MJF plans on making sure everyone knows about his new spot atop the PWI 500.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated revealed on Thursday that MJF ranked #1 on its 2026 PWI 500 list, a significant jump from his #30 ranking in 2025. Cody Rhodes finished second, while CM Punk, Mistico and Konosuke Takeshita rounded out the top five.
During an interview with PWI’s Lyric Swinton, MJF made it clear that he intends to heavily promote the accomplishment whenever he makes his return to AEW television.
“I don’t want to give anything away, but just know, whenever I come back, because I’m waiting for the right time and the right moment, whenever I come back, just know that the PWI cover is not going to be far behind,” MJF said.
MJF has been absent from AEW television since failing to win the Casino Gauntlet match at AEW All In. There is currently no word on when he will return.
As for his new PWI ranking, MJF added:
“I’m going to be shoving this down everybody’s throats for as long as humanly possible.”
One notable name absent from this year’s PWI 500 is Roman Reigns.
Reigns was not eligible for the 2026 list because he failed to meet PWI’s minimum requirement of 10 singles matches during the evaluation period, which ran from August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026.
Reigns wrestled only seven singles matches during that timeframe.
