The Most Famous Wrestler In Each Of The 10 Largest Cities In The World – WWE Legends The Rock, John Cena, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker & More

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Dave Meltzer has reacted to research into finding the most famous wrestler in each of the 10 largest cities in the world, with WWE legends like The Rock, John Cena, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker and more featuring.

X user @AmericanNumbers responded to a query from Meltzer with a list researched via Google Gemini which Meltzer gave his thoughts on in comparison to his own predictions.

Below is the list of the most famous wrestler in each of the top largest cities worldwide, with Meltzer’s reaction as described on Wrestling Observer Radio, and his comments on each finding.

Tokyo, Japan – Antonio Inoki

“Number one is Antonio Inoki, who is exactly who I would have said.”

Dehli, India – Dara Singh

“Number one was Dara Singh – I thought it would be Dara Singh or The Great Khali, because I know people from India and those are the two household names. Khali was second.

“Dara Singh was the most famous wrestler in India when Lou Thesz would go to India and when India had its own wrestling. He was the guy, and he’s a big movie star too. In India, Dara Singh is, I don’t wanna say he’s as big as El Santo (ios in Mexico) because he’s not, but he’s the closest thing.

“But the thing with India is that so many people in the world – 1.4 billion or whatever the number is (in India), China and India have so many more people than the United States, Canada, England and all these places. So if you’re talking about the most famous people in the world, it’s gonna be the people that are known in those countries, because that’s the world, that’s the population of the world.”

Shanghai, China – The Rock

“Rock and Cena, because of movies. They don’t know Hulk Hogan… I’m sure there’s people who know him, but a movie star in China is a lot bigger than a pro-wrestler, because pro-wrestling really doesn’t exist much in China. When people have done tours in China, the people don’t react – they don’t know what it is. They don’t even know what it is.”

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Roman Reigns

“Roman Reigns, because that’s when they got their TV.”

Cairo, Egypt – Undertaker

“Cairo, Egypt, which I didn’t know – that was Undertaker.”

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Rey Mysterio

“It ain’t Ted Boy Marino – too far back. It was Rey Mysterio.”

Mexico City, Mexico – El Santo

“Mexico City of course, obviously El Santo.

“Mexico is probably where wrestling is most popular right now, but its population is nowhere close to the United States.”

Mumbai, India – The Great Khali

“Mumbai was Great Khali. So these are the largest cities in the world.”

Beijing, China – John Cena

“Beijing was Cena and then Rock.”

Osaka, Japan – Rikidozan

“Osaka – Rikidozan, so those are the 10 largest cities.”

Most Famous Overall & Other Notes

Dave Meltzer concluded:

“The Rock and John Cena are actually more famous than anyone worldwide because, in the case of both of them, a combination of movies… with Rock, it’s probably not even that much WWE television, it’s movies. With Cena, it’s movies and WWE television, and that it’s 2026, it isn’t 1986 or 1996. Things change.

“It is amazing though, the enduring name value of Rikidozan, El Santo and Dara Singh. Rikidozan and Dara Singh is what really surprised me. Santo did not. Anyone who knows anything about Mexico and wrestling knows that El Santo is at a different level. The big three in Mexico City are El Santo, Blue Demon and Misitico. And Blue Demon goes as far back as Santo practically. Mexico, they keep their history alive, unlike us where history starts in 1984 I guess.”

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