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Hello everyone and welcome to the Pro Wrestling Musings top 100 wrestlers of the year. This is the first installment of 5 that will reveal my top 100 wrestlers of the year over the next few days. While there were many excellent guests who played a crucial part in putting this series together it was me alone who was responsible for deciding who made it where on the list so if you get angry at the placement (or absence) of someone you can direct all that anger at me alone.
The criteria for the list was as follows:
Matches - quality and quantity of matches in the year 2024
Kayfabe accomplishments - Title wins, defences, days held, tournament performances, major event wins, feud wins etc.
Intangibles - Charisma, promos, stories told, look, presentation etc.
Influence - drawing power, importance to promotion, merch sales, social media buzz, records broken, number of promotions/countries wrestled in, general influence on the industry.
Before we get started I’d like to extend a warm thanks to the guests who made this possible. The full list of contributors is as follows -
The guests:
Amy (@amyhay__)
Joe Hulbert of the Late Night Grin (@JoeHulbert)
Raion (@Raion74_)
Foos of Club Lucha (@elClubLucha)
Floke of the Moonsault Collective (@FHisntReal)
Charlie of WrestlePurists (@chx_rliex)
Scott Edwards (@ScottEWrestling)
Peps of WrestlePurists (Peps_Wrestling)
Our own PWM contributors:
Samuel Preston (@BigBadaBruce)
Peter Edge (PeterEdge7)
Mark O’Brien (@WrestleMobs)
Sergei Alderman (@SergeiAlderman)
And of course myself - @PatrickEireWres
The list - Part 1 100-81
100. Orange Cassidy - The unique and prolific Orange Cassidy started 2024 holding and defending the International championship for the first three months. He closed the year with two unsuccessful PPV main-event challenges for the World championship. In between, he came out on top in a break-up feud with former Best Friend Trent Beretta, and then helped establish a popular new faction in the Conglomeration. - Sergei Alderman (@SergeiAlderman)
99. Sting - The first three months of 2024 were all the rage for the Icon in AEW; after announcing his retirement plans in late 2023, Sting seemed to be on a collision course for one final ‘hurrah’. The announcement of his final match drew 14,000+ fans to the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, a notable venue from Sting’s career Although his year was short, it was an impactful run that was rounded off with him and Darby facing the Young Bucks in a tornado tag match in the main event of Revolution, retaining the belts they won from Big Bill and Ricky Starks in January. Sting retired at this show after the successful defence, and rounded off his career with a 25 day tag title reign. - Charlie (@chx_rliex)
98. Ryuya Matsufusa - 2024 was something of a breakout year for Ryuya Matsufusa, establishing himself as one of the most exciting young junior heavyweights in Japan. It all started when he defeated Tigers Mask in December of 2023 for the Osaka Light Heavyweight Championship, the first championship victory of his career. Matsufusa would hold this title for the entirety of 2024 managing 5 successful title defences along the way including a remarkable match with the veteran Billy Ken Kid. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
97. AJ Styles - 2024 was a year of reinvention and rejuvenation for the ‘Phenomenal One’. Reemerging in the first quarter of 2024 with a newly chiselled physique, and new in-ring physicality, AJ Styles immediately inserted himself into the WWE universal title picture, facing champion Cody Rhodes several times, providing memorable moments – particularly for those of us fortunate enough to attend WWE Backlash in Lyon – and he will always be ‘vraiment phénoménale’ to us now. - Mark O’Brien (@WrestleMobs)
96. Chris Brookes - Chris Brookes had a remarkably busy year in 2024, wrestling all over the world. His most notable accomplishment was definitely his victory over Shinya Aoki in November to win his second KO-D Openweight Championship. Chris also enjoyed tag team success this year winning the KO-D tag team titles alongside Takeshi Masada and also holding tag team gold alongside Masahiro Takanashi in both Singapore and Thailand. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
95. Hazuki - Hazuki was a real workhorse in Stardom this year putting on a multitude of impressive in-ring performances. This was topped off with a match of the year contender with Mercedes Moné in the main event of the final NJPW strong event of the year in California. She also had great title challenges against High Speed champion Mei Seira and Wonder of Stardom champion Natsupoi. You also can’t talk about Hazuki without mentioning her tag team work with Koguma as part of FWC. The duo enjoyed a 55 day reign as Goddess of Stardom champions this year as well as defeating H2D for the Oz Academy tag titles on the penultimate day of the year. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
