PWI 500 [2015]

[CM Punk]

Here's the Top 100!
The rest can be seen here.

1 Seth Rollins
2 John Cena
3 A.J. Styles
4 Roman Reigns
5 Shinsuke Namakura
6 Randy Orton
7 Jay Briscoe
8 Alexander Rusev
9 Alberto El Patrón
10 Kevin Owens
11 Hiroshi Tanahashi
12 Dolph Ziggler
13 Dean Ambrose
14 Daniel Bryan
15 Adrian Neville
16 Prince Puma (Ricochet)
17 Jay Lethal
18 Bobby Lashley
19 Minoru Suzuki
20 King Barrett
21 Bray Wyatt
22 Bobby Roode
23 Sami Zayn
24 Luke Harper
25 Kurt Angle
26 Mil Muertes
27 Kazuchika Okada
28 Finn Bálor
29 Ryback
30 Ethan Carter III
31 Go Shiozaki
32 Johnny Mundo
33 Darren Young
34 Yujiro Kushida
35 Kyle O'Reilly
36 The Big Show
37 Drew Galloway
38 Hideo Itami
39 Adam Cole
40 Kota Ibushi
41 Antonio Cesaro
42 Sheamus O'Shaunessy
43 Michael Elgin
44 Big E Langston
45 Bobby Fish
46 Samoa Joe
47 Jeff Hardy
48 Naomichi Marufuji
49 Jimmy Uso
50 Austin Aries
51 Kane
52 Kofi Kingston
53 Tyson Kidd
54 Kenny Omega
55 Davey Richards
56 James Storm
57 Maximo
58 A.C.H.
59 BxB Hulk
60 Mike Mizanin
61 Tyler Breeze
62 Roderick Strong
63 King Cuerno
64 Christopher Daniels
65 Stardust
66 Matt Jackson
67 Nick Jackson
68 Hiroyoshi Tenzan
69 Frankie Kazarian
70 Mark Briscoe
71 Brutus Magnus
72 Jey Uso
73 Doc Gallows
74 Matt Hardy
75 Eddie Edwards
76 Hirooki Goto
77 Xavier Woods
78 Brian Cage
79 Karl Anderson
80 Tetsuya Naito
81 Davey Boy Smith Jr.
82 Michael Bennett
83 Rob Conway
84 Chris Jericho
85 Cedric Alexander
86 Baron Corbin
87 El Texano Jr.
88 Akebono
89 Goldust
90 Bad Luck Fale
91 Montel Vontavious Porter
92 Lance Archer
93 Damien Sandow
94 "R-Truth" Ron Killings
95 Pentagon Jr.
96 Matt Taven
97 Low-Ki
98 Satoshi Kojima
99 A.R. Fox
100 Sin Cara

 

[Bort]

Names picked out of hat.
:quimby:

 

[Prince Bálor]

"We did it for the LOLZ." - PWI

Seriously, I don't think I could ever give a toss about PWI's yearly lists. I usually check 'em to LOL at them.
Not like I'll lose sleep over this, but someone like ace Tanahashi should've been placed higher and at least made it in the Top 10. Roddy and Okada, too.
Also, LOL at Brock not being on the list, as well as Pentagon being ranked lower than Truth.

But, hey, nevermind. As Bort said, names were being picked out of hat.

 

[Roadster]

How did Drew Galloway not have the greatest year in pro-wrestling, and he's beat by Big Show?

 

[Prince Bálor]

How did Drew Galloway not have the greatest year in pro-wrestling, and he's beat by Big Show?

Because :troll:

 

[Roadster]

Oh yeah, Big Show won that one thing at that one show last March. That's why.

 

[Rogue]

13 should be 1 and 12 should be -100, that is all.

 

[Rogue]

Seriously though, Angle in the top 30? And Kane is top 50? Then guys like Itami and Zayn being injured for the better part of the year being so high up. Hilarious

 

[Stopspot]

"We did it for the LOLZ." - PWI

Seriously, I don't think I could ever give a toss about PWI's yearly lists. I usually check 'em to LOL at them.
Not like I'll lose sleep over this, but someone like ace Tanahashi should've been placed higher and at least made it in the Top 10. Roddy and Okada, too.
Also, LOL at Brock not being on the list, as well as Pentagon being ranked lower than Truth.

But, hey, nevermind. As Bort said, names were being picked out of hat.

You shouldn't give a fuck about them. They are pure kayfabe.

Fans are getting too worked up over a kayfabe list

 

[seabs]

Owens should have been number 1,2 and 3.

 

[Snowman1]

Owens should have been number 1,2 and 3.

He had that clunker against Joe, but other than that his matches have been more consistently great than anyone else I can remember

I don't see how this list is kayfabe, even. King Barrett at 20? Randy Orton at 6?

 

[Stopspot]

He had that clunker against Joe, but other than that his matches have been more consistently great than anyone else I can remember

I don't see how this list is kayfabe, even. King Barrett at 20? Randy Orton at 6?

It is also very biased against the WWE. But apparently not against Zack Ryder since there is like 200+ spots between him and the rest of the WWE guys on this list.

 

[Jacob Fox]

I still read PWI, mostly for nostalgia purposes since I grew up reading it, but yeah, I have actually never cared for their 500 list even when they first started doing it. My favorite was in 1997 when they listed Dean Malenko as number 1 because they felt that there wasn't a dominant wrestler for the year so they just voted on who they thought was the best technical wrestler. Now if it had been who had been in the best matches, or who had the best promos or any combination of the things we judge wrestlers on in a non kayfabe standard, that would be different. But nope, it was simply who they thought was the best "technical" wrestler, which meant that they automatically excluded any brawlers despite their talent.

Back in the day, they would never have listed Rollins as 1. They tended to lower champions who have been cowardly and such. For example, in 1997, even though Hulk Hogan had held the WCW World Championship for an entire year (with the exception of Luger taking it for a week), Hogan was ranked 55 on the list.

As much as it PAINS me to say it, I would have ranked Cena higher than Rollins just due to the phenonemal matches he has put on since winning the US Title. Would I have ranked him as 1? Probably not, but I wouldn't have ranked Rollins as 2. Kevin Owens and AJ Styles would probably be 1 and 2, followed by Cena at three and then I don't know.

But of course it doesn't matter. Even I don't tend to remember these lists (I had to look up the year with Malenko and Hogan) and I love reading PWI. I guess the 500 list must still sell pretty good because I can't imagine otherwise why it even exists anymore.

 

[Roadster]

Phenomenal matches Cena put on? Yeah they have a lot of false finishes but that doesn't mean it's a great match. The perception of a great match in the WWE has been lowered to how many times a guy kicks out.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Roderick Strong gets my vote for Wrestler of the Year. He's been having such an amazing in-ring year so far.
AJ Styles might be a close second.