Ross welcomes PWI’s Senior Writer Dan Murphy to the show.
The 27th annual edition of PWI 500 will be released very soon, and it’s already a highly debated list. Murphy says this is a history making list for PWI because for the very first time ever, the number one choice is a wrestler who’s not working for WWE, WCW or TNA. The number one wrestler this year is NJPW’s Okada.
He says the list is normally selected by seven editorial staff members who create their lists based on a number of criteria such as match quality, in-ring technicality and influence on the business as a whole. When deciding the number one selection this year, Okada certainly checked all of those boxes and more.
Number two on this year’s list is A.J. Styles, and Ross loves this pick. He says if he was starting a promotion today Styles would be his number one selection because he’s a star. Ross also considers him to be the best bell-to-bell talent in the business today.
Number three is Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns is number four. Reigns was number one on the list last year, but Murphy points out that Reigns took a bit of a step backwards this past year before returning to the main event picture.
Kenny Omega rounds out the top five, and Murphy admits that Omega was a big part of Okada’s success this year, resulting in him finding the number one spot on this list. Omega was unable to pick up a win over Okada this year, and that’s a big reason why Okada tops this list and Omega slots in at number five.
