The 2026 VOW 30 Under 30: Introduction & Honorable Mentions

We here at Voices of Wrestling have brought together an all-star panel to create the most comprehensive 30 Under 30 list in wrestling for 2026.

Inspired by the critically acclaimed FSM 50, our aim is to deliver a list that is as informed and far-reaching as possible. Our diverse panel includes experts deeply embedded in a wide range of wrestling styles from around the world including American television wrestling, lucha libre, deathmatch, joshi, and much more.

Any wrestler under the age of 30 was eligible for inclusion. As in previous years, panelists were asked to evaluate candidates based on a blend of wrestling skill, match quality, drawing power, accomplishments, and long-term potential. These criteria were intentionally unranked, giving each voter the freedom to weigh them as they saw fit in order to create the most balanced and representative list possible.

The 2026 VOW 30 Under 30 Panelists

Below, you’ll find our panelists listed in alphabetical order:

• Adam Berger: Voices of Wrestling Contributor.
• Alan Counihan: Alan4L’s ProWres Paradise at PWTorch VIP.
• Andrew Sinclair: A long-suffering TNA/Impact Wrestling reviewer for Voices of Wrestling, Andrew now covers TNA, Big Japan, Maple Leaf Pro and anything that’s remotely interesting when time allows.
• Brady Trappett: Brady has been writing for Voices of Wrestling for almost 4 years, you can find his indie reviews and columns on this site.
• Case Lowe: Case Lowe is the co-host of the Open The Voice Gate podcast, which leads the way in English-speaking Dragongate coverage. Lowe also co-hosts Those Days: A Michinoku Pro Retrospective Series.
• Chris Gascoigne: Did some reviews for Voices Of Wrestling as well as having his own blog at https://kenkapuro.blogspot.com. His X handle is @Showfnwhole.
• Corey Clark: Contributor at Voices of Wrestling and podcaster.
• Dalton Henry: One-half of the CMLL Watch Guide.
• David Hayter: Feature writer for the Social Suplex Newsletter.
• Eric Addy: Eric (also known as ‘snazzy’ in Voices of Wrestling Discord) co-hosts the Joshi’ing Around Podcast on the Social Suplex Network with co-host Tim Hunter where they cover almost every joshi promotion you could think of on a weekly basis. Eric also covers every major Japanese promotion as part of the Asia & Oceania section in the Social Suplex Newsletter, which has the most in-depth coverage of wrestling around the globe available for free on a bi-monthly basis.
• Fred Morlan: Fred Morlan is a co-host of The Good, The Bad, & The Hungee.
• Gerard Di Trolio: Gerard is a co-host of the Emerald FlowShow on the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network.
• Griffin Peltier: The other half of the CMLL Watch Guide team and has been covering lucha libre for Voices of Wrestling since 2019. Creator and curator of this 30 Under 30. Hollywd’s Wrestling Rewind on YouTube and @Hollywd12 on Twitter.
• Jason Hart: Voices of Wrestling Contributor (The U.S. Independent).
• Jesse Collings: Host of the Gentlemen’s Wrestling Podcast.
• John Carroll: John Carroll is the host of Wrestling Omakase, a podcast that covers Japanese professional wrestling each and every week on the Voices of Wrestling podcast network. With a lovable cast of rotating co-hosts, they break down an absolutely absurd number of both men’s and women’s promotions (over a dozen!) in stupidly long, 3-5 hour episodes. Yes, 5 hours. Occasionally longer, actually! They have been watching puro/joshi for well over 2 decades at this point, which means they are very old. And they’re lucky enough to fly over there a couple times a year at this point, which they only mention in their blurbs at least seventeen different times. Follow them on Bluesky @justoneenby if you mostly want to read them complain about the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Kelly Harrass: Kelly Harrass is the co-host of VOW’s own Jumping Bomb Audio. Find him on social media @comicgeekelly.
• Kim Wong: Kim has been a wrestling fan since he saw Ultimate Warrior spit up black goo due to the villainy of Papa Shango. Nowadays, he tries to find the very best in wrestling around the world using the wisdom of crowds (or at least motivated Cagematch Inmates). Check out his column, Trapped in the Cagematch, on Voices of Wrestling.
• Mike Spears: Mike Spears has been a co-host of Open The Voice Gate along with Case Lowe for almost a decade and a leading source of English Dragon System reporting in the mean time. As well, along with Lowe, has presented the acclaimed historical mini-series Those Days: A Michinoku Pro Retrospective. Mike does other occasional wrestling work under the Spearsovations imprint, but most of his time is taken up by 1990s Japanese Garbage Indies these days. On Twitter @fujiiheya or Bluesky @spearsovations.bsky.social
• Paul V: Listen to the Emerald FlowShow.
• Rich Kraetsch: Rich Kraetsch is the owner and managing editor of Voices of Wrestling, 1/2 of The Flagship Podcast, and 1/2 of FlagshipPatreon.com.
• Syed Farzam Kirmani: Junior Doctor from Kashmir, Wrestling fan, overthinker of both.
• Tyler Forness: Tyler is an avid wrestling fan who writes on occasion and hosts The Good, The Bad, & The Hungee on the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network. He is also the Minnesota Vikings and Florida Gators beat writer for A to Z Sports, and co-founder of Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel & podcast network.
• Warren Hayes: Warren Hayes is the host of The Mr. Warren Hayes Show, available wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, where he streams live multiple times a week breaking down AEW, NJPW, STARDOM, and CMLL. Find him on Bluesky @mrwarrenhayes.show.

