It seems that everyone is doing lists these days... so why should I be any exception? Yes, I contributed to the Rudo 100 at the Real In Memphis site... but that required me to soften my opinions quite a bit to reach an acceptable compromise with the other contributers. Now, that's just fine and dandy... but this is my site, and I have decided to post my own top 50 ranking of the top wrestlers in the world for the calender year of 2002.
This is a list of the top wrestlers in the world, but being my list (and more importantly, being a "Screw Everyone" list), this ranking is completely biased towards my likes and dislikes. Live with it.
I've awarded a joint #1 ranking because, quite simply, I couldn't separate the two wrestlers. Kurt Angle epitomises everything that a great North American worker should be, and Yuji Nagata epitomises everything that a great puroresu worker should be. I love both styles of work evenly. Again, live with it.
1= Kurt Angle (WWE: Smackdown)
1= Yuji Nagata (NJPW)
3. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW)
4. Low Ki (ROH/ZERO ONE)
5. Eddy Guerrero (WWE: Smackdown)
6. Shinjiro Ohtani (ZERO ONE)
7. Ryo Saito (Toryumon Japan)
8. Satoshi Kojima (AJPW)
9. Susumu Yokosuka (Toryumon Japan)
10. Masato Tanaka (ZERO ONE)
11. Rey Mysterio (WWE: Smackdown)
12. Koji Kanemoto (NJPW)
13. Meiko Satomura (GAEA Japan)
14. Jerry Lynn (NWA: TNA)
15. American Dragon (ROH/NJPW)
16. Masa Chono (NJPW)
17. Steve Corino (ZERO ONE)
18. Jushin Liger (NJPW)
19. AJ Styles (NWA: TNA)
20. Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH/NJPW)
21. Tiger Mask IV (NJPW)
22. Edge (WWE: Smackdown)
23. K-NESS (Toryumon Japan)
24. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (NJPW)
25. Chris Benoit (WWE: Smackdown)
26. Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW)
27. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH)
28. Shawn Michaels (WWE: Raw)
29. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW)
30. Chikayo Nagashima (GAEA Japan)
31. Genki Horiguchi (Toryumon Japan)
32. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO ONE)
33. Chavo Guerrero (WWE: Smackdown)
34. Magnum TOKYO (Toryumon Japan)
35. Mayumi Ozaki (GAEA Japan)
36. Christopher Daniels/Curry Man (ROH/Michinoku Pro)
37. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW)
38. Naohiro Hoshikawa (ZERO ONE)
39. KAORU (GAEA Japan)
40. Kensuke Sasaki (Free)
41. Shinya Hashimoto (ZERO ONE)
42. Dragon Kid (Toryumon Japan)
43. Aja Kong (GAEA Japan)
44. Doug Williams (FWA/ROH)
45. Dick Togo (Michinoku Pro)
46. Keiji Mutoh (AJPW)
47. The Rock (WWE: Smackdown)
48. Heat (NJPW)
49. Mima Shimoda (Free)
50. Triple H (WWE: Raw)