Wrestling Inc. Power Rankings 10/13/23: Rating Pro Wrestling's Top 25 Performers
Wrestling Inc. is releasing its inaugural power rankings, rating the top 25 performers in the wrestling industry on a weekly basis. It is based largely in fact, though opinions do play into them. Your opinions.
Stay with us.
We've tracked the stories you read and how many of you read them. We combined that data with some other universal wrestling metrics to inform where people sit in these rankings. In essence, you, our readers, and the wrestling fandom at large created them.
There are, of course, other components in play — also data-driven — but we're not here for an analytics class, because where's the fun in that? Rest assured, this is not a list of anyone's favorite wrestlers and the site's perceived (read: non-existent) loyalty to one promotion or the other has no role in this list's genesis.
We fully expect you to let us know what you think in the comments. Expect a few curveballs and just remember: if you disagree with any of these rankings, it's your own fault.
#25 LA Knight
LA Knight cracked the top 25 this week after successfully defeating The Bloodline alongside John Cena at WWE Fastlane. Cena said Knight reminded him of himself, and Knight's merchandise numbers reflected that by surpassing "The Greatest of All Time." Meanwhile, Mick Foley took some time to discuss Knight's off-screen rivalry with WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash.
#24 The Miz
After a brief feud with Drew McIntyre, The Miz was last seen taking a pin from McIntyre on the October 2 edition of "WWE Raw." Since then, Miz has stayed in the headlines by discussing who helped him get his career back on track in 2016 and pondering on his WWE WrestleMania 27 main event.
#23 Dominik Mysterio
After losing, then winning back the NXT North American Championship just one week ago, Dominik Mysterio's schedule calmed down a little. Even still, he found himself in an NXT Championship match against Ilya Dragunov this past Tuesday, though he came up short, despite the best efforts of his Judgment Day pals.
#22 Bobby Lashley
Bobby Lashley has lit a fire under The Street Profits, bringing a hard edge to the fun-loving tag team. He's been dominant on the house show circuit, but also enjoyed a recent win over Rey Mysterio on the "SmackDown" go-home show before Fastlane. While Lashley and The Profits came up short at WWE Fastlane against the LWO and the returning Carlito, they still have momentum.
#21 Mustafa Ali
Curveball No. 1. Mustafa Ali was among the talent WWE released on September 21 despite the "NXT" brand reportedly having creative plans in place for him through the spring — including winning the "NXT" North American Championship at NXT No Mercy. Shawn Michaels noted that he was surprised and learned of the news shortly before Ali did.
#20 The Rock
Though he hasn't wrestled a real match in over 10 years, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson remains one of the most popular names in wrestling, thanks in large part to his Hollywood career. Johnson made a recent appearance on "WWE SmackDown" last month, and remains in the conversation as a possible opponent for his cousin, Roman Reigns, at next year's WWE WrestleMania 40.
#19 Adam Cole
It's been less about the boom and more about the bum ankle for Adam Cole since he broke it at "AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam." But while Cole doesn't appear to be ring ready for the foreseeable future, he was still putting in the work at "Dynamite" this past week, mowing Roderick Strong's lawn, and dropping MJF's call from Strong's humble abode.
#18 Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
It feels like it was just yesterday that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were the talk of the wrestling world, main-eventing WrestleMania and seemingly the main characters of WWE's tag team division. Now, a matter of months — and an injury to Kevin Owens — later, and Zayn & Owens have been sidelined by Judgment Day and the unlikely pairing of Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso. The former tag champions tried to defeat Rhodes and Uso for the Undisputed Tag Titles on Monday, but came up short.
#17 Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam made headlines this past week after sharing stories from the road on his podcast. One of those stories detailed how Dean Malenko saved Van Dam from wearing TNA gear on WWE television not once but twice. RVD also caught some attention for sharing why he's enjoying "AEW Collision" more than "AEW Dynamite."
#16 Johnny Gargano
After months away from the ring, Johnny Gargano returned to "WWE Raw" on October 2 to save Tomasso Ciampa from Imperium, reuniting DIY in the process. As a follow-up, Gargano and Ciampa were interviewed backstage on this week's show, but they were interrupted by another brutal attack from Imperium.
#15 Britt Baker
Much like Joseph "Coop" Cooper in "BASEketball," we still have no clue where Britt Baker is. The former AEW Women's World Champion hasn't been seen on AEW TV in nearly a month, after she would come up just a bit short in trying to become the first woman to hold the AEW Women's and TBS Titles, losing to TBS champ Kris Statlander. Nevertheless, here she is.
