however, that he had one of the top 500 years in wrestling during the evaluation period. No, he didn’t win any titles, but he was still successful in New Japan, as well as for Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, All Japan, AEW, and CMLL. Although his G1 Climax victory came after the grading period ended, he had still picked up three victories before it closed. Oversight or not, this is just crazy.
– Too High: Rey Mysterio. He’s a couple months away from his 49th birthday, and he continues to show that he can still “go” in the ring. Owning the #53 spot, though? I don’t think I follow the thinking there. His singles record on television and pay-per-view during the evaluation period was 9-15, with a few of those wins coming by disqualification. If you’re thinking he could make up for it with his non-singles work, his record in those matches on television and pay-per-view was 6-6, and again, there was a disqualification victory there. He was 0-2 in title matches, with his United States Title victory coming 11 days after the period ended. If you’re looking for a positive, he won at WrestleMania 39, as well as at SummerSlam 2022, but incredibly, those were his only two appearances on pay-per-view during the 13 months of evaluation time.
Obviously, there are a lot more names you can say are too high or too low on this year’s list, but those six jumped out at me right away.
Finally, I like to go from looking back at the year-that-was to looking at the year-that-is and the year-that-will-be. Let’s look ahead to the 2024 edition of the PWI 500, shall we?
If you’re looking to make a prediction about who might get the top spot next year, a pretty safe bet is Cody Rhodes. He has the #10 spot this year, and he has yet to lose… singles, tag, television, pay-per-view, house show… since the evaluation period came to an end. Throw in the likely outcome of him defeating Roman Reigns to finally end Roman’s historic title reign, and you can already picture Cody on the cover of next year’s magazine in your head.
Will Ospreay is on a roll right now, putting in some truly great in-ring performances. As of now, the 2023 evaluation period has only been over for less than two months, but in that time, Ospreay has been in no less than five matches that are going to be on many Match Of The Year lists when December rolls around. Next month, Ospreay returns to Impact Wrestling for the first time in seven years, and that will only raise his profile in North America.
Can Seth Rollins make history with his fourth #1 ranking next year? It’s certainly possible. If he continues to have that “fighting champion” story, he will continue to build on what will already be a strong case.
If you want intrigue, look no further than MJF. Not to fantasy book, but what happens to him if he makes the jump from AEW to WWE? Just go with it… if he ends up being WWE-bound in January, and he is booked well and makes a splash, does he improve his #6 positioning because he is seeing a bigger spotlight? Or… would it be more important for him, as far as PWI 500 rankings go, if he remains in AEW and either builds a lengthy World Title reign, or at least remains in title contention after losing it? Of course, a lot of his discussion depends on his schedule. He barely wrestled enough non-tag matches to even contend for this year’s list, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens. One way or another, he’s worth keeping tabs on.
Now, I turn things over to you. What are your thoughts on the PWI 500? You can give your thoughts on this year’s list, next year’s potential list, or the idea of the PWI 500 in general. As always, hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind. Now, it’s time for my usual additions to the weekly content, starting with…
Weekly Power Rankings
Wes Lee vs Ilja Dragunov: My goodness, that Ilja Dragunov sure is a good wrestler, isn’t he? He remains one of the most consistently entertaining performers in the business when he steps foot inside a ring. Next stop? Another shot at Carmelo Hayes and the NXT Championship.
The Rock: What a pop. The man’s still got it.
MJF: Steiner Math!
Chad Gable, Otis & Tommaso Ciampa vs Imperium: As we wait for the teased reunion of Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, we’ll have to settle for Ciampa adding a lot of potentially fun matches to the feud between Chad Gable and Imperium. I’ll take that.
Tiffany Stratton vs Becky Lynch: Stratton continues to get better, and Big Time Becky continues to show up when it matters most. A lot of people were surprised at the outcome here, but NXT sure isn’t complaining about the viewership boost that Becks brought to the show.
Samoa Joe vs Roderick Strong: I really like the idea of Joe being the next challenger for MJF’s AEW World Title, but I also really like the ridiculousness of Roddy Strong’s current character. I got the best of both worlds here.
Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli vs Ricky Starks & Big Bill: The Blackpool Combat Club were faces, and then they became heels who were cheered, and now they might be faces again. As long as they all continue doing the in-ring work that they’re capable of, that’s all that matters to me.
Tyler Bate vs Axiom: We’re getting Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne (yeah, I know) again. I repeat… we’re getting Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne again. This is not a drill.
Xavier Woods vs Drew McIntyre: Kofi Kingston won the WWE Title in 2019. Big E won the WWE Title in 2021. Xavier Woods is slowly running out of time to join his brothers in the World Title club in 2023. I’m just saying.
Kevin Owens & Jey Uso vs Finn Balor & Damian Priest: While the match itself was high quality, it was more of a vehicle to continue the drama between Owens and Main Event Jey. That’s fine for now, but it can’t stretch too long, as it’s stuff we’ve seen in different forms for what seems like 20 years now.
Jon Moxley vs Big Bill: Bill makes two appearances in the same edition of my Weekly Power Rankings? Wow. Kudos to him for turning his life around.
Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez: WWE did everything they could to make this match feel special, and while it wasn’t spectacular, it was still a lot of fun. You know… until that other stuff happened at the end.
Kris Statlander vs Jade Cargill: It’s really weird that Jade returned to AEW for this one match and might be working out at the WWE Performance Center by the time you read this sentence. At least the match was enjoyable, and I dig the post-match emotion from both women.
Kris Statlander vs Britt Baker: This was a big week for women main eventing matches on television. No complaints here.
Hinting At The Rock vs Roman Reigns: Maybe it happens, and maybe it doesn’t. Perhaps it is too late, and perhaps it isn’t. No matter your thoughts on it, the match is going to be a HUGE deal if it happens. The Rock is smart enough to drop little hints about it potentially happening at WrestleMania 40. Now, the rumor mill goes back into overdrive.
This Week’s Playlist: “Life Is Beautiful” by Thirty Seconds To Mars… “Seasons” by Thirty Seconds To Mars… “Get Up Kid” by Thirty Seconds To Mars… “Never Not Love You” by Thirty Seconds To Mars… “Midnight Prayer” by Thirty Seconds To Mars… “$WISH” by VIC MENSA, Chance The Rapper & G-Eazy… “V For Visceral” by To The Grave… “Famine” by War Of Ages… “Mosaic” by Theocracy… “Sweet Thing” by Rufus & Chaka Khan… “What’s On Your Mind” by Eric B & Rakim… “All I Have” by Heavy D… “Fast Car” by Luke Combs… “Paranoid” by Ty Dolls $ign & B.o.B… “Motivation” by Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne