Historic 2026 PWI 500: MJF Leads a Changing Top 10

Historic 2026 PWI 500: MJF Leads a Changing Top 10. The 2026 PWI 500 has delivered a major shift at the top of professional wrestling, with MJF taking the No. 1 position and ending Cody Rhodes’ run at the summit. The new Top 10 also shows a noticeable change in promotional representation, with WWE increasing from four representatives last year to five, while AEW moves from four to three.

The changes become even more striking when this year’s positions are compared directly with the 2025 PWI 500. Several wrestlers made double-digit jumps, while others dropped out of the Top 10 entirely. Here is the full year-over-year breakdown.

2026 PWI 500: Every Top 10 Position Compared

The 2025 Top 10 was Cody Rhodes, Jon Moxley, Gunther, Hangman Adam Page, Hirooki Goto, Jey Uso, Swerve Strickland, Seth Rollins, Místico and Will Ospreay. (Cageside Seats)

That means five wrestlers from the 2025 Top 10 are no longer in this year’s Top 10: Jon Moxley, Hirooki Goto, Jey Uso, Swerve Strickland and Seth Rollins. They have been replaced by MJF, CM Punk, Konosuke Takeshita, Yota Tsuji and Trick Williams.

MJF’s Jump From No. 30 to No. 1

The biggest movement belongs to MJF, who rises an extraordinary 29 positions, from No. 30 in 2025 to No. 1 in 2026. That is not simply the biggest climb within this year’s Top 10; it is the most dramatic year-over-year change among the ten wrestlers occupying the current list.

Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes remains inside the top two but falls from No. 1 to No. 2. This ends his consecutive run at the top after he occupied the No. 1 position in both 2024 and 2025. (TPWW)

CM Punk also makes a significant move, climbing from No. 15 to No. 3. Konosuke Takeshita matches Punk’s 12-position rise, going from No. 17 to No. 5.

AEW vs WWE: How the Representation Changed

The company breakdown tells another important part of the story.

2025 Top 10:

• WWE — 4
• AEW — 4
• NJPW — 1
• CMLL — 1

2026 Top 10:

• WWE — 5
• AEW — 3
• NJPW — 1
• CMLL — 1

So WWE gains one Top 10 position, while AEW loses one. NJPW and CMLL retain one representative each. In 2025, Jon Moxley, Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay represented AEW, while Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Jey Uso and Seth Rollins represented WWE. (Cageside Seats)

The biggest change, however, is at No. 1. 2025 had Cody Rhodes representing WWE at the top, while 2026 has MJF representing AEW at No. 1. This marks a shift in which promotion supplies the wrestler occupying the annual list’s highest position.

What the 2026 PWI 500 Means Going Forward

The new list also highlights several wrestlers whose trajectories have changed dramatically. Yota Tsuji moves from No. 31 to No. 7, while Trick Williams rises from No. 19 to No. 8. Oba Femi moves five places from No. 14 to No. 9.

At the same time, Gunther falls from No. 3 to No. 10, while Hangman Adam Page drops from No. 4 to No. 6 but remains the highest-ranked AEW wrestler behind MJF and Takeshita. The changes show how quickly the composition of the PWI 500’s elite tier can shift from one annual evaluation to another.

For AEW, the headline is straightforward: three wrestlers occupy this year’s Top 10, and one of them sits at No. 1. WWE has five wrestlers in the group, giving it the largest overall representation, while MJF’s first-place position gives AEW the year’s highest-ranked wrestler.

The 2026 PWI 500 therefore presents a significantly different Top 10 from 2025. MJF’s rise from No. 30 to No. 1 is the headline movement, while WWE’s five representatives, AEW’s three, and the continued presence of NJPW and CMLL create a notably different promotional landscape at the top.

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