Published: 2 hours ago by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: 2 hours ago by Sanchez Taylor
Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.
AEW
The annual PWI 500 ranking has been unveiled, with AEW star MJF beating out top stars from WWE, NJPW and elsewhere for the top spot.
On September 24, PWI released its yearly 500 ranking, a list of the top 500 male wrestlers ranked by both kayfabe and shoot accomplishments.
MJF was awarded the #1 spot in the ranking, a big jump after landing in the #30 spot in the 2025 list.
The former AEW World Champion placed ahead of Cody Rhodes in the #2 spot, and CM Punk who took home the bronze medal.
Just missing out on the podium were Mistico and Konosuke Takeshita, who landed in the 4th and 5th spots respectively.
The top 10 of the 2026 PWI 500 ranking:
1. MJF (AEW)
2. Cody Rhodes (WWE)
3. CM Punk (WWE)
4. Mistico (CMLL, AEW)
5. Konosuke Takeshita (AEW, NJPW, DDT)
6. Adam Page (AEW)
7. Yota Tsuji (NJPW)
8. Trick Williams (WWE)
9. Oba Femi (WWE)
10. GUNTHER (WWE)
The positions of some names on this list may have fans scratching their heads, but it’s worth remembering the criteria and evaluation period for this unique list.
In Ring Achievement, Influence, Technical Ability, Competition and Activity were judged as criteria, so in-storyline achievements hold a lot of weight in this list.
The evaluation period was from August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026. While many fans’ minds naturally reflect on accomplishments from 2026 alone, this list also considers the last five months of 2025.
This would mean that huge title wins like CM Punk’s World Heavyweight Championship victories in August and November, as well as Cody Rhodes winning back the Undisputed WWE Championship from John Cena at SummerSlam 2025, would be considered.
Because of this, the top three ranked stars are hardly a surprise, with MJF, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk all winning multiple world titles during the evaluation period.
In addition, to these three stars, Mistico, Konosuke Takeshita, Adam Page, Yota Tsuji and GUNTHER all holding world titles during the evaluation periods in their respective companies.
GUNTHER’s world title reign was a buzzer beater – or whatever the opposite of a buzzer beater is – for this evaluation period, with the Ring General dropping the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to CM Punk at SummerSlam 2025, one day after the beginning of the evaluations.
Some fans have questioned why Trick Williams was ranked ahead of Oba Femi, given Oba Femi’s incredible rookie year on the main roster.
It’s worth remembering that Trick Williams held both the TNA World Championship and WWE US Championship during the evaluation period, where Oba Femi’s only traditional title reign during this time was with the NXT Championship.
A notable omission from the top 10 include AEW’s Will Ospreay, who was absent from the ring for a large portion of the evaluation period. While he did recently win the AEW World Championship at All In, this will have been in the evaluation period for the 2027 list.
Lists like this will always divide fans who believe their favorite stars should’ve made the top 10, nethertheless it is interesting to see who comes out on top when you compare the top wrestlers in the world.
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