For the past 34 years, Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) has released a ranking of the Top 500, establishing numerous professional wrestlers as the best in the business.
Putting an emphasis on singles competition, the people behind the PWI 500 rank the wrestlers based on in-ring achievement, influence, technical ability, competition, and activity, meaning they wrestled at least 10 singles matches in the qualifying period.
This year, the qualifying period was from Aug. 1, 2023-July 31, 2024, so the ranking specifically looks at a wrestler’s accomplishments during this period.
Naturally, there was only one person who could top the list.
After an unbelievable campaign, The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes easily took after ending Roman Reigns’ 1,316-day title reign.
Additionally, Rhodes won his second Royal Rumble in a row, defeated Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2023, and teamed up with Jey Uso to win the WWE Tag Team Championship from Damian Priest and Finn Balor.
“Although he’s emerged as one of WWE’s most popular stars in years, Rhodes is far from a ‘special attraction,'” PWI said,” keeping one of the busiest schedules of anyone in the sport, and winning the vast majority of his matches, including world title defenses against Shinsuke Nakamura, Logan Paul, Dominik Mysterio, and Santos Escobar.”
#andNEW: Congratulations to @WWE champion @CodyRhodes for ranking number one on this year’s #PWI500! See who else made the list—and read Cody’s thoughts on this milestone—in the latest issue of PWI.
Buy print/digital: https://t.co/iDdfY1e2Vd pic.twitter.com/PNiUrT4RDL
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI)September 10, 2024
“While his wrestling skills are exemplary, where Cody really shines is in his ability to connect with fans, whether it means welling up with tears during a heartfelt promo, or accepting an invitation to attend the birthday party of a kid in the audience,” PWI continued. “‘Inspirational’ doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Here’s the rest of the Top 10, along with the companies they wrestled with during the qualification period.
- Cody Rhodes (WWE)
- Swerve Strickland (AEW)
- Will Ospreay (AEW, NJPW)
- Seth Rollins (WWE)
- Tetsuya Naito (NJPW)
- Damian Priest (WWE)
- MJF (AEW)
- Jon Moxley (AEW, NJPW)
- GUNTHER (WWE)
- Mistico (CMLL, AEW, MLW)
While some of these wrestlers are expected to be on the list, like former AEW Champion Swerve Strickland and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, others were more surprising.
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito makes the Top 5 after not being on the list at all last year, a mistake PWI fully admits to making.
Mistico was another surprise, especially since he last made the Top 10 in 2007. However, his unbelievable skill and draw in Mexico cannot be denied.
The most surprising placement is probably MJF at No. 7. However, this has nothing to do with his skill as a wrestler or the multiple titles he held.
During this specific qualifying period, MJF missed almost five months due to injury. Compare this to the two wrestlers directly behind him, Jon Moxley and GUNTHER.
Moxley made professional wrestling history after becoming the first wrestler to hold world titles in WWE, AEW, and NJPW. Simultaneously, GUNTHER set the record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign at 666 days before going on to win the King of the Ring tournament and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Still, while there may be questions regarding the placement of these 10 wrestlers, there’s no doubt that they are some of the best in the world.
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