This was released Friday but I didn't notice until today.
Shamelessly stolen from the DVDVR board (board.deathvalleydriver.com), who grabbed it from the PWI blog (prowrestlingillustrated.blogspot.com) - I have added value by running the names against last year's list and then trying to catch the name changes the script wouldn't have. (If you see somebody unranked for 2009 who SHOULD have a ranking, let me know and it'll get corrected.)
EDIT: I bought my copy! Now having checked all their "name change" entries in the "Farewell" section, I've filled in a few more blanks in the 2009 rankings. (I also fixed a spelling error they must have thrown in there to see how many people plagiarised their blog entries - ha ha, can't fool me!)
1 19 AJ Styles 2 3 John Cena 3 8 C.M. Punk 4 5 Randy Orton 5 2 Chris Jericho 6 16 Batista 7 24 Shinsuke Nakamura 8 11 The Undertaker 9 12 Kurt Angle 10 94 Sheamus 11 1 Triple H 12 56 The Miz 13 26 Rey Mysterio Jr. 14 -- Takashi Sugiura 15 -- Rob Van Dam 16 57 Dr. Wagner Jr 17 25 The Big Show 18 4 Edge 19 17 Tyler Black 20 13 Jeff Hardy 21 18 Jack Swagger 22 28 Christian 23 96 Abyss 24 -- Ryota Hama 25 23 Austin Aries 26 35 Kofi Kingston 27 46 John Morrison 28 6 Desmond Wolfe 29 10 Ultimo Guerrero 30 125 Drew McIntyre 31 29 Samoa Joe 32 77 Davey Richards 33 -- Mr. Anderson 34 44 Ted DiBiase Jr. 35 82 Hirooki Goto 36 -- D'Angelo Dinero 37 92 Eddie Edwards 38 86 Matt Morgan 39 7 Hiroshi Tanahashi 40 60 Yoshihiro Takayama 41 48 Cody Rhodes 42 36 Mistico 43 59 James Storm 44 27 Daniel Bryan 45 134 Doug Williams 46 61 Roderick Strong 47 58 Christopher Daniels 48 39 Mesias 49 72 Eric Young 50 113 Dolph Ziggler 51 55 Robert Roode 52 91 Naomichi Marufuji 53 105 Kevin Nash 54 112 Kevin Steen 55 80 R-Truth 56 21 Jeff Jarrett 57 254 Electroshock 58 73 Tyson Kidd 59 33 Montel Vontavious Porter 60 9 Sting 61 51 Adam Pearce 62 81 Jay Briscoe 63 63 Evan Bourne 64 111 Minoru Suzuki 65 22 Blue Demon Jr. 66 20 Matt Hardy 67 230 Rob Terry 68 120 Go Shiozaki 69 130 David Hart Smith 70 211 Satoshi Kojima 71 66 Hernandez 72 121 Cibernetico 73 49 Brother Devon 74 70 Chris Hero 75 297 Togi Makabe 76 31 Shelton Benjamin 77 43 Brother Ray 78 219 Yoshi Tatsu 79 37 Kane 80 67 Claudio Castagnoli 81 160 Volador Jr. 82 -- Takeshi Rikio 83 88 Dos Caras Jr. 84 90 JTG 85 95 Shad Gaspard 86 107 Mark Briscoe 87 153 Amazing Red 88 32 Alex Shelley 89 -- Mohammad Yone 90 138 Luke Gallows 91 191 La Sombra 92 30 Kazarian 93 142 Ezekiel Jackson 94 64 Carlito 95 52 Chris Sabin 96 202 Kenny King 97 239 Phil Shatter 98 341 BxB Hulk 99 45 Mark Henry 100 192 Heath Slater 101 238 Colt Cabana 102 79 Homicide 103 471 Jon Moxley 104 110 Averno 105 65 Yuji Nagata 106 131 Delirious 107 173 Magnus 108 40 Jerry Lynn 109 --- Wade Barrett 110 128 Naruki Doi 111 --- Mephisto 112 84 Steve Corino 113 180 Goldust 114 221 Joe Hennig 115 --- Masakatsu Funaki 116 229 Max Buck 117 --- Zack Ryder 118 163 El Generico 119 235 Jeremy Buck 120 15 Keiji Muto 121 132 Suwama 122 214 Karl Anderson 123 106 Rhett Titus 124 188 Shannon Moore 125 76 Primo Colon 126 41 William Regal 127 166 Yujiro 128 127 Erick Stevens 129 62 Brian Kendrick 130 118 The Great Khali 131 98 Tyson Dux 132 74 KENTA 133 75 Chessman 134 83 Jay Lethal 135 --- Orlando Jordan 136 47 Finlay 137 --- Toshiaki Kawada 138 108 Negro Casas 139 68 Rhino 140 54 Kensuke Sasaki 141 --- Justin Gabriel 142 318 Kenny Omega 143 144 Masato Tanaka 144 162 Paul London 145 124 Marco Corleone 146 161 Tetsuya Naito 147 155 Ray Gonzalez 148 109 La Parka 149 351 Joe Lider 150 50 Jimmy Jacobs 151 119 Kaz Hayashi 152 --- Naoya Ogawa 153 498 Mikal Judas 154 451 Trent Beretta 155 53 Vladimir Kozlov 156 226 Katsuhiko Nakajima 157 307 Silver King 158 114 CIMA 159 --- Caylen Croft 160 123 Paul Birchill 161 186 Chuck Taylor 162 136 Perro Aguayo Jr. 163 71 Scott Steiner 164 309 Brett DiBiase 165 89 Brent Albright 166 --- Extreme Tiger 167 --- Tajiri 168 195 Vance Archer 169 330 Sean Waltman 170 85 Shawn Daivari 171 175 Joey Ryan 172 393 Chris Masters 173 205 Tomko 174 194 Sami Callihan 175 --- Latin Lover 176 145 Alex Koslov 177 116 Chavo Guerrero 178 149 Sonjay Dutt 179 --- Felino 180 156 Tyler Reks 181 42 Jun Akiyama 182 135 Martin Stone 183 --- Pac 184 151 Kiyoshi 185 69 Manabu Nakanishi 186 102 Petey Williams 187 204 Shinjiro Otani 188 183 Atlantis 189 93 Austin Creed 190 117 Necro Butcher 191 133 Drake Brewer 192 154 Giant Bernard 193 104 Tommy Dreamer 194 237 Stevie Richards 195 140 Joe E. Legend 196 115 Bison Smith 197 418 Darren Young 198 258 Nicho El Millionario 199 99 Blue Panther 200 243 Jason Hades 201 --- Alex Riley 202 428 Kory Chavis 203 331 Arik Cannon 204 168 Cody Deaner 205 250 Jason Blade 206 100 Takeshi Morishima 207 --- David Otunga 208 263 Mr. Niebla 209 198 Kaval 210 167 Jack Evans 211 432 Jon Davis 212 299 Toru Yano 213 267 Osamu Nishimura 214 87 Mike Knox 215 --- Ryusuke Taguchi 216 375 Rasche Brown 217 --- Prince Devitt 218 488 Skip Sheffield 219 --- Ultimo Gladiator 220 264 Icarus 221 200 Shawn Spears 222 247 Mike Quackenbush 223 --- Jesse Neal 224 197 Teddy Hart 225 212 2 Cold Scorpio 226 253 Gran Akuma 227 --- Yuko Miamoto 228 --- Tommaso Ciampa 229 --- Kohei Sato 230 --- Okada 231 222 Scott Lost 232 148 Hector Garza 233 103 Tiger Mask IV 234 --- Maasaki Mochizuki 235 218 Brodie Lee 236 220 Super Crazy 237 --- Billy Ken Kid 238 --- Percy Watson 239 249 Lince Dorado 240 --- Mascara Dorado 241 --- T.J. Cannon 242 --- Dragon Kid 243 143 Zorro 244 203 Ruckus 245 178 Drake Younger 246 283 Shocker 247 --- Raven 248 --- Oliver John 249 206 B-Boy 250 --- Kota Ibushi 251 --- El Hijo Del Santo 252 257 Eddie Kingston 253 --- N8 Mattson 254 141 Rocky Romero 255 190 Curt Hawkins 256 --- Cody Hawk 257 --- Masahiro Chono 258 245 B.J. 259 314 Jigsaw 260 227 Rey Bucanero 261 --- Koji Kanemoto 262 251 Johnny Devine 263 --- Bruce Maxwell 264 --- El Sensacional Carlitos 265 --- Akebono 266 210 Christopher Gray 267 --- Ryan Eagles 268 296 Sterling James Keenan 269 --- El Terrible 270 --- Ares 271 346 Michael Elgin 272 --- Sebastian Suave 273 --- Yamato 274 268 Texano Jr. 275 216 Tommy Taylor 276 265 Hallowicked 277 213 Vampiro 278 --- Mike Rollins 279 215 Metal Master 280 278 Josh Daniels 281 291 Dustin Cutler 282 --- Derek Wylde 283 159 Johnny Curtis 284 217 Nick Gage 285 --- Shadow Jackson 286 281 Brandon Cutler 287 --- Darrin Corbin 288 169 Jimmy Wang Yang 289 --- Quiet Storm 290 --- Tursas 291 --- Jules Uso 292 374 Ace Rockwell 293 --- Ryan Kruz 294 248 Pepper Parks 295 147 Konnan 296 --- Jimmy Uso 297 365 Sean Morley 298 --- Johnny Prime 299 165 Slam Master J 300 284 Glen Osbourne 301 448 Xtremo 302 --- Joey Mercury 303 225 Rory McAllister 304 176 Rob Eckos 305 --- Brandon Bonham 306 223 Mike Mondo 307 232 Robbie McAllister 308 270 Aden Chambers 309 --- Benjamin Boone 310 --- Harley Jackson 311 459 Prince Nana 312 187 Billy Bax 313 321 Shark Boy 314 --- Strongman 315 181 Jimmy Rave 316 --- Scorpio Sky 317 --- Jushin Liger 318 --- Shaun Tempers 319 260 Johnny Kashmere 320 --- Jackson Andrews 321 --- The Blue Meanie 322 --- Jimmy DeMarco 323 --- Dragon Rojo Jr. 324 --- Bo Rotundo 325 --- KC Kea 326 --- Spike Dudley 327 326 Dal Knox 328 446 Brandon Locke 329 --- Ron Zombie 330 177 Matt Cross 331 --- Duke Rotundo 332 --- Matt Walsh 333 362 La Mascara 334 325 Brad Attitude 335 427 Silas Young 336 --- TJ Perkins 337 273 Sangre Azteca 338 292 Glamour Boy Shane 339 405 Phil Atlas 340 342 Tim Donst 341 385 Egotistico Fantastico 342 --- Leo Kruger 343 --- Michael Tarver 344 301 Tommy Thunda 345 --- Kimo 346 --- Tito Colon 347 196 Trik Davis 348 395 Ryan McBride 349 320 J.D. Maverick 350 97 Santino Marella 351 311 Truitt Fields 352 424 The Sheik 353 366 Nicky Benz 354 --- L.A. Park 355 193 Gregory Helms 356 --- Frankie the Mobster 357 185 Sinn Bodhi 358 --- Hunico 359 333 Pat Buck 360 322 Mahoney 361 --- Jeremy Vain 362 --- Don Paysan 363 --- Johnny Gargano 364 --- Richie Steamboat 365 --- Caprice Coleman 366 --- Mason Ryan 367 --- Savio Vega 368 --- Charley Manson 369 412 Jonny Puma 370 --- Josh Alexander 371 416 T.J. Mack 372 --- Marshall Gambino 373 378 Chasyn Rance 374 --- Shane Haste 375 349 Bobby Dempsey 376 389 Matt Burns 377 408 Kirby Mack 378 --- Ryoji Sai 379 394 Danny Daniels 380 --- Derrick Bateman 381 379 Asylum 382 392 Kevin Grace 383 --- Lynx 384 --- Mike Tobin 385 339 Tank 386 --- Ultimo Dragon 387 --- Marion Fontaine 388 --- Zaquary Springate III 389 --- Matt Riviera 390 276 Chase Del Monte 391 246 Ricky Reyes 392 --- Kenzo Suzuki 393 --- Simon Sez 394 413 Vance Nevada 395 421 Joey Knight 396 --- Orien Bishop 397 --- Aero Star 398 398 John McChesney 399 415 Robin Knightwing 400 --- Bazooka Joe 401 --- Titan 402 --- Big E Langston 403 343 Damien Slater 404 --- Rudy Switchblade 405 483 Josef Von Schmidt 406 279 Matt Logan 407 --- Ricochet 408 --- Alex Price 409 --- Thumbtack Jack 410 --- Tyler Veritas 411 469 Mega 412 --- Scotty Mac 413 --- Eric Cooper 414 240 Kid Kash 415 302 Grizzly Redwood 416 288 Bryan Logan 417 --- Adam Cole 418 --- Nick Logan 419 430 Papadon 420 --- Breaker Morant 421 --- Vinny Dunn 422 --- Scott Zenzen 423 --- Bruiser Bennett 424 --- Steve O 425 433 Jake O'Reilly 426 414 Freak Nastty 427 --- Jimmy Cicero 428 --- Kamikaze 429 --- Bobby Shields 430 439 Hiram Tua 431 --- Eddie Taurus 432 --- Mikaze 433 --- Tony Stetson 434 --- Chris Rockwell 435 452 Slim J 436 --- Donny Marlow 437 --- Davey Deluxeo 438 --- Rudy Parker 439 --- Samuel Elias 440 --- Ernie Ballz 441 --- Joe Bravo 442 --- Robbie Gilmore 443 --- Ryan Sawyer 444 480 Will Calrissian 445 --- Ananzi 446 --- Aaron Stevens 447 482 Mike Sydal 448 --- Alex Anthony 449 410 Colin Delaney 450 --- Cable Jones 451 --- Conrad Tanner 452 --- Wes Brisco 453 --- Titus O'Neil 454 --- Reiko DMF 455 386 Dan Eckos 456 461 Ron Falco 457 --- Handsome Johnny 458 --- Vince Beach 459 --- Corey Hollis 460 --- Tommy Mack 461 --- Bill Collier 462 --- Kwan Chang 463 --- Mozart Fontaine 464 --- Scott Chase 465 --- Barry Ryte 466 --- Crisifix 467 --- Don Vega 468 --- Steve Madison 469 --- Chris Black 470 --- Mike Posey 471 --- Kid America 472 --- Eli Cottonwood 473 --- Scott Wright 474 496 Crazzy Steve 475 --- J.T. Playa 476 --- Cameron Thomas 477 --- Prince Iaukea 478 491 Marc Mandrake 479 --- Ray Alexander 480 --- J.B. Trask 481 --- Rip Impact 482 --- Brian Millonas 483 --- A.J. Strokes 484 --- Phil Latio 485 --- Malachi 486 --- Chris Cooper 487 --- Primo Scordino 488 494 Barry Hardy 489 --- Hellcat 490 500 Shockwave the Robot 491 --- Robert Roma 492 --- Billy Gibbs 493 --- Steve Kruz 494 --- Mr. Ooh La La 495 --- Super Sweet 496 --- Brandon Thurston 497 --- Gabe Saint 498 --- Kliff Hanger 499 489 Peter B. Beautiful 500 --- Barry Wolf
To see previous years, click on the "PWI 500" icon.
AJ number 1, really, ok I am not going to complain. Where is Shawn? I could complain Taker has had one good match this year and Cena's popularity throws him in the top five, but the rest of the top ten is good. Sheamus might be a bit high in the top ten, a little shocked to see HHH out of the top ten even if it is number 11. Not a bad list and I'll take their word on the Jap wrestlers and the independents. This list is always half kayfabe and half opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.
Originally posted by lotjxI could complain Taker has had one good match this year
Since the last PWI500
Taker vs. Jericho, November Taker vs. Jericho vs. Show, Survivor Series Taker vs. Rey, Royal Rumble Smackdown Elimination Chamber Taker vs. Michaels Taker vs. Swagger, April Taker vs. Rey, June
Not really sure AJ should be number one, but it will get people to talk and I'm sure that's what it's really all about. I would have gone with any of the four names directly after AJ, but that might just be me.
Christian and John Morrison are both WAY to high and what did Kevin Nash do to shoot up 52 spots?
AJ's ranking justifies the recent TA move to make the Legends/Global title a TV belt. Let that boy wrestle every week, TNA. He's the core of your organization.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by AlexWhat the heck is referee Mike Posey doing there?
Well, you weren't at the Ohio State Fair this past weekend, he's apparently turned in his referee stripes to wrestle. Yes, I do have pictures & if you would like to see them just reply. If not I guess you'll take my word on it.
Now having checked all their "name change" entries in the "Farewell" section, I've filled in a few more blanks in the 2009 rankings.
(I also fixed a few spelling errors they must have thrown in there to see how many people plagiarised their blog entries - ha ha, can't fool me!)
Here's the folks from last year's top 200 201 who didn't make it into this year's 500: 14 Shawn Michaels 34 Mick Foley 38 Booker T 78 Eric Escobar 101 Umaga 122 Charlie Haas 126 Jamie Noble 129 Ricky Ortiz 139 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 146 Shingo Takagi 150 Sim Snuka 152 Jethro Holiday 157 Afa Jr. 158 Orlando Colon 164 Idol Stevens 170 El Elegido 171 Kenta Kobashi 172 Juventud Guerrera 174 Tommy Diablo 179 Human Tornado 182 DJ Gabriel 184 Devon Storm 189 Rick Fuller 201 D-Lo Brown
Why did Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson go from 27 to 44? Because he went from ROH to WWE, where a whole weekly television show revolved around him (at least at first)?
Yes, he lost all the time, but he also wrestled on RAW and defeated the Miz.
All I'm saying is, he had a better year in 2010 than he had in 2009, where he wasn't a regular main eventer (could be mistaken on this one) in ROH anymore.
I am not sure how PWI does this list. Sometimes its based on the win/loses, how many main events they were in and sometimes its based on actual skill. The list is as subjective as hell. Yet, I think with Danielson, he fell due into the large fish in a small pond to being cast into the ocean. His win/loss record was terrible and he was booted very early in the show through reasons he even agreed upon. He did have a good win against the Miz on Raw, but some of those loses on NXT were really inexcusable. It also works in reverse since AJ is in a smaller pond in TNA where he was their longest running champion while not having the show entirely built around him all the time, he was number 1. If he were in WWE, he would be in Evan Bourne's place which would mean he would be somewhere in the 20s or 30s on the list mainly due to his size and his ok promo skills.
AJ and Bryan are both great athletes, but its their environment that affects them. Also, I don't know how well Cena's PG champion style that has not matured since 2005 would do in ROH, I am thinking not well. PWI takes environment into affect when doing the list and the fact that AJ was the longest running champion for his company, putting on great matches and being a centerpiece for the entire company is what I think got him the number one spot. Cena being 2 probably has a lot to do with the fact they are tired of giving him the number 1 spot for the last few years and just went in another direction. I think AJ is a good choice for number 1, he really busted his ass all year and he deserves it. I think the problem with Danielson was mainly booking, out of his hands, and that he looked really small next to the giants of the WWE. Perception is reality sometimes. I am sure when NXT came about, the idea was to base the show around him, but his loses killed him as a threat, plus the show went on well without him. Wade Barrett became the real star of the show and he has done a great job with Nexus without Danielson.
I was wondering if anybody could take a screen capture of one of the Horsemen beatdowns from the old Techwood Drive studios (the one with the flags) from last night on WWE Confidental? Whoever does would be enternaly in my debt. Maybe.
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