WrestleRanks Guides

How WrestleRanks rankings work.

WrestleRanks is built on a simple idea: professional wrestling is best measured one week at a time. A wrestler can headline a pay-per-view in January and barely appear on television in March. A newcomer can go from unknown to must-see in a single month. Season-long "best of the year" lists tend to flatten those swings, so WrestleRanks measures momentum as it actually happens — week by week — and then keeps a running record so the bigger picture emerges over time. This guide explains exactly how the rankings are produced, what the different tabs mean, and how your votes fit in.

The core question: who had the best week?

Every ranking on WrestleRanks answers the same question: who had the strongest individual week? That is deliberately different from asking who is the most accomplished wrestler of all time, or who you would book to win a dream match. When you evaluate a week, the things that matter are the quality of a wrestler's matches, the impact of their promos and segments, how the promotion is using them, whether they captured or defended a championship, and how much momentum they carried out of the week. A mid-card wrestler who steals the show on a Tuesday can absolutely out-rank a legend who had the week off.

Editor rankings

The Editor's Ranks tab is a curated view. It organizes wrestlers by promotion and reflects an informed read on who is performing best in each company at the moment. Editor rankings are a useful baseline because they are consistent and consider context that raw voting sometimes misses — a slow-burn storyline, an injury return, or a title change that reshapes a division. Think of the editor rankings as the "house" perspective: a starting point that fans can then push against with their own votes.

User rankings and voting

The User Rank and Women's User Rank tabs are driven by the community. Registered users move wrestlers up or down with simple vote buttons, and the rankings shift dynamically as votes come in. To keep things fair and to stop any single ranking from being dominated by a handful of accounts, voting is limited by section. During the current weekly period, a registered user can cast up to five active up-or-down votes within each 50-rank section of a ranking. All-time rankings are tighter, allowing one active vote per 50-rank section each week. Votes save automatically, and you can change or remove a vote until the weekly reset. A small panel keeps a running total of how many votes you have left in each section, so you always know where you stand.

One detail that matters for fairness: when you cast a vote, it is counted against the section the wrestler was in before the vote moved them, not after. That prevents a wrestler from being shuffled between sections by the very vote being cast, and keeps the per-section limits meaningful.

Weekly snapshots and the historical record

Rankings that only ever show "right now" lose all of their history. WrestleRanks solves that by saving weekly snapshots. At the close of each weekly period, the current order is recorded and stored, so the site builds a continuous timeline of where every wrestler stood week after week. On a wrestler's profile page you can see their weekly rank history and how their position has moved over time. Those snapshots are also what make the long-term picture possible.

The year-end average

Because every week is recorded, WrestleRanks can do something a normal "best of the year" poll cannot: rank wrestlers by their average weekly position across the whole year. A wrestler who sits near the top of the rankings week after week will finish with a strong yearly average, while someone who spiked for one hot month but disappeared afterward will not. This rewards sustained excellence and consistency rather than a single big moment, and it gives the year-end standings real weight because they are built from a full season of weekly data rather than a one-time vote.

Status, eligibility, and tags

Active wrestlers appear in the current rankings regardless of most situational tags — an "out of action" or injured wrestler still belongs in the conversation, because injuries and absences are part of a real career. Wrestlers who have retired or passed away are moved into the all-time rankings rather than the current week, where their legacy can be measured against the greats. Champions are flagged with their title so you can see at a glance who is carrying gold heading into a given week.

Tag teams, trios, and factions

The Tag Teams tab applies the same weekly-performance philosophy to duos, trios, and factions. Tag wrestling has its own rhythm — chemistry, division depth, and championship lineage all matter — so teams are ranked on their own rather than being forced into the singles lists. You can read more in our tag team wrestling guide.

Putting it together

Between editor rankings, live fan voting, weekly snapshots, and the year-end average, WrestleRanks is designed to capture wrestling the way fans actually experience it: as an ongoing, week-to-week story. The best way to understand the system is to use it — head to the rankings, create an account, and start voting on who had the best week. If you are new to some of the promotions or terminology, our promotions guide and glossary are good next stops.