Breaking Down If Roman Reigns Deserved No. 1 on PWI's Top 500 Wrestlers List

Roman Reigns has been named the top wrestler in the world by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and many WWE fans would be hard-pressed to find a more controversial fact right now.

The controversy never seems to end with him.

411 Mania reported the news, and now fans are left to digest it all. To be fair, PWI judged Reigns based on his run from mid-2015 to about the same time this year, which accounts for a good bit of main event booking.

But considering the men who filled out the top five, Reigns' spot could be considered even more controversial.

IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada came in second. Anyone who has ever followed him in New Japan Pro Wrestling knows that Okada is arguably the best ring technician in the world. Of course, the same can be said of Finn Balor, AJ Styles and Jay Lethal, who round out the top five.

But Roman is the top guy.

The biggest issue here is Reigns' perceived lack of ring skill. Much of that may have been deserved in the beginning when he first went solo from The Shield, but is it really deserved now? He may not be Ric Flair in the ring, but very few guys are. 

He's also not Seth Rollins in the ring, which may be more of a problem.

Both Rollins and Dean Ambrose have typically been considered better between the ropes than Reigns. Each man has been a workhorse in the ring, with Rollins arguably excelling past his Shield brothers. Indeed, of the three, Rollins was given more in terms of responsibility as a top guy.

Rollins' resume of five-star performances includes bouts with John Cena and Randy Orton, which is not a bad way to build a legacy.

But every time Rollins turned in a great match in which he may or may have not won, Reigns continued to be a main event winner. Chants of "You can't wrestle!" have filled arenas all over the country despite Reigns' ascension, but it was obvious WWE was investing a lot in him.

Whether he's wearing a championship belt or not, Reigns is believed by many to just not be that good of a worker. While the WWE style has grown into a much more chaotic and aggressively athletic one, Reigns just does not seem to fit the mold. 

Or perhaps it's just that fans will not give him a chance.

But is this true? How much responsibility falls at Reigns' feet, and how much falls to WWE? He was never the strongest of the three Shield members, but rather the weakest. So why were fans surprised when he did not always rise to the occasion in the ring?

WWE put him in that position, and the company knew he was still growing. Rollins and Ambrose were ready for the challenges that lay ahead, but the same really never could be said of Reigns.

Reigns' mic skills have never exactly brought the house down, either. Most of the time his delivery was a combination of goofy John Cena humor and a tough-guy routine that wasn't always very convincing. 

For the most part, Reigns has been viewed by many as a guy with great potential who was elevated before his time. So from a real-world standpoint, fans can't blame him personally. But part of growing as a performer is putting in the work and perfecting the craft. If Reigns has been doing this, then fans are either not seeing it, or it's just not working.

But then again, he has been on top of the world's biggest pro wrestling company.

Perhaps that's the only criterion that really counts here. WWE wanted him in that spot, so he was there. He was the top babyface because WWE wanted him to be. He had the world in the palm of his hand, and it didn't really matter if fans liked him or not. 

He never fully got over, and that didn't matter, either.

To be in that spot is to be on top of the world in professional wrestling. In the 25 year history of PWI's 500, only one talent outside of WWE has been in the first spot, and that was Styles in 2010. So it's entirely possible that Reigns was the best choice to be No. 1, if only because he had done more in WWE during the past year.

But then there's always the fact that Pro Wrestling Illustrated covers a worked sport. So its opinion, like any opinion in the business, is all subjective. This is not a major sports league with players and teams vying for wins and championship glory. It's not a game of stats.

However this particular edition of PWI 500 will likely draw even more heat for Reigns, who already had all he could ever want.

Does Roman Reigns deserve to be No. 1? Yes and no. The controversy that has surrounded his entire singles run continues to follow him, and it likely always will.

Tom Clark can regularly be seen on Bleacher Report. His podcast, Tom Clark's Main Event, is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Android, Windows Phone and online here.