5 reasons why Roman Reigns deserves to be #1 on the PWI 500 list
Pro Wrestling Illustrated recently released their annual list of the best pro wrestlers in the industry. Kenny Omega, Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Kota Ibushi made it to the top five of the PWI 500 list.
To the surprise of WWE fans, Roman Reigns did not top the list this year. Instead, AEW's Kenny Omega made it to the top for the second time since 2018.
PWI chooses wrestlers based on their performances starting from mid-June; anything a wrestler accomplished before or after that period is not considered. The criteria includes a win-loss record, championship wins, quality of competition, major feuds, prominence within a wrestler's individual promotion(s), and overall wrestling ability.
Omega is arguably one of the best in-ring workers in the wrestling industry today. However, Roman Reigns has been better than Omega in many aspects over the past year.
His performances have shown that he is at the top of the industry in his current reign. Take a look at the five reasons why PWI should have ranked Roman Reigns at the top of its list.
#5. Roman Reigns increased WWE SmackDown’s ratings
For years, RAW was considered WWE’s flagship show. The brand drew the highest ratings, and SmackDown came second. However, the tables have turned over the last several months.
Roman Reigns returned from his sabbatical at WWE SummerSlam 2020, and SmackDown's ratings started increasing. For example, The RAW before WWE Payback 2020 had a viewership of more than 2 million.
At Payback, Reigns won the Universal Championship from “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Since then, SmackDown has had ratings of over two million whenever Roman Reigns has shown up.
Most of the time, 'The Head of the Table' simply comes out to cut a promo to build towards his next match. Reigns occasionally fights in the main events as well.
Meanwhile, RAW ratings have been far below the two million marks for months. Many legends showed up but failed to help the brand's situation. This shows that Reigns has had a great impact on SmackDown ratings.
In contrast, AEW is nowhere near SmackDown's ratings with Roman Reigns at the top. Statistics show that The Tribal Chief has been one of the biggest draws in the industry.