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WWE's Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, AEW's Jon Moxley Headline PWI Top 500 List for 2023

Mike ChiariSep 14, 2023

Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Jon Moxley occupy the top three spots of the 2023 PWI 500, as revealed by Pro Wrestling Illustrated on Thursday.

Rollins, who is the inaugural and reigning WWE world heavyweight champion, is No. 1 on the list for the third time in his career, tying John Cena for the all-time record:

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The top three selections for the 2023 PWI 500 are fitting since Rollins, Reigns and Moxley (formerly known as Dean Ambrose) broke into WWE together in 2012 as The Shield, and established themselves as one of the most dominant and successful stables in wrestling history.

Per SiriusXM's Busted Open Radio, the top 10 in this year's PWI 500 is as follows:

1. Seth Rollins (WWE)

2. Roman Reigns (WWE)

3. Jon Moxley (AEW)

4. Gunther (WWE)

5. El Hijo del Vikingo (AAA)

6. MJF (AEW)

7. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW)

8. Orange Cassidy (AEW)

9. Josh Alexander (Impact)

10. Cody Rhodes (WWE)


Rollins, who was previously No. 1 in 2015 and 2019, beat AJ Styles in a tournament final at Night of Champions in May to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

That victory further solidified The Visionary as the face of Monday Night Raw, which is a distinction he had already earned with numerous fantastic rivalries and matches over the past year.

Reigns is No. 2 on the list after topping it both last year and in 2016. There has been no more dominant figure in pro wrestling over the past three years than The Tribal Chief.

The reigning undisputed WWE universal champion, Reigns has now held a world title for over 1,100 consecutive days, and there is no immediate end in sight to his run on top.

It is likely that the biggest deciding factor in Rollins surpassing Reigns on the PWI 500 this year is the fact that Reigns has worked a part-time schedule and only defended his title occasionally, whereas Rollins has done so with great regularity.

Moxley, who was No. 1 in the 2020 PWI 500, is the current AEW international champion, beating Orange Cassidy for the title in the main event of All Out a couple of weeks ago.

Mox is also a three-time AEW world champion, most recently holding it for roughly two months from September 2022 until November 2022 when he dropped it to MJF.

MJF and Cassidy are AEW's other representatives in the top 10 at Nos. 6 and 8, respectively, while WWE also has two more choices in Gunther at No. 4 and Cody Rhodes at No. 10.

It can be argued that Gunther is already well positioned to improve on his career-best position of fourth and take the top spot next year, barring injury.

Last week, Gunther defeated Chad Gable in the main event of Raw to clinch the longest intercontinental title reign of all time, surpassing The Honky Tonk Man's previous record of 454 days.

Gunther has not lost a singles match since getting called up to WWE's main roster well over a year ago, he consistently has strong in-ring performances and is presented like a major star.

Because of those factors, The Ring General is perhaps the favorite to win the 2024 men's Royal Rumble match before going on to WrestleMania 40 and becoming world champion.


Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.

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