Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine has released their annual “PWI 500,” where its editors rank the top 500 wrestlers in the world for the past year.
This year’s #1 ranked wrestler is Kenny Omega, who jumped from #5 in last year’s rankings. Last year’s #1, Kazuchika Okada, dropped to #3 this year.
2018 Top 10
Here’s the top 10 for 2018 (last year’s ranking in parentheses):
1. Kenny Omega (5)
2. AJ Styles (2)
3. Kazuchika Okada (1)
4. Brock Lesnar (25)
5. Seth Rollins (16)
6. Braun Strowman (34)
7. Roman Reigns (4)
8. Cody (33)
9. Tetsuya Naito (12)
10. The Miz (10)
2017 Top 10
Here’s last year’s top 10 for comparison:
1. Kazuchika Okada
2. AJ Styles
3. Kevin Owens
4. Roman Reigns
5. Kenny Omega
6. Shinsuke Nakamura
7. Samoa Joe
8. Dean Ambrose
9. Bobby Roode
10. The Miz
Pro Wrestling Illustrated posted this article about Omega being selected as #1, with Omega commenting, “I want to thank the people responsible for making this decision. There’s going to be more interesting things to come. There’s still the G1. There’s the Jericho cruise (Chris Jericho’s Rock ’n’ Wrestling Rager at Sea in October). There are a lot of cool things that are yet to happen this year.”