94. Jake Something - Jake is an interesting case because his biggest successes this year didn't happen in his main promotion which is TNA. Yes, he had a few good moments there - he challenged Mustafa Ali for the X-Division Title and beat former champion Mike Bailey. But DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling is the place where he's a true star. He started the year by losing a DPW National Title match but just one month later he captured DPW Worlds Tag Team Titles with his partner Speedball Mike Bailey by beating legendary Motor City Machine Guns. They had a fantastic reign that ended just recently, when they were defeated by Violence Is Forever. But his tag team achievements didn't stop him from continuing his singles career. In September, he won Carolina Classic and gained a DPW Worlds Championship match which led to him winning the gold next month in an incredible battle against Calvin Tankman. He has already had a successful defense, including one against former WWE Superstar Donovan Dijak. - Raion (@raion74_)
93. Seth Rollins - Considering its much-maligned beginnings as a seemingly poor replacement for Roman Reigns’ unstoppable reign as both WWE Champion and Universal Champion, Seth Rollins continued to prove himself as WWE’s MVP during his reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Main eventing Monday Night Raw – Day 1 with his tenth title defence in 219 days, Rollins defeated embittered Drew McIntyre, and two weeks later, Jinder Mahal in a rematch of the first ever NXT Title Tournament Final. An MCL injury sidelined Rollins for a month and a half until 4th March, where he announced his focus on the Bloodline, eventually pulling double duty at WrestleMania XL. The first night saw Rollins team with Cody Rhodes in a losing effort to Roman Reigns and The Rock, and the second night drop the WWE World Heavyweight Title to Drew McIntyre, ending his reign at 316 days with a combined 55 minutes over two nights. He’d end the night helping Cody defeat Roman Reigns for the WWE and Universal Titles, before withdrawing for two months to repair another injury (torn meniscus in his knee). After returning in June, Money In The Bank saw Damian Priest successfully defend his WWE World Heavyweight Title against Rollins and a cashing-in McIntyre, and at SummerSlam Rollins refereed a grudge match between CM Punk and McIntyre, before being attacked by Bronson Reed the next night to write him off for more injury issues. WWE Crown Jewel saw Rollins barely survive to beat Reed, before moving onto his true rival, CM Punk. Despite only ten matches in 2024 due in part to so many injuries, Rollins continues to be an integral member of the WWE Roster, but will 2025 see him return to the days of regular matches on TV, or transition to a part-time role to best maximise his talent? - Samuel Preston (@BigBadaBruce)
92. Christian Cage - As the reigning TNT Champion entering 2024, Christian Cage spent the year at his most cutting and vicious, continuing his diabolical vocal attacks at all his opponents, antagonising Daniel Garcia and former friend Adam Copeland especially. Despite defeating Garcia at AEW Revolution, Christian’s luck, and his second title reign, ended at 81 days when Copeland conquered him in an I Quit match on the 20th March edition of AEW Dynamite. Despite this loss, Christian was announced as the #1 contender for Swerve Strickland’s AEW World Title, only to lose at AEW Double Or Nothing to help cement Swerve as champion. Undeterred, Christian and his underlings Killswitch and Nick Wayne challenged for the AEW Trios Title, defeating Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn and Colton Gunn on the 21st July edition of Collision. 36 days later, Christian proved himself a true opportunist, as despite dropping the Trios Titles at AEW All In to PAC, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta, he would succeed at winning the Casino Gauntlet for the #1 Contendership to the AEW World Title. Since that victory, Christian has mostly withdrawn from the ring to increase the Patriarchy with Kip Sabian as a member, and threatening to cash-in on the AEW World Champion on two occasions, firstly Bryan Danielson at AEW All Out, and Jon Moxley at AEW Full Gear. Despite these failures and the attempts of Hook to avenge the Patriarchy’s attack on his father Tazz, Christian seems poised to cement one of the greatest heel runs on American television of the last ten years with a future reign as AEW World Champion. - Samuel Preston (@BigBadaBruce)
91. Robbie Eagles - It was a very good year for Robbie Eagles as he made his impression across the world. He picked up 10 points in the BOSJ before winning the Super Junior tag league alongside Kosei Fujita as one half of the Ichiban Sweet Boys. He won the Soul of PWA title in Australia in April and is yet to lose the title. In Australia he had impressive matches with Lena Kross, Emman Azman, Kushida and others. He also made a splash in the USA successfully defending his PWA title against Jackson Drake in DPW and Koda Hernandez in BLP. A first round defeat in the British J Cup was disappointing but Eagles international success in 2024 cannot be denied. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
90. Ben-K - Ben won the Dream Gate championship from Luis Mante for his second, albeit brief, reign and had one of the best matches of his career defending the championship against YAMATO in the main event of Kobe World, Dragongate's biggest yearly show. He also became the de-facto leader of Gold Class after Kota Minoura's betrayal in August. - Amy (@amyhay___)
89. Niebla Roja - Niebla Roja made history in 2024, now holding the most CMLL World Tag Team Championship defenses alongside his brother, Angel de Oro. This record was previously held by Los Guerrero del Infierno (Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero) and is a very impressive feat, with over 19 title defenses across a little under 3 years. Los Hermanos Chavez are easily one of the best tag teams in the world in 2024 and have a variety of great matches to prove it. Highlights include their defenses against Los Villanos, Flip Gordon & Star Jr, Atlantis Jr & Star Jr, and their record breaking defense against Zandokan Jr & Difunto. I’m positive Niebla Roja’s output would be even higher had he not suffered a bicep injury around May of 2024. Thankfully he was able to return relatively quickly and continue - Foos (@elClubLucha)
88. Tomohiro Ishii - Ishii is getting older but you would never notice that while watching his matches. He recently turned 49 but he's not slowing down and is delivering fantastic matches all over the world, from Japan, United States to Europe. Tomohiro wrestled in many promotions this year and pretty much everywhere he created something special - tremendous battle against YOSHI-HASHI in NJPW, highly praised trilogy against Masa Kitamiya in NOAH, great tv matches against Hangman Page or Kyle Fletcher in AEW, amazing bout against JJ Gale in RevPro, hoss fight against Yuki Iino in DDT and very good tag team match against Undisputed Kingdom in ROH. Ishii started this year as NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champion alongside Tanahashi & Okada, challenged for tag titles and World Title in ROH and for TV Title in NJPW. - Raion (@Raion74_)
87. Roxanne Perez - After a pretty shaky close to 2023, Roxanne Perez reannounced herself as “The Prodigy” in 2024. An early heel turn played a pivotal part in that return to form, pairing Perez’s precocious mechanics with a palpable confidence. As NXT Women’s Champion, Perez led from the front, guiding prospects like Jaida Parker and Thea Hail to their best matches yet. -.Joe Hulbert (@JoeHulbert)
86. MJF - Despite just eleven(!) matches in 2024, MJF is one of the best examples of best utilising his rare appearances in the ring to prove himself a main event spectacle. MJF spent five months recovering from a multitude of injuries, returning at Double Or Nothing in May to attack his frenemy Adam Cole and announce he was staying with AEW, having signed a new contract. His first few months had MJF in a rare babyface role, including a victory over Hechicero at AEW / NJPW Forbidden Door, but it was his return to his heel role after an attack on Daniel Garcia in July that revitalised a flagging MJF. For the celebratory 250th edition of AEW Dynamite, MJF and Will Ospreay put together an instant classic, with MJF winning the International Title with two seconds of the sixty minutes left. Rebranding the title as the AEW American Championship, MJF travelled to Mexico to defeat Templario at the CMLL Viernes Espectacular and to London to beat Michael Oku at Rev Pro Summer Sizzler 2024 – Road To The Anniversary. A brief but successful 39-day title reign ended at AEW All In, where Daniel Garcia avenged his injury at MJF’s hands to cost him the title, with MJF defeating Garcia two weeks later at AEW All In. Overall, MJF had a 4-1 record at AEW PPVs, defeating Roderick Strong at AEW Full Gear and Adam Cole at AEW Worlds End to finally end the war between MJF and the Undisputed Kingdom. 2025 offers MJF a clean slate for the rest of the year, with his aim likely returning to the AEW World Title he once held - Samuel Preston (@BigBadaBruce)
