RAW Superstar Roman Reigns topped this year’s PWI Top 500, the annual list ranking the the world’s best professional wrestlers. During the 12-month period covered for this year’s list (July 2015 through June 2016), Reigns captured the WWE Championship three times and headlined WrestleMania 32. This year’s top 5 includes:
- Roman Reigns
- Kazuchika Okada
- Finn Balor
- AJ Styles
- Jay Lethal
Reigns spoke to PWI-Online senior writer Dan Murphy about the honor, “I give a lot of credit to the WWE Universe. I rub people in a weird way, it seems, but the fact is they’re emotional and that’s a connection we have. If I’m on a show, I’m going to tug on those emotion strings one way or another. Whether you love me or you hate me, I dig it. But sometimes it is hard. At the end of the day, I want to go out there and entertain, to have fun, to provide for my family, remain healthy, and do this 52 weeks a year. I’m a human being. I have things going on in my personal life. Sometimes it can be hard. But I always say, I think that’s why God gave me broad shoulders, so I can carry that load.”
As you can imagine, there’s already a lot of backlash surrounding Reigns being ranked the top pro wrestler in the world. PWI is running a poll asking fans who else from the Top 5 should have been ranked #1. Let them know by voting below:
If not @WWERomanReigns, who else? Evaluation period is 7.1.15 to 6.30.16. Be objective.
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) September 1, 2016
Reigns tweeted the following, telling his haters to “go and cry” about his success.
This one is for The Roman Empire!!!Now go on and cry about us haters. #TheGuy pic.twitter.com/xhChb2oQTa
— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) September 1, 2016