Special Thank You!

A special thank you to panelist Griffin Peltier, who helped assemble our voting panel, calculated totals, created graphics, and drove this project to what it is today. Show your support for Griffin by subscribing to his YouTube channel or by purchasing tickets, hotels, or flights from our various schedule & event pages, including WrestleMania Weekend, AEW, and WWE.

The VOW 2026 30 Under 30 Honorable Mentions

Not everyone can make the final cut, even with strong resumes and bright futures ahead. A lot of tough decisions had to be made, and some names we really like just missed out.

These are the wrestlers who received at least one vote but didn’t make the Top 30.

Aero Panther

Age: 25
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Desastre Total Ultraviolento
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DTU Nexo Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“One-half of the best act in wrestling that are without major league contacts. Aero Panther, alongside Fight Panther Jr, are mainly applying their trade in DTU (and occasionally Dragongate). Aero Panther would break out in a huge way if he were able to get steady work in a bigger promotion than DTU. He’d fit right in in AEW, CMLL, or NOAH if he were given the chance.” – Case Lowe

AKEY

Age: 25
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Triangle Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“AKEY has only been full-time in Dragongate for the last month (he spent his first two years part-time while finishing his college degree), and the amount of growth he’s shown with constant reps makes me think this will be the last year he will be on the back half of my ballot. Dragongate always needs a “heavy” cannonball wrestler and it feels like AKEY will grow into being an exceptional one.” – Mike Spears

Ali Najima

Age: 25
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Sportiva Entertainment
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DEP Tag Team Champion, Wakashachi Tag Tournament Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Ali Najima is one of the fastest rising stars on the Japanese independent scene. Originally trained at the NOAH Dojo, he later made the move to Sportiva, where he has become a regular standout by frequently competing against the promotion’s other young talents in Nagoya. Najima is an outstanding technician whose style is perfectly suited to the demands of Bati-Bati wrestling, showcasing both precision and fluidity every time he steps into the ring.” – Chris Gascoigne

Alpha Wolf

Age: 27
Years Active: 16
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: GHC National Champion, GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, KAOZ Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Full disclosure, I did not vote for Alpha Wolf, but he was next in line at #31. The one blemish on his record was his match at NOAH the New Year against his younger brother Dragon Bane. I was looking forward to that match, like a lot of people, and was left very disappointed, especially by the finish. But I’m not here to focus on the negative. Alpha Wolf is still only 27, and when the time comes that he isn’t bogged down by Team 2000X “black t-shirt” nonsense, I look forward to him showing the world once again what he is truly capable of. I also hope that he reforms his tag team with Dragon Bane, sooner rather than later, because they have been one of my favorite tag teams in recent years.” – Jason Hart

Andrew Cass

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: West Coast Pro Golden Gate Champion, West Coast Cup 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 21
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Could Andrew Cass be the next great American flyer? He can certainly soar, and he has even shown that he can project a bit of cheeky personality. In a finer world, Cass could have gone to the Dragongate finishing school, but he’ll have to settle for doing the best that he can in the American independents.” – Kim Wong

Aoi

Age: 23
Years Active: 4
Promotion: JTO
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: JTO Girls Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 18
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“This marks one of the more significant drops on my list, but Aoi’s recent months have still been very impressive, just not quite enough to push her back into the top ten.

She remains an incredibly charismatic performer with a distinctive look and strong in-ring ability. On top of that, she has continued to expand her range by stepping into deathmatch competition and taking on a leadership role within her own stable.

Even with the drop in ranking, Aoi remains one of the most intriguing young wrestlers to watch for the future.” – Chris Gascoigne

Aran Sano

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Osaka Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: OPW Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 11
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Sano makes a significant jump in my personal rankings, climbing from 21st place last year to his current position. He has shown tremendous improvement over the past twelve months, and after several unsuccessful title challenges, he finally captured championship gold by winning the tag team titles alongside the underrated veteran Tigers Mask.

As a member of the VerteX stable, which plays a major role in Osaka Pro’s current landscape, Sano has continued to establish himself as one of the promotion’s brightest young talents. At just 22 years old, he has all the tools to become one of Osaka Pro’s biggest stars in the years to come.” – Chris Gascoigne

ARASHI

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Fukumen MANIA
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: MPW Tohoku Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 20
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“ARASHI has a great look and is consistently exciting to watch thanks to his dynamic LuchaResu style. Trained by Mr. Cacao and officially affiliated with Fukumen MANIA, he has primarily made his name competing for Osaka Pro and Michinoku Pro, where he currently holds tag team championship gold. He has also recently become a regular in GLEAT as a member of Black Generation International.

