Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2023 14:56:58 GMT
What's up guys. This is a rethink/continuation of my Google Trends Rankings from some months last year, that I put on the backburner for a while. It basically ranks all wrestlers in the world by their relevancy according to Google. It is not a measurement of drawing power, but obviously there is correlation. I'm sticking this in the WWE forum as obviously the majority of wrestlers are or have been affiliated with WWE, and I'm making this a comprehensive, once-a-year effort that provides a useful outlook of star power as it stands today in the wrestling business. You'll draw your own conclusions and I'll give some of mine, but first, the list. In order to qualify, wrestlers must have wrestled at least one match for a promotion in 2022. In WWE's case, due to their use of celebrities, celebrities are disqualified unless they are listed as WWE alum.
1. John Cena
2. Roman Reigns
3. Logan Paul
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Ronda Rousey
6. Mr. McMahon
7. Stone Cold Steve Austin
8. Randy Orton
9. Rey Mysterio
10. Saraya
11. Sasha Banks
12. CM Punk
13. Cody Rhodes
14. Ric Flair
15. Goldberg
16. Mandy Rose
17. Paul Wight
18. Pat McAfee
19. Paige VanZant
20. Alexa Bliss
21. Bray Wyatt
22. Nikki Bella
23. Seth Rollins
24. Rhea Ripley
25. Becky Lynch
26. Edge
27. Charlotte Flair
28. Liv Morgan
29. Lita
30. The Miz
31. Jeff Hardy
32. MJF
33. Jon Moxley
34. Chris Jericho
35. Bobby Lashley
36. Braun Strowman
37. Drew McIntyre
38. AJ Styles
39. Bayley
40. Bianca Belair
41. Carmella
42. Asuka
43. The Usos
44. Tyrus
45. Natalya
46. Matt Riddle
47. Sheamus
48. Sting
49. Veer
50. Finn Bálor
51. Austin Theory
52. Bryan Danielson
53. Toni Storm
54. Kevin Owens
55. Dominik Mysterio
56. Kenny Omega
57. Claudio Castagnoli
58. Big E
59. Jade Cargill
60. Kelly Kelly
61. Sami Zayn
62. Scott Steiner
63. Dolph Ziggler
64. Naomi
65. Ricochet
66. Mickie James
67. Matt Hardy
68. Rob Van Dam
69. Keiji Muto
70. Adam Cole
71. X-Pac
72. Brie Bella
73. The Boogeyman
74. Hiroshi Tanahashi
75. Dustin Rhodes
76. Shinsuke Nakamura
77. Alberto El Patrón
78. Adam Page
79. Scarlett
80. Samoa Joe
81. Kofi Kingston
82. Sonya Deville
83. Elias
84. Danhausen
85. Kazuchika Okada
86. Miro
87. Dr. Britt Baker, DMD
88. Cinta De Oro
89. Karrion Kross
90. Beth Phoenix
91. Lacey Evans
92. Dexter Lumis
93. Dakota Kai
94. Johnny Gargano
95. Swoggle
96. Baron Corbin
97. Damian Priest
98. Tamina
99. Johnny Elite
100. Gigi Dolin
--
It was actually pretty close at the top between John Cena and Roman Reigns, especially considering how big a year Cena has had outside the wrestling business. Reigns continues to be a more relevant star, at least by this metric, than many would suggest. Saraya was the top AEW performer. She did have a peak for her AEW debut but she was also pretty relevant all year, suggesting it may not be completely down to her wrestling career. The highest wrestler not to belong to the big two was Ric Flair - perhaps a combination of legendary star power and morbid curiousity. The highest Japanese wrestler was Hiroshi Tanahashi.
64 of the top 100 were WWE - lower than I expected, although I suppose there are a lot of old guys listed for independents who are there for their WWE name. 23 AEW wrestlers made it, a very solid effort. Only one tag team got on the board - the Usos.
Notes:
- While there are some good signs for the future, this list demonstrates the struggles the wrestling business is continuing to have to create stars on the same level as past stars. People like Steve Austin, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg had huge parts of the year without WWE exposure and still dwarf the majority of talent. Roman Reigns is the exception.
- Cody Rhodes stands out as one example of a guy ascending, missing huge swathes of the year and still coming in ahead of the likes of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.
- One guy that really stood out as higher than expected from Tyrus from the NWA. He made it into the top 50, something the likes of Bryan Danielson and Kevin Owens failed to do.
- For lower than expected, I would say perhaps Sami Zayn, although a lot of his momentum came after the end of 2022. Kenny Omega also seemed low, but missed time and hasn't been booked particularly prominently either, from what I understand.
So there you go, there's your list of relevancy for 2022. Any surprises?
1. John Cena
2. Roman Reigns
3. Logan Paul
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Ronda Rousey
6. Mr. McMahon
7. Stone Cold Steve Austin
8. Randy Orton
9. Rey Mysterio
10. Saraya
11. Sasha Banks
12. CM Punk
13. Cody Rhodes
14. Ric Flair
15. Goldberg
16. Mandy Rose
17. Paul Wight
18. Pat McAfee
19. Paige VanZant
20. Alexa Bliss
21. Bray Wyatt
22. Nikki Bella
23. Seth Rollins
24. Rhea Ripley
25. Becky Lynch
26. Edge
27. Charlotte Flair
28. Liv Morgan
29. Lita
30. The Miz
31. Jeff Hardy
32. MJF
33. Jon Moxley
34. Chris Jericho
35. Bobby Lashley
36. Braun Strowman
37. Drew McIntyre
38. AJ Styles
39. Bayley
40. Bianca Belair
41. Carmella
42. Asuka
43. The Usos
44. Tyrus
45. Natalya
46. Matt Riddle
47. Sheamus
48. Sting
49. Veer
50. Finn Bálor
51. Austin Theory
52. Bryan Danielson
53. Toni Storm
54. Kevin Owens
55. Dominik Mysterio
56. Kenny Omega
57. Claudio Castagnoli
58. Big E
59. Jade Cargill
60. Kelly Kelly
61. Sami Zayn
62. Scott Steiner
63. Dolph Ziggler
64. Naomi
65. Ricochet
66. Mickie James
67. Matt Hardy
68. Rob Van Dam
69. Keiji Muto
70. Adam Cole
71. X-Pac
72. Brie Bella
73. The Boogeyman
74. Hiroshi Tanahashi
75. Dustin Rhodes
76. Shinsuke Nakamura
77. Alberto El Patrón
78. Adam Page
79. Scarlett
80. Samoa Joe
81. Kofi Kingston
82. Sonya Deville
83. Elias
84. Danhausen
85. Kazuchika Okada
86. Miro
87. Dr. Britt Baker, DMD
88. Cinta De Oro
89. Karrion Kross
90. Beth Phoenix
91. Lacey Evans
92. Dexter Lumis
93. Dakota Kai
94. Johnny Gargano
95. Swoggle
96. Baron Corbin
97. Damian Priest
98. Tamina
99. Johnny Elite
100. Gigi Dolin
--
It was actually pretty close at the top between John Cena and Roman Reigns, especially considering how big a year Cena has had outside the wrestling business. Reigns continues to be a more relevant star, at least by this metric, than many would suggest. Saraya was the top AEW performer. She did have a peak for her AEW debut but she was also pretty relevant all year, suggesting it may not be completely down to her wrestling career. The highest wrestler not to belong to the big two was Ric Flair - perhaps a combination of legendary star power and morbid curiousity. The highest Japanese wrestler was Hiroshi Tanahashi.
64 of the top 100 were WWE - lower than I expected, although I suppose there are a lot of old guys listed for independents who are there for their WWE name. 23 AEW wrestlers made it, a very solid effort. Only one tag team got on the board - the Usos.
Notes:
- While there are some good signs for the future, this list demonstrates the struggles the wrestling business is continuing to have to create stars on the same level as past stars. People like Steve Austin, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg had huge parts of the year without WWE exposure and still dwarf the majority of talent. Roman Reigns is the exception.
- Cody Rhodes stands out as one example of a guy ascending, missing huge swathes of the year and still coming in ahead of the likes of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.
- One guy that really stood out as higher than expected from Tyrus from the NWA. He made it into the top 50, something the likes of Bryan Danielson and Kevin Owens failed to do.
- For lower than expected, I would say perhaps Sami Zayn, although a lot of his momentum came after the end of 2022. Kenny Omega also seemed low, but missed time and hasn't been booked particularly prominently either, from what I understand.
So there you go, there's your list of relevancy for 2022. Any surprises?
