WWE's Cody Rhodes, AEW's Jon Moxley Headline PWI Top 500 List for 2025

Pro Wrestling Illustrated announced Tuesday that WWE champion Cody Rhodes has been placed atop the prestigious PWI 500 list for a second consecutive year.

Rhodes beat out No. 2 choice Jon Moxley, who held the AEW World Championship for much of the evaluation period. The 2025 PWI 500 top 10 is as follows, courtesy of Pro Wrestling Illustrated:

1. Cody Rhodes (WWE)
2. Jon Moxley (AEW)
3. Gunther (WWE)
4. "Hangman" Adam Page (AEW)
5. Hirooki Goto (NJPW)
6. Jey Uso (WWE)
7. Swerve Strickland (AEW)
8. Seth Rollins (WWE)
9. Mistico (CMLL)
10. Will Ospreay (AEW)

By taking the No. 1 spot, Rhodes joined an elite group of legendary wrestlers. He is one of only four wrestlers in the history of the PWI 500 to earn the No. 1 ranking two years in a row.

The others are Bret Hart (1993 and 1994), "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (1998 and 1999) and John Cena (2006 and 2007).

Rhodes finally climbed to the top of the WWE mountain last year at WrestleMania 40 when he beat Roman Reigns to become WWE champion for the first time, thus ending Reigns' historic, 1,316-day title run.

The American Nightmare held the title for a full year before dropping it to Cena at this year's WrestleMania 41, but he recaptured it last month at SummerSlam when he beat Cena in a rematch.

Dubbed the "QB1" of WWE, Rhodes has established himself as the face of the company when Reigns isn't around, making it tough to argue with his ranking.

If Rhodes is the QB1 of WWE, it can be argued that Moxley has earned that moniker in AEW.

Since joining AEW in 2019, Mox has constantly been one of AEW president Tony Khan's go-to guys, holding the AEW World Championship a record four times.

His most recent title reign lasted 273 days until "Hangman" Adam Page, who is No. 4 in the PWI 500, beat him for the championship in the main event of All In two months ago.

At No. 3, Gunther achieved the highest PWI 500 ranking of his career, bolstered by holding the World Heavyweight Championship twice over the past five months.

The World Heavyweight Championship was a common theme among wrestlers in the top 10 of the PWI 500, as No. 6 Jey Uso held it in addition to winning the 2025 men's Royal Rumble match, while No. 9 Seth Rollins is the reigning world heavyweight champ.

Neither No. 7 Swerve Strickland nor No. 10 Will Ospreay have held a world title in AEW over the past year, but they both made the top 10 based largely on their consistently strong in-ring performances.

WWE and AEW had an even split of four wrestlers each in the top 10. The only wrestlers from outside the company to make it are New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Hirooki Goto and CMLL's Mistico.

Goto, who is set to star in the upcoming Street Fighter movie along with Rhodes and Reigns, held the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for 138 days this year.

Meanwhile, Mistico is arguably the top luchador in the world, and he is the reigning CMLL world light heavyweight champion.

The 2025 PWI 500 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which features the full list of the top 500 wrestlers in the world, will be available in stores starting on Oct. 14.