Still very young, ARASHI has tremendous upside and could become a very intriguing outsider candidate for Best of the Super Juniors in the coming years.” – Chris Gascoigne

Arisu Endo

Age: 28
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: International Princess Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 5
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Yet another under-30 joshi wrestler who has spent the last year absolutely killing it in every major opportunity she’s been given, Arisu Endo initially felt like she had her reign with the International Princess Title cut a little short when she lost it to MIRAI in an excellent match at TJPW’s 1/4 Korakuen Hall show. But then she immediately bounced back with an absolutely star-making performance a couple months later at Ryogoku on the promotion’s biggest show of the year. Endo was placed into a tag match where she initially felt like the obvious “fourth wheel,” teaming with TJPW’s historic ace Miyu Yamashita against arguably the greatest wrestler in the world, Sareee, and her incredible tag partner Takumi Iroha. The match smartly leaned into that dynamic, with the SPARK RUSH outsider team treating the colorful-haired junior member of the TJPW side as almost beneath their notice while remaining singularly focused on Miyu. But smart structure alone doesn’t make a match great- it was Endo’s actual performance as the stubborn youngster refusing to be ignored by these two established killers that elevated everything. Despite being tiny in stature, she repeatedly stood up to her larger opponents in the face of increasingly brutal punishment, delivering one of my favorite individual match performances of the entire year. This match will very likely end up in my top 10 MOTY list for 2026, and a huge part of that is because of Endo herself. She followed it up the next month with an excellent challenge for the top strap against new champion Yuki Arai at Korakuen Hall, and unless TJPW’s braintrust is far dumber than I think they are, Endo will become Princess of Princess Champion herself long before she hangs up those bright purple tights.” – John Carroll

“How do you become a star? By asserting yourself when you got the biggest spotlight possible on you. Endo was in danger of being overshadowed by Sareee, Takumi Iroha, and Miyu Yamashita in this match. Instead, she dished out enough pain to Sareee and Iroha that they had to take her seriously. At the start of the year, she also wrestled above her size against MIRAI, going toe to toe with her instead of taking the David vs. Goliath route.” – Kim Wong

Aya Sakura

Age: 29
Years Active: 3
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: New Blood Tag Team Champion, Sendai Girls Junior Champion, Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 22
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Young stars often burst on the scene with a signature look, incredible athleticism or, most typically, some flashy offence that wows the crowd. That is how, in those formative years, they grab the world’s attention and start sneaking their way up the card. Not so for Aya Sakura, instead, rather quietly and almost imperceptibly, she decided to master the most difficult skill to develop in all of wrestling: psychology. Sakura is phenomenally adept at structuring her matches to tell compelling and passionate stories, blending technical striking with fantastic underdog selling designed to take the crowd on an emotional journey that peaks perfectly at the climax. Having already mastered the music between the notes, Sakura is now developing the flash — the persona, the look, the signature offence — do not be surprised if she leapfrogs over wrestlers with twice her experience in the years to come.” – David Hayter

Azusa Inaba

Age: 18
Years Active: 3
Promotion: JTO
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Queen Of JTO Champion, JTO Girls Champion, JTO Girls Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 5
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Azusa Inaba’s rise shows no signs of slowing down, as she has firmly established herself as a regular presence in Stardom while remaining a major figure in her home promotion, JTO.

She has now held the Queen of JTO Championship for over 300 days and counting, while also owning the record as the longest reigning JTO Girls Champion at 387 days.

At just 18 years old, her potential is extraordinary, and she looks destined to become one of Stardom’s biggest stars in the years to come.” – Chris Gascoigne

Barboza

Age: 26
Years Active: 11
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 24
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Barboza has always been a fun midcard act, but it was when his partner Zandokan Jr. went down with an injury that he really showed what he’s capable of. He has delivered when forced to step up and carry more weight on his own. I expect that potential to start turning into something real once he’s regularly teaming with Zandokan Jr. again.” – Griffin Peltier

Bozilla

Age: 22
Years Active: 4
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Bron Breakker

Age: 28
Years Active: 6
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I still want to believe.” – Jesse Collings

“Bron Breakker may not officially have the Steiner name, but has all of the dumb jock energy from both his dad and uncle. He’s incredibly explosive and really grown from a confidence and charisma standpoint in the ring. He’s got everything to be a megastar within the WWE system. The only thing that could hold him back is their own machine, asking him to barely touch his opponents rather than maximize its impact.” – Tyler Forness

Calavera Jr. I

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Won Robin’s mask, Mexican National Lightweight Champion, CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 14
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“The better of the two brothers, Calavera Jr. I has quickly risen up the ranks of the CMLL undercard over the past year and earned every bit of it. The Calaveras have built a genuinely passionate following, and the energy in the building whenever they perform is the kind of thing you can’t manufacture. It’s been a lot of fun to watch that connection grow. If CMLL ever teams him with Soberano Jr., they should start selling child support waivers at the merch stands.” – Griffin Peltier

Calavera Jr. II

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“A good worker in his own right, Calavera Jr. II has the tools to become a genuine mainstay in CMLL. The crowd connection he and his brother have built is undeniable, and that kind of organic following is something you simply cannot teach. There is still some room for improvement, but watching the two of them together in the ring is consistently one of the more enjoyable parts of any show they appear on.” – Griffin Peltier

Chanyota

Age: 29
Years Active: 4
Promotion: P.P.P. Tokyo
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Chanyota continues to steadily rise, securing frequent bookings outside of PPP Tokyo while also establishing herself as a regular presence in GLEAT and several other promotions.

