It’s that time of year again-Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine yesterday announced this year’s edition of the PWI 500, ranking the top 500 wrestlers in all of pro wrestling. Naturally it’s my favorite issue of the year and I’ve gone though it already…it’s available on digital now but won’t be on newsstands for another 3-4 weeks. That being said, if you want to see how Japanese wrestlers ranked (as well as the top 10 overall), and don’t mind potential SPOILERS, click below to find out!
First the overall top 10 starting with #1 who admittedly I did not pick to be there this year…(and keep in mind the evaluation period was Gugust 1, 2024-July 31, 2025 along with other criteria required to be eligible, namely a vertain number of matches-6 over 6 months or 10 total)
1-Cody Rhodes (WWE)
2-Jon Moxley (All Elite Wrestling)
3-Gunther (WWE)
4-Adam Page (AEW)
5-Hirooki Goto (New Japan)
6-Jey Uso (WWE)
7-Swerve Strickland (AEW)
8-Seth Rollins (WWE)
9-Mistico (Mexico)
10-Will Ospreay (AEW)
My #1 pick? I went WAY OUT THERE with Konosuke Takeshita. But his biggest moment-winning the New Japan G1 CLIMAX 35-came after the evaluation period ended. But as you can see above, the highest ranked Japan wrestler this year came in at 5.
Now for the rest of the ranked Japan(see) wrestlers:
11-Kazuchika Okada (AEW)
13-Zack Sabre Jr. (New Japan)
17-Konosuke Takeshita (AEW)
26-OZAWA (Pro Wrestling NOAH)
27-Tetsuya Naito (New Japan)
31-Yota Tsuji (New Japan)
35-Gabriel Kidd (New Japan)
38-Jun Saito (All-Japan)
56-KENTA (NOAH)
57-Shingo Takagi (New Japan)
60-Satoshi Kojima (New Japan)
61-Kenoh (NOAH)
62-David Findlay (New Japan)
63-Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE)
70-Kosei Fujita (New Japan)
72-Shota Union (New Japan)
77-Tomohuro Ishii (New Japan)
80-Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan)
87-Rei Saito (All-Japan)
88-Chris Brookes (DDT)
90-Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
91-El Phantasmo (New Japan)
92-YAMATO (Dragon Gate)
93-Davey Boy Smith Jr. (All-Japan)
108-JC Mateo (Jeff Cobb) (New Japan/WWE)
111-Boltin Oleg (New Japan)
114-MAO (DDT)
115-Yuma Aoyagi (All-Japan)
118-Kazusada Higuchi (DDT)
119-YO-HEY (NOAH)
120-Shun Skywalker (DDT)
124-Titan (New Japan/Mexico)
126-Katsuyori Shibata (AEW)
127-Yuma Anzac (All-Japan)
129-Yoh (New Japan)
130-Max The Impaler (Tokyo Joshi Pro)
137-Great-O-Khan (New Japan)
139-Manabu Soya (NOAH)
143-Galeno (NOAH)
150-Daga (NOAH)
152-Eita (NOAH)
154-Clark Connors (New Japan)
159-Kevin Knight (New Japan)
163-Minoru Suzuki (Independent/Freelancer)
164-TJP (New Japan)
166-Kento Miyahara (All-Japan)
167-Hijo dr Dr. Wagner Jr. (NOAH)
175-Katsuhiko Nakajima (Independent/Freelancer)
177-Toru Sugiura (Freedoms)
178-Ren Narita (New Japan)
179-SANADA (New Japan)
180-Mike D. Vecchio (All-Japan)
181-Hideyoshi Kamitani (Big Japan)
182-Ryohei Oiwa (New Japan)
184-Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1)
188-Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH)
189-Titus Alexander (NOAH)
192-Caveman Ugg (New Japan TAMASHII)
200-Francesco Akira (New Japan)
204-Masashi Takeda (Freedoms)
207-Kaito Ishida (GLEAT)
217-Robbie Eagles (New Japan)
218-Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer)
225-Royce Isaacs (New Japan)
228-Shinga Aoki (DDT)
230-Dragon Dia (Dragon Gate)
232-Yuya Uemura (New Japan)
236-Yoshiki Inamura (NOAH/WWE)
237-Callum Newman (New Japan)
240-Drilla Moloney (New Japan)
245-U-T (Dragon Gate)
248-Dan Tamura (All-Japan)
251-KUSHIDA (New Japan)
253-Tetsuya Endo (DDT/NOAH)
255-EVIL (New Japan)
262-Rina Yamashita (Independent/Freelancer)
270-Ulka Sasaki (NOAH)
274-Master Wato (New Japan)
280-Taiji Ishimori (New Japan)
301-Gianni Valetta (Dragon Gate)
303-Ryuki Honda (All-Japan)
306-Seigo Tachibana (All-Japan)
314-Maki Itoh (Tokyo Joshi Pro)
317-Ryoya Tanaka (Dragon Gate)
323-Miyu Yamashita (Tokyo Joshi Pro)
331-Luis Mante (Dragon Gate)
334-Yuya Aoki (Big Japan)
335-Robbie X (New Japan)
337-Shuji Ishikawa (Independent/Freelancer)
339-Yuki Ueno (DDT)
341-Madoka Kikuta (Dragon Gate)
343-Jack Morris (NOAH)
344-MUSASHI (All-Japan)
347-Masa Kitamiya (NOAH)
349-Tom Lawlor (New Japan)
352-Yuko Miyamoto (666)
355-Sho (New Japan)
361-Hayabusa (ZERO1) (Rookie, not the prior Hayabusa)
364-Fuminori Abe (Independent/Freelancer)
369-Shigehiro Irie (GLEAT)
381-Kosuke Sato (Big Japan)
383-HAYATA (NOAH)
386-Yuki Iino (DDT)
392-Seiki Yoshioka (All-Japan)
402-El Lindaman (GLEAT)
409-Yumehito Imanari (Ganbare Pro)
412-Jun Kasai (Freedoms)
415-To-y (DDT)
424-KANON (DDT)
432-Dragon Bane (NOAH)
435-Hideki Suzuki (All-Japan)
441-Kota Minoura (Dragon Gate)
442-Anthony Greene (NOAH)
450-Kzy (Dragon Gate)
451-Masato Tanaka (ZERO1)
455-Yoshiki Kato (Dragon Gate)
463-Strong Machine J (Dragon Gate)
466-Kodai Nozaki (Kyushu Pro)
468-Ho Ho Lun (Dragon Gate)
486-Danshoku Dieno (DDT)
The highest ranked woman? Masha Slamovich at 25.
And the iconic #500? Cereal Man.
The most notable not ranked wrestler due to the criteria? John Cena, who no doubt would have been near the top. Sounds like he needed a couple more matches.
The digital version of the issue is available for purchase on Zinio on a web browser or via mobile app. You can also get a 1-year subscription (9 issues) for $29.99. The print version will hit newsstands in mid-October.