AEW star MJF is at the top of the 2026 PWI 500 list. It is the first time in his career he has taken the No. 1 spot. He beat WWE’s Cody Rhodes, who was No. 1 in 2024 and 2025.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated revealed the top 10 on Thursday. The full list will appear in the latest issue. The top 10 are: 1. MJF (AEW), 2. Cody Rhodes (WWE), 3. CM Punk (WWE), 4. Mistico (CMLL), 5. Konosuke Takeshita (AEW), 6. “Hangman” Adam Page (AEW), 7. Yota Tsuji (NJPW), 8. Trick Williams (WWE), 9. Oba Femi (WWE), and 10. Gunther (WWE).
The evaluation period for the 2026 PWI 500 ran from August 2025 to July 2026. During that time, MJF held the AEW World Championship twice. His previous best finish was sixth in 2023. He is now the third AEW wrestler to top the list. Jon Moxley did it in 2020, and Kenny Omega did it in 2021.
If Cody Rhodes had won, he would have become the first wrestler ever to be No. 1 in the PWI 500 for three straight years. He finished second instead.
The biggest talking point is the absence of Reigns. He is the current WWE world heavyweight champion. Wrestle Ops said Reigns was left off because he did not meet PWI’s requirements for in-ring activity. Reigns has been No. 1 twice before. He was also No. 2 in 2021 and 2023. Since winning the world title at WrestleMania 42, he has wrestled more often. That means he has a good chance of being eligible again for the 2027 list.
Two rising WWE stars also made the top 10 for the first time. Trick Williams and Oba Femi both debuted in the top 10. Williams is already a two-time United States champion. Femi won the King of the Ring tournament and has beaten Brock Lesnar twice since April. He is seen as a future world champion.
Roman Reigns Misses 2026 PWI 500 Due to Singles Match Eligibility Rule
Reigns is not on the 2026 PWI 500 list. This is surprising because he is the World Heavyweight Champion on RAW. The list was revealed on September 24. MJF is No. 1, Cody Rhodes is No. 2, and CM Punk is No. 3. Reigns does not appear anywhere in the top 500.
There is a simple reason for his absence. PWI requires wrestlers to have more than 10 singles matches during its activity period. That period ran from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026. Reigns wrestled only six singles matches in that window. So he was not eligible.
His six matches still included some big moments. He faced Bronson Reed twice. He then had four more singles matches before the July 31 cutoff. One of those was a win over CM Punk in the main event of WrestleMania 42 to win the World Championship. He also defended the title twice against Jacob Fatu. And he beat Seth Rollins at SummerSlam.
The PWI cutoff does not include anything after July 31. Last week on RAW, Reigns defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Penta in Mexico City. That was his first WWE television match in more than a year. His previous TV match was against Solo Sikoa in Tribal Combat in January 2025. Penta pushed Reigns in a fast-paced match. Penta came close to winning after hitting several Superkicks. But Reigns stopped him with a Superman Punch and a Spear to retain the title. Reigns is also still the leader of the reformed Bloodline.
None of those later events could change his position on the 2026 PWI 500. The list only uses the activity window from August 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026. So Reigns was left off because he did not meet the match requirement.
FAQs
Q. Who topped the 2026 PWI 500?
A. MJF was ranked No. 1.
Q. Who finished second on the PWI 500?
A. Cody Rhodes finished second.
Q. How many AEW wrestlers have topped the PWI 500?
A. Three AEW wrestlers have topped the list.
Q. Why was Roman Reigns left off the 2026 PWI 500?
A. Reigns did not wrestle more than 10 singles matches during the evaluation period.
Q. Who were the two WWE newcomers in the top 10?
A. Trick Williams and Oba Femi made their top-10 debuts.
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