She has a standout look and has shown clear improvement in her in-ring work. With her departure from the adult video industry, she now has more time to fully focus on wrestling and gain valuable reps in the ring, something that should significantly speed up her development over the coming months and years.” – Chris Gascoigne

“Chanyota is my favorite of the current wave of powerful Japanese women wrestlers because she looks great and because she knows to wrestle toward her strength. Her power offense, particularly the Erotic Hammer and her lariats, look and sound great and a part of her mystique.” – Kim Wong

Chazz Hall

Age: 23
Years Active: 11
Promotion: WWE ID
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WWE ID Men’s Champion, West Coast Pro Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 17
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Chi Chi

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Pro Wrestling Evolution
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Evolution Strong Women’s Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Daichi Satoh

Age: 17
Years Active: 4
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 18
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Just behind Takeshi Masada and Kaisei Takechi leading DDT’s young generation is Daichi Satoh. Daichi has become one of DDT’s most popular wrestlers within his third year in the promotion. Daichi is still only 17. It feels inevitable that Daichi will not only challenge for DDT’s top prize, but will also become its top champion at some point within the next few years. DDT has undergone a total transformation of its audience, with most shows having around 75%+ women. Women have been fuelling the growth of many men’s promotions in Japan, and among that change, Daichi has emerged as one of the most popular people attracting that demo, which you can hear with sharp-pitched “Daichi!” calls every single show. The sky is the limit for the Big Beefy Boy Daichi Satoh.

Recommended Match: Daichi Satoh & HARASHIMA vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Yuya Koroku – DDT, 12th January 2026” – Eric Addy

Dan Tamura

Age: 26
Years Active: 7
Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 28
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Dani Luna

Age: 27
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: ATTACK! Champion, DPW Women’s World Champion, Maiden Of Chaos Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“The Welsh powerhouse is now a free agent, and would be a boon to any company’s womens division. Dani moves around the ring as well as anyone, with her bursts of speeds and ability to change direction and levels almost akin to a Brock Lesnar. The only downside is potentially for her opponents, as it looks like being in the ring with her is no picnic! But that’s not a problem for us fans as we can sit back and enjoy watching her lay it in like a shoot-fight every time out.” – Alan Counihan

Daniel Garcia

Age: 27
Years Active: 9
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 20
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“His mid-20s haven’t taken off the way that some fans may have anticipated, but Garcia still remains a rock solid television performer, even if that performance is as the at-best fourth most important performer in his own group.” – Jesse Collings

Danny Orion

Age: 27
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: New Texas Pro Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 22
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Orion has all the pieces: the technical skill, the personality that can flip between face and heel, and speaking ability to engage the audience. The question is what route Orion will take to bigger things in his wrestling career. Perhaps his current run as the New Texas Pro Champion will give him the exposure that he needs. He won the title from 1 Called Manders and has already defended it against Bryan Keith, so this could be his signature reign in the American independent scene.” – Kim Wong

DIA

Age: 27
Years Active: 7
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Twin Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 18
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Extremely capable wrestler who proved in Dragongate that he was a solid wrestler in both tags and singles action. He’s probably missing the charisma it takes to be a top guy, but if he does end up in New Japan, it wouldn’t be shocking if he emerges as a multi-time junior heavyweight champion.” – Jesse Collings

Dragon Bane

Age: 26
Years Active: 13
Promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, GHC National Champion, GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, KAOZ Tag Team Champion, NOAH Jr. Tag League 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 5
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Consistently one of the most exciting luchadores working in Japan, Dragon Bane has made the most of his time in NOAH and put some well documented attitude issues in the rearview mirror. At just 26 years old with 13 years of experience already under his belt, there is a seasoning to his work that most wrestlers his age simply don’t have. He feels like a guy who could make a real impact in the US scene if the right opportunity comes along, and with WWE buying AAA, that door may not be as far away as it seems.” – Griffin Peltier

Drilla Moloney

Age: 29
Years Active: 13
Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 17
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Elijah Blum

Age: 29
Years Active: 4
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion, CWG Champion, Fightback Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 4
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Elijah Blum is the reigning wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion, the culmination of a steady and well executed rise within the promotion since beginning his career there in 2021. After years of careful development, he has now reached the top as the face of Europe’s biggest wrestling company.

Blum stands out with his distinctive look, from his extensive tattoos to his trademark mustache, while also bringing strong charisma and the ability to adapt to different in-ring styles.