85. Mina Shirakawa - 2024 was an exciting year for Mina Shirakawa as she expanded her international presence. She played a crucial role in the Toni Storm vs Mariah May rivalry and enjoyed a very impressive 11-2 singles record in the USA this year. Her only losses came against Toni and Mariah with both matches being AEW Women’s World Title matches. While Mina failed in her quest for AEW gold this year she did manage an Artist of Stardom reign alongside Maika and Xena for 127 days. She also captured the Revpro Undisputed British Women’s Title in August and managed two successful defences before the year was out. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
84. Hiromu Takahashi - 2024 was not the most successful year ever for Hiromu Takahashi but he did walk into the Tokyo Dome with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship before losing it to El Desperado. While he came up short in the BOSJ he still acquired 12 points and he won the World Tag League alongside Tetsuya Naito as part of the ever popular Los Ingobernables de Japon. It is also necessary to mention his fantastic title challenge against Henare in September for the Never Openweight Title. - Patrick (@PatrickEireWres)
83. Barbaro Cavernario - Cavernario started his 2024 with an unbelievably good match against Mascara Dorada on one of the CMLL VIP shows. This match was in the back of my mind for the entire year and served as the benchmark for how I would measure MOTY candidates. Cavernario followed this up by winning the CMLL World Trios Championships as the leader of Los Barbaros, a stable consisting of Cavernario, El Terrible, and Dragon Rojo Jr with La Comandante as their valet. Live crowds loved Cavernario and his prehistoric grunts that often signalled the end for his opponents as he would then smash them with a slingshot reverse splash.
At Homenaje a Dos Leyendas Cavernario put on another fantastic performance, this time against Averno for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship. Later in the year Cavernario would continue giving good to great performances against opponents like Yota Tsuji, Flip Gordon, Neon, Zozaya, and Atlantis Jr. Internationally, I would love to see Cavernario face off against some AEW talent in 2025, as he seems to do well when brought in for NJPW, RevPro, and MLW. - Foos (@elClubLucha)
82. Daniel Garcia - Daniel Garcia’s sole victory in the 2023 edition of Continental Classic over Brody King had him begin his year in a feud against the House of Black, winning an Escape the Cage Elimination match alongside FTR against the gothic trio. Afterwards, Garcia became fixated on the TNT Championship held by Christian Cage, clashing with fellow chaser Adam Copeland until AEW Revolution, where Garcia challenges and loses to Christian thanks to the efforts of the Patriarchy (Killswitch, Mother Wayne and Nick Wayne). The next few months had Garcia collect several victories, apart from one major loss to International Champion Will Ospreay at Beach Break 2024, afterwards getting attacked by MJF and stretchered off. From July to August, Garcia was kept off TV due to not having resigned with AEW, only to shockingly return at AEW All In to help Will Ospreay regain the International Title from MJF. Two weeks later, Garcia challenged MJF in his biggest match yet at AEW All Out, where even though he lost, Garcia did earn revenge on the ‘Salt of the Earth’. At AEW Dynamite: Title Tuesday on 8th October, Garcia officially announced he had resigned with AEW and wanted championship gold, defeating Jack Perry at Full Gear for the TNT Championship. As the reigning champion, Garcia entered the Continental Classic for the second year running, this time earning victories over Shelton Benjamin and the Beast Mortos, as well as a time limit draw with current Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada, losing only two matches compared to the previous year’s four. Garcia continues to improve on a year-by-year basis, his already renowned tremendous talent in the ring being supported by his growing charisma and personality, creating a great connection with the crowd. 2025 now gives Garcia a chance to prove his worth as TNT Champion, already defending the title against Mark Briscoe, who had beaten him in the Continental Classic. The question is, how well can Daniel do in the next twelve months? - Samuel Preston (@BigBadaBruce)
81. Chihiro Hashimoto - Hashimoto really checks all the boxes when it comes to being a pro wrestler. And she put that on full display over her last year. Whether you like singles or tag team wrestling, Hashimoto shined in both regards as she effortless delivered with her unmatched power and elite physicality. She held three pairs of tag team titles over the last calendar year with Team 200kg partner Yuu while also winning the AJPW TV Six Man Belts. Hash is worth everyone's attention as she heads into a massive year, returning to big singles matches. - Scott Edwards (@ScottEWrestling)
Check back tomorrow for the next issue which will reveal numbers 80-61!