#14 Bryan Danielson
Bryan Danielson had a busy month. October started with a hard-fought win over Zack Sabre Jr. at AEW WrestleDream. Then Danielson was once again called on to take part in one of the headlining matches during the Title Tuesday edition of "AEW Dynamite," where Danielson bested Swerve Strickland after nearly 20-minutes of blistering action, earning a shot at AEW TNT Champion Christian Cage on this Saturday's edition of "AEW Collision."
#13 Mariah May
Though she has yet to make a move, STARDOM's Mariah May recently announced that she was finishing up with the promotion. The United Kingdom native is rumored to be headed for AEW, and there have been rumors indicating May could be paired up with Toni Storm when she arrives.
#12 Carlito
After months of waiting, Carlito finally returned to WWE TV this past Saturday at Fastlane 2023, helping Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar defeat Bobby Lashley, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. Carlito wasn't just a supporting guy; he him and his majestic hair scored the pinfall to put the W in LWO.
#11 Cody Rhodes
After more than a year since his return to WWE, Cody Rhodes is finally a champion, albeit a tag team champion. While "The American Nightmare" might be no closer to "finishing the story" than he was after WrestleMania 39, Rhodes is currently very successful on his current tag team side-quest with Jey Uso. Based on their composure at the recent WWE Fastlane press conference, the week has been a party for the former AEW EVP.
#10 Christian Cage
We've reached the Top 10! Despite approaching 50, it's safe to say that Christian Cage is putting in some of the strongest work of his entire career. The AEW TNT Champion is coming off a victory over Darby Allin at AEW WrestleDream, currently feuding against his former WWE tag partner Adam Copeland, and has Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne acting as his surrogate onscreen children.
#9 Roman Reigns
Since he defeated Jey Uso to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, Roman Reigns has hardly been seen on WWE TV. But the Tribal Chief's presence has been felt in other ways, particularly after he gave Paul Heyman permission to corner Bron Breakker at "NXT" this past week.
#8 Dragon Lee
Former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee has been a rousing success in WWE. First a standout performer on "WWE NXT," his recent feud with North American Champion Dominik Mysterio has led to the lucha libre star being brought to WWE's main roster. Lee recently got a win over young upstart Austin Theory, and while the North American Title has remained elusive, Lee appears primed for WWE stardom.
#7 MJF
The AEW World Champion is currently feeling pressure from all sides, with "Switchblade" Jay White posing a particularly pressing threat to Maxwell Jacob Friedman. MJF came face-to-face with Bullet Club Gold on this week's "Dynamite" in a controversial segment involving anti-semitism, with the world champion defending the decision on social media in the aftermath.
#6 John Cena
The actor's strike continues, and thus John Cena continues to make waves in WWE. He kicked things off by teaming with LA Knight to defeat Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa at Fastlane last Saturday, and then continued things on Tuesday, appearing on "NXT" to help the show secure a big ratings win over AEW.
#5 FTR
FTR might not be the AEW World Tag Team Champions anymore, but thanks to Dax Harwood's tendency to tweet "thanks for the memories" after losing the tag titles on "AEW Collision" to Ricky Starks & Big Bill, the tag team was still on people's minds. Few know what the future holds for FTR, not only in the ring but also in the case of Cash Wheeler's current gun charge after a road rage incident over the summer.
#4 Darby Allin
Earlier this month, Darby Allin unsuccessfully challenged Christian Cage for the TNT Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match at AEW WrestleDream. Allin hasn't wrestled since then, but he's stayed relevant on AEW programming by staying involved with Adam Copeland, coming to his aid on last week's "AEW Collision" after Copeland did the same for him and Sting at WrestleDream.
#3 CM Punk
Oh boy, here we go. This wasn't the best of weeks for CM Punk. The "Best in the World" remains unemployed after his AEW firing, and looks to be staying that way, after reports emerged that WWE wasn't currently looking to bring the former AEW World Champion in. Punk is still Punk, however, and it's likely it won't be long till he finds himself in the news again.
#2 Jade Cargill
Jade Cargill has yet to wrestle a single WWE match but here Cargill is at No. 2 in the power rankings. So powerful were her brief appearances on WWE Fastlane and "WWE NXT" that the former AEW TBS Champion has been the talk of the wrestling world. Her style, her gait, wrestling fans clearly like what they see from WWE's fledgling presentation of the former AEW star.
#1 Adam Copeland
Coming in at No. 1 for the week is Adam Copeland, who made his debut with All Elite Wrestling on October 1 during its inaugural WrestleDream pay-per-view. The former WWE star dove straight into a feud with former WWE tag team partner Christian Cage after Cage denied his attempt to rekindle their old partnership. Copeland then wrestled Luchasaurus in the main event of "AEW Dynamite," picking up his very first win in the company.