With this being his final year of eligibility for this list, it feels like the right time to fully acknowledge his rise to the top of wXw.” – Chris Gascoigne

“For someone that’s been in pro wrestling less than 5 years, his rising up the ranks and becoming the wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion doesn’t feel rushed and that’s a testament to how good Elijah is at his age. He’s intense, can really do mat work very well, can talk and connect with a crowd, and even do comedy spots if the time calls for it. Someone to keep an eye on for years to come.” – Corey Clark

Francesco Akira

Age: 26
Years Active: 10
Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 9
Last Year’s Ranking: 23

“I’m a fan of Akira’s NJPW run, always waiting for the moment he’d uncork his potential, and it would seem that it’s beginning to flow. He’s a fiery, snappy wrestler and a low-key hero of the junior division. All that time teaming with TJP absolutely made him a better worker, and the newfound aggression he’s brought since the United Empire heel turn is the spark he needed to transcend from “good little worker” to a guy the division can turn to.” – Warren Hayes

“Has the good Italian boy quietly become one of the best in the world? His heel turn started slightly awkwardly but he’s taken to it brilliantly since then. Works with a believable aggression that sets him apart from many.” – Alan Counihan

Gabe Roka

Age: 26
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AWF Unleashed Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“This is my vanity pick of the list, included on pure potential alone. Roka is still green in the ring, but the look of a future star is undeniable and his martial arts background gives his movement a natural credibility that most wrestlers take years to develop. The pieces are there, and if things click the way they look like they could, he has every chance of becoming a genuine breakout name on the indies within the next year or so. Remember the name. ” – Griffin Peltier

Gaia Hox

Age: 26
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: King Of FREEDOM World Junior Heavyweight Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Third time’s the charm for Taiwan’s Finest, even if he has dropped from the top ten to near the bottom of this year’s rankings. Gaia Hox has undoubtedly improved, but over the past several months, others have simply been more compelling to watch and appear to have brighter long term prospects.

That said, Hox has still done well to carve out a place for himself across several promotions in Japan, proving that he remains a respected and valuable presence on the scene.” – Chris Gascoigne

GuC

Age: 27
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Triangle Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 15
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Dragongate’s Most Improved Wrestler of this time period. He’s managed to go from rookie Korakuen Hall employee dork character to what Case Lowe calls the closest thing to a modern peak Matt Sydal. Oodles of potential growth with him, don’t ever see him in the Dream Gate picture, but you can easily figure him into future front line plans. Feels like will be a hinge point of a future Steel Cage Apuestas in the near future.” – Mike Spears

Hanan

Age: 21
Years Active: 9
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Wonder Of Stardom Champion, Goddesses Of Stardom Champion, Cinderella Tournament 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 17
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Hazuki

Age: 28
Years Active: 11
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: SPARK Joshi World Champion, CMLL-Japan Women’s Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Hazuki is a former queen of high speed herself, and she made the CMLL-Japan Women’s title her own with her defenses against Seira and Olympia. As Fuwa-chan’s stern mentor, she also deserves credit for Fuwa-chan’s development in her first full year as a wrestler.” – Kim Wong

Hijo de Stuka Jr.

Age: 23
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Mexican National Trios Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 25
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Hijo de Stuka Jr. should be in line to be one of the next breakout young stars in CMLL and the building blocks are already there. He is very fluid in the ring and has a knack for making everyone around him look tremendous. His work alongside El Cobarde and Felino Jr. as Mexican National Trios Champions has been a consistently fun watch, and it feels like only a matter of time before CMLL pulls the trigger and gives him a bigger spotlight to work with. ” – Griffin Peltier

Hiroto Tsuruya

Age: 19
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Though it is still very early days in his career, Tsuruya has a real chance of being NOAH’s ace one day.” – Gerard Di Trolio

Honori Hana

Age: 26
Years Active: 6
Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 28
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Honori Hana is the leading light of her promotion, SEAdLINNNG. It would be accurate to say that Honori had struggled being only one of two of their contracted wrestlers. In 2024, one of the  greatest wrestlers of all time, Arisa Nakajima, retired. SEAdLINNNG was no longer the premier destination for top freelancers in the scene. Miria Koga, 20, was the only contracted wrestler that SEAd had (ignoring Yoshiko who was on hiatus). In 2021, Honori took a three-year break from wrestling, induced by a difficult battle with COVID during the pandemic. Honori returned at the turn of 2025, thrown back into a company without Arisa Nakajima, a scaled-down operation struggling to draw compared to their glory days. She immediately became the senior to Miria, but Honori had only debuted herself in December 2019, and when returning was only 25 years old. She didn’t know what it meant to carry a company. That struggle was apparent. During 2025, Honori Hana gained two more juniors in Yuki Funa, 28, and Selene Misora, 20. It was the introduction of Selene that lit a fire underneath Honori as the promotion re-geared around its young stars, building the promotion entirely on them, with less reliance on top freelancers. Honori grabbed this opportunity with both hands, producing her best-ever, blood-soaked performance in a star-making tag title defence against Selene in February 2026. Honori’s style is aggressive, uncompromising, violent and raw. It contrasts Selene’s calm, collected and calculated demeanour, mentored by VENY. There is no doubt that Honori is now ready to not only lead her home promotion to better days, but to become a key player in the women’s wrestling scene in Japan, spurred on by her juniors in SEAdLINNNG.

