Historic Mox Violence

Everybody who comes to Cageside Seats has an opinion about what’s going on in pro wrestling — Wrestler Rankings are where YOU let us know YOURS.

Cast a vote in the comments. Give us the five performers you think entertained or impressed the most in the last week, and feel free to talk about why.

We also have the outcome of last week’s voting, the results of which make up our annual competition for the Cageside Cup, given to our Performer of the Year.

This week, we’re voting on nationally televised and internet streaming pro wrestling shows that took place April 14-20, 2024 — Raw, NXT, Powerrr, Dynamite, Rampage, Impact, Fusion, ROH on HonorClub, SmackDown, Level Up, Collision, TNA’s Rebellion PPV, and everything else I’m no doubt forgetting.

But first, here’s the outcome of last week’s voting, and how those results changed our annual competition for the Cageside Cup.

First ever WWE, AEW & IWGP World champ?

javva

• Just behind the AEW star holding New Japan’s top title? A guy who left NJPW to join The Bloodline, and one who seems to be the new Tribal Chief.
• Outside of some security cam footage, the Second City Saint wasn’t even on television last week. He still managed to dominate several days of conversation though, and that landed him in fourth.
• One voter didn’t have NXT’s new Tag champs tied on their ballot, and that’s why the masked member of the team is one spot ahead of his partner.
• We’re still following the new WWE champ’s story, and saying “YEET” to the man he endorsed as Raw’s top babyface.
• The reigning, defending NJPW Strong Women’s champ and the Phenomenal star who’s gunning for the American Nightmare’s title in France round out the first Top Ten of our 13th year.

The CCWR: 2024-25, Week 5

1. Jon Moxley
2. Tama Tonga
3. Solo Sikoa
4. CM Punk
5. Axiom
6. Nathan Frazer
7. Cody Rhodes
8. Jey Uso
9. Stephanie Vaquer
10. AJ Styles

Points in our weekly Rankings determine the ongoing annual one — which will determine who wins the Cageside Cup next April. Full details on rules and scoring HERE.

Which one week into the new year, those Rankings look exactly like the ones above. So let’s talk a little bit more about last year, and the future of this whole exercise…

First off, I wasn’t (consciously, anyway) fishing for compliments or looking for validation, but it means a lot that several of you expressed your appreciation for the Rankings. Knowing that people enjoy voting or just checking the results each makes the effort more than worthwhile.

Want to also clarify that I don’t think Orange Cassidy’s win was a product of trolling or bad faith voting, and I do think he’s a worthy winner. A lot of people — myself included — were fans of his International title run and the good-to-great matches he was having on television almost every week during it. That’s why he won, and he “deserves” it as much as anyone else.

I am, however, sympathetic to the numerous folks who find it crazy that Roman Reigns, or Gunther, or Rhea Ripley weren’t ranked higher. And that’s where my “does this scoring system work in modern wrestling?” concern comes from. I still don’t know the answer, but I’m intrigued to find out — especially if WWE spends all or most of this year with a top champion who’s on television every week (although, I guess it remains to be seen how much Cody Rhodes will wrestle on TV).

But I really appreciate last week’s comment from Kaoru Ichinose about OC’s win added context to this particular internet fan award. It’s helped me see that we’re our own thing. There are plenty of wrestler of the year prizes for the Romans of the world, and he or someone like him will probably win this one again. But we’re unique, and that’s cool. Even if it leads to some placements in the Rankings that seem like headscratchers.

So, with all that, thanks again. And…

---

Ready to do it again? You can always check the “how to” here if you need it, or ask a question in the comments. The main things you need to know are you have five spots on your ballot, you can’t put the same person in two of them, but you can split a single or multiple spots between multiple wrestlers. Now…

Let’s have those ballots! We’ll take it from there, and see you back here in a week for the results and another vote!