Seth Rollins Number One in Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 List

The 2023 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 List is out and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins tops the list.

As revealed on @BustedOpenRadio: @WWERollins tops the #PWI500 for a record-tying third time. He’s followed by his Shield brothers @WWERomanReigns and @JonMoxley at #2 and #3, respectively.

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— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) September 14, 2023

Seth Rollins is the workhorse for the WWE and the RAW roster. This is the third time Rollins got the top-notch. The other times were in 2015 and 2019. He has put together some great matches this year culminating with his win over AJ Styles for the newly created World Heavyweight Championship. You can truly make the argument that Seth Rollins is the modern-day Bret Hart.

But the Shield reigns supreme in the Top 3. Rollins took over the top spot from Roman Reigns, who was number one last year and is now second this year. They are followed by the newly crowned AEW International Champion Jon Moxley. Two workhorses of their respective companies are 1 and 3, with a part-timer at 2. And look how far these guys have come when they debuted as the Shield. Now they rule the pro wrestling world.

The evaluation period for this year’s PWI 500 is July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023. The criteria for ranking include win-loss record, technical ability, influence on the sport, success against the highest grade of competition, success against the most diverse competition, and activity.

During this time period, Rollins has defended the title more on television than Roman Reigns has this year at PPVs. Including his win for the World Heavyweight Championship, Rollins also beat Logan Paul at Wrestlemania 39, in addition, he is featured every week on RAW not to mention his wins over Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura.

The Top 10 of PWI 500:

1 – Seth Rollins
2 – Roman Reigns
3 – Jon Moxley
4 – Gunther
5 – Hijo Del Vikingo
6 – MJF
7 – Kazuchika Okada
8 – Orange Cassidy
9 – Josh Alexander
10 – Cody Rhodes

🚨BREAKING: @OfficialPWI #PWI500 Top 🔟 of 2023:
🔟 @CodyRhodes
9⃣ @Walking_Weapon
8⃣ @orangecassidy
7⃣ @rainmakerXokada
6⃣ @The_MJF
5⃣ @vikingo_aaa
4⃣ @Gunther_AUT
3⃣ #JonMoxley
2⃣ @WWERomanReigns
1⃣ @WWERollins #bustedopen247 pic.twitter.com/T8r0L4rD6P

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) September 14, 2023

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There is criticism of the Top 10 as Will Ospreay once again misses out on the Top 10. Yet, Cody Rhodes who was injured for most of 2022, is at 10. Also Josh Alexander at nine also dealt with injury. Though Ospreay missed time due to injury he is considered one of the, if not the best wrestler in the world right now.

If you look at the first half of 2023, the two epics with Kenny Omega, not to mention the trios match with Aussie Open against Omega and the Young Bucks. Then there are matches against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Lance Archer to get to Forbidden Door and this does not include the G1 Climax matches.

So to put Ospreay at 17 is not fair considering the work he accomplished.

As it stands, Ospreay is not in the Top 10, whereas Seth Rollins is number one.