Recommended Match: Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Selene Misora & VENY – SEAdLINNNG, 17th April 2026” – Eric Addy

Hyo

Age: 29
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Triangle Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 9
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“His male stripper gimmick isn’t for me, but the guy is an incredible athlete and wrestler who has been one of the most entertaining parts of Dragongate since he debuted.” – Jesse Collings

“Nothing has been as rewarding as a wrestling fan to me in recent years then seeing the overly tan kid in leopard print Converses grow into a wrestler that has crowds worldwide eating out of the palm of his hand. Hyo has reached a new peak in 2025-26 and this current BOSJ appearance could be the rocket boost to catapult him into the Dream Gate picture finally. There’s a lot of wrestling in 2026 I don’t care for, but Hyo Watanabe is someone who will always have a part of my heart and it thrills me so much to see his success.” – Mike Spears

ISHIN

Age: 28
Years Active: 4
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Triangle Gate Champion, All Asia Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 6
Last Year’s Ranking: 22

“After his big step forward in the 2024-25 period, I found that ISHIN solidified his tool set over the last year. His charisma has refined in a way that he has his act and crowd appeal Superflys instead of just throwing everything at a wall and seeing what sticks. He’s found a great tag team partner for Team 204 in Yoshiki Kato and that’s where he’s ended up focusing his efforts this last period. There wasn’t a standout match for him in a singles over this time period but should figure more into the Dream Gate scene in the future years or at a time where he’s not in the same unit as the current champion.” – Mike Spears

Itsuki Aoki

Age: 28
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Regina Di WAVE Champion, SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Itsuki Aoki’s recent months have been the most noticeable stretch of her career so far. She has competed more frequently for top Joshi company Stardom while also establishing herself as a welcome presence in several other major Joshi companies.

With her distinctive look, strong in-ring ability, and natural charisma, Aoki has all the qualities needed to continue building momentum.” – Chris Gascoigne

Jack Perry

Age: 28
Years Active: 11
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AEW National Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 22
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jack Perry is probably fortunate that his biggest fan happens to be Tony Khan, who continues to believe in him as a potential top act. Perry’s various characters haven’t taken off and made him a main event star, but at the very least he is a steady wrestler who mostly delivers whenever he is asked to go out and work.” – Jesse Collings

Jackson Drake

Age: 22
Years Active: 8
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WWE EVOLVE Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 28
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Drake made my shortlist last year on the strength of his work in DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling and he has done nothing but build on that since. His work as the douchebag champion in WWE Evolve has been excellent, and the fact that the anti-WWE crowd has found themselves worked by the character is a testament to how well he has committed to it. There is still some development needed in the ring, but at just 22 years old, that is going to come with time and reps. The potential here is enormous.” – Griffin Peltier

Jaden Newman

Age: 27
Years Active: 12
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: IWTV Independent Wrestling Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 3
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jaden has become the beacon of light in the Southeast and he’s not there because of anything other than hard work and passion. He is a 5 tool player and someone that others around him consider a mentor and a leader. Once he returns from injury, I don’t see anything stopping Jaden from reaching wherever he wants to go.” – Corey Clark

Jamesen Shook

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: TWE Champion, IWTV Independent Wrestling Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jamesen Shook has done so much in such little time. Training only 4 years ago, Shook has hit the ground running and has cemented himself as one of the top stars of the hot Southeast indie scene. Between promoting his own shows, winning the IWTV Tag Team titles with his trainer Jaden Newman, or having a career jolt with his recent heel turn in both TWE and New South as part of Dylan Hales’ The Program faction he’s someone you simply must keep an eye on. The Deathmatch Diva is shaping up to be a game changer in years to come.” – Corey Clark

Jarvis

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: ROW Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jarvis projected strong Sammy Guevara energy (in a good way) and showed that he was effective at playing both a face and a heel. In the course of my scouting reports this year, Jarvis was the second most pleasant surprise that I found this year.” – Kim Wong

Je’Von Evans

Age: 22
Years Active: 8
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 14
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Je’Von Evans might be the single most naturally gifted athlete to come along in WWE’s system in years. Just a fantastic high flyer, Evans also has good crowd connection that should make him a major player in the U.S. scene for the next 15 years. The biggest question for him being in WWE is the proclivities of that company – they have an awful history when it comes to using smaller, high flyer types. Will he get lost in the shuffle? Will he shift his style to something less dynamic to the hindrance of his in-ring performances? Only time will tell.” – Fred Morlan

“Je’Von Evans is an unusual proposition: he’s a spectacular athlete who more than lives up to his “bouncy” moniker, but he’s also a bundle of frenetic energy. For all his incredible smoothness and control as he literally leaps over his opponents in the ring, as a personality, Je’Von is all squiggly lines and spiky energy. He’s enthusiastic to a fault, bubbling over with an earnest joie de vivre that is both infectious and refreshingly unrehearsed. In NXT they seemed keen to let Je’Von run free; his booking might have left a lot to be desired in terms of wins and losses, but when it came to promos Je’Von was given a rare freedom to depart from the heavily scripted monologues that have blighted the careers of the likes of Izzi Dame. This will always be a source of tension as long as Je’Von remains in WWE. He’s an incredible and dynamic wrestler, who has already proven that he can adapt his wild flying style to the main roster’s formula, but will the main roster ever let this charmingly hyperactive young man be himself?

There are early signs that they might, as Je’Von is one of the more realistic and organic promos in the company (even if most of his segments are “international exclusives” on Netflix), but there are also worries that he’ll be turned into another pull-string toy like babyface Jey Uso, damned to spend the rest of his life shouting “YERT” and “BOUNCY” on repeat in lieu of character development. However, at 22 years of age he’s made a phenomenal start both in the ring and on the microphone – and, if WWE don’t take leave of their senses, he should be an Intercontinental Champion before he turns 23.” – David Hayter

Jet Wei

Age: 29
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Kyushu Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Kyushu Pro Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 13
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jet Wei has had an impressive run, highlighted by several outstanding tag team matches and a reign as Kyushu Pro Tag Team Champion alongside Kodai Nozaki. Even in defeat, his singles title challenge against Hitamaru Sasaki was a highly compelling performance and a match well worth watching. He has clearly found his footing in Kyushu Pro, which is no small feat for a foreign wrestler trying to establish himself in Japan. Jet is a very good babyface with strong natural appeal, though there is still plenty of room for growth and development.” – Chris Gascoigne

“Jet Wei has been one of the consistent highlights of the Kyushu Pro uploads. His tag team with Kodai Nozaki as JeTank1997 is a lot of fun, but it’s his babyface selling and fiery comebacks that really stand out” – Griffin Peltier

“Jet Wei is another compelling, white meat babyface, and we need more of them in wrestling. He and Nozaki made a great power and acrobatics tag team, and their matches have gone underseen in Kyushu Pro.” – Kim Wong

Joe Alonzo

Age: 29
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: GCWA Heavyweight Champion, AAW World Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Wrestling always needs heels, and Alonzo plays the heel with panache. He is an athletic, engaging, and energetic wrestler who does a lot of little small things well and has potential to project as a heel on a bigger stage. To become an even better wrestler, he needs to engage the crowd more.” – Kim Wong

Kaisei Takechi

Age: 28
Years Active: 2
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Above all else, Kaisei Takechi is one incredibly good-looking man. Seriously, look at the picture that is presumably somewhere on this page. If you don’t immediately understand why women squeal every time this man so much as glances in their direction, I’m very sorry to break this to you, but you may actually be legally blind. Fortunately, I believe they have surgeries for that now, so please look into them. But Takechi didn’t sneak into my top ten solely on the strength of his “what I imagine a particularly benevolent genie would grant you if you wished to become handsome” level appearance, because for a man with only fourteen career matches since debuting in 2024 while simultaneously juggling an extremely active singing career, he’s kind of a prodigy. I’ve seen wrestlers with hundreds of matches who don’t move with anything close to the effortless grace Takechi already possesses. And honestly, given his looks and the built-in fanbase from his music career, I could hardly blame him if he decided to coast on those overwhelming strengths alone. The fact that he actually seems deeply invested in becoming a genuinely great professional wrestler is one of the most remarkable things about him, and if it isn’t already obvious, there are MANY of those. DDT has found itself a true, marketable star, and the way Takechi effortlessly overshadowed his NJPW partners Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura while teaming with them at Wrestle Kingdom this past January only drove that point home even further.” – John Carroll

“Not a traditional wrestler by any means, but has shown tons of charisma and poise in the ring that far exceeds what you would expect given his experience level. The steps for him in 2026 will be working more singles matches, which could turn him from being a novelty act into a potential real star.” – Jesse Collings

“Stupid, sexy Kaisei Takechi. However, look beyond his stupid, sexy face and you will see a young wrestler who’s not afraid of taking risks and seems to be putting everything into becoming a great pro wrestler. His match against Ueno was shockingly good when you consider that it was his first singles match and that, at the time, he had less than 20 total matches in his career. He’s one to watch.” – Kim Wong

KANON

Age: 29
Years Active: 6
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: KO-D Tag Team Champion, MOP Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“ould KANON follow Daisuke Sekimoto, Yuji Okabayashi, and Yuji Hino in the modern tradition of big and beefy Japanese wrestlers? He certainly has the physique, and he’s able to throw bombs like the Strong BJ lads and Hino. He currently lacks the explosiveness that defined those men’s mystique, and it’s a dice role whether he gets to play with seriousness in DDT.” – Kim Wong

Katsuya Murashima

Age: 25
Years Active: 2
Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Young Lion Cup 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I have a feeling the Young Lions Cup won’t be the last piece of silverware for this fired up graduate of the Noge Dojo. Now on excursion based in Gelsenkirchen at the wXw Academy, he’s getting seasoning under the reliable wing of Vienna Bob and is developing well. Murashima’s likeability is his biggest quality and gains new fans every he goes. In terms of future prospects, we got a nice glimpse of where he might be headed during his throwdown with Tomohiro Ishii on New Years Dash. The kid isn’t afraid to bring it.” – Alan Counihan

Kazuma Kimura

Age: 25
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 25
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Kazuma Sumi

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DDT Universal Champion, KO-D Ten Man Tag Team Champion, DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Champion, D Generations Cup 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“There have been quite a few Dragongate dojo washouts who never debuted there but still went on to surprisingly successful careers elsewhere. Hell, even within the extended DDT universe alone, Ken Ohka has probably had far more success than anyone reasonably could have predicted. But Kazuma Sumi might be the one who most makes you wonder how the hell things didn’t work out for him in Dragongate specifically. And okay, not to bully poor Ken too much here, but when you actually watch him wrestle, you can at least understand why this particular human being may not have been destined to spend his life working twelve-minute high-speed sprints. On the other hand, the only reason we know Kazuma Sumi is not literally the reincarnation of Dragon Kid is because Dragon Kid is still very much alive. Seriously, just look at what this tiny blonde man can do in a wrestling ring. If you’re not a major DDT watcher (which first of all is absolutely your problem, because they’re comfortably the best and most consistent men’s promotion in Japan right now), let me immediately recommend two matches where Sumi absolutely tears down Korakuen Hall: the main event of DDT’s 1/3 show, a KO-D 6-Man Tag Title match where he somehow manages to overshadow literally everyone else involved- including the company ace and an actual pop star who can very much work himself- and the finals of the D GENERATIONS tournament on 2/22 against fellow ridiculously talented young wrestler Takeshi Masada. And while I understand not everyone can casually afford a flight to Japan, if you ever do find yourself there with the opportunity to attend a DDT show live, I’m very confident you’ll walk away amazed at how much their currently very female audience adores this little dude. They scream their lungs out for him while he often looks like he’s one strong gust of wind away from dying, only for him to immediately respond by doing approximately seventeen flawless flips in a row. It’s genuinely one of the most delightful things in modern wrestling.” – John Carroll

“I think Kazuma Sumi will end up being “the one who got away” from the DG Dojo as his career goes on and his contemporaries remain stagnant due to bad booking in Kobe.” – Mike Spears

KeMalito

Age: 23
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: CMLL World Micro Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“He’s an evil satanic monkey.” – Griffin Peltier

Kendal Grey

Age: 24
Years Active: 2
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WWE EVOLVE Women’s Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 4
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Been on the Kendal Grey hype train since WWE Level Up in 2024, so it’s nice to see everyone else finally coming around. The shoot wrestling background is what sets her apart, giving her work a smoothness and crispness that most wrestlers spend years chasing. Her run as WWE Evolve Women’s Champion was the last genuinely great thing happening on that show and she has the kind of look that is going to make her a star somewhere. The only real concern of mine is that she’s going to be stuck doing US TV wrestling. Those confines have a way of dulling exactly the kind of talent that makes her worth watching in the first place. Get her in the right environment and we could be talking about a generational talent.” – Griffin Peltier

“The best female prospect in the WWE system, the comparisons between Kendal Grey and Mercedes Mone at the same stages in their career were entirely warranted. While there may be a ceiling on how good she could be with their house style and production preferences, she has the natural instincts, presence and physical ability to go a long way.” – Andrew Sinclair

Kodai Nozaki

Age: 28
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Kyushu Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Kyushu Pro Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 14
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I’ve always had a soft spot for Nozaki, but I have to admit that he hasn’t shown much noticeable improvement over the past year. I ranked him significantly higher on last year’s list, and while he remains a very dependable presence in Kyushu Pro, his overall progression seems to have stalled. He is still consistently entertaining to watch thanks to his powerful offense and impressive size, but it feels as though he may have reached his ceiling, or at least the point where his rise has begun to level off.” – Chris Gascoigne

“As the powerhouse in JeTank1997, Nozaki presents the physical threat to back Wei up after Wei gets in peril. So, Nozaki gets the fun of the hot tag, which he executes with great physicality. I wish he wrestled a little bit meaner, but that not fit with the white meat babyface scene that his team with Wei occupies.” – Kim Wong

Kohei Kinoshita

Age: 28
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 15
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I’m a big fan of Kinoshita, and I would have loved to rank him even higher. However, despite becoming a regular presence in GLEAT as a member of Black Generation International, I haven’t been fully convinced by his performances in recent months.

He remains one of my personal favorites on the Japanese sleaze scene, and I still really enjoy his explosive, high energy style. That said, I can’t shake the feeling that he is capable of delivering even more.” – Chris Gascoigne

“Kinoshita feels like the king of the grime, bouncing from the Ringsoul in Kobe for Meriken Pro to GLEAT to Osaka Pro to 666 to Dove Pro to have matches that will surprise you. Dive into the grime and see for yourself. He might be your next favorite wrestler that you haven’t heard of yet.” – Kim Wong

Komander

Age: 27
Years Active: 14
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Konami

Age: 29
Years Active: 11
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Wonder Of Stardom Champion, Artist Of Stardom Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 15
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“It’s okay to admit that at one point you thought Konami was washed. Say… around this time last year, perhaps. A lot of people thought it. And while I won’t go quite so far as to say I ever fully bought into that idea myself (I don’t use the word “washed” lightly!), I definitely started to wonder whether her days of having banger matches while simultaneously being an at-times deliriously entertaining character might be behind her. Well, uh… never mind! Everyone who doubted her should be legally required to write her a handwritten apology letter, because her reign with STARDOM’s white belt- a reign I’ll fully admit I was not especially excited about at first, particularly coming immediately after the excellent Starlight Kid run it ended- turned into an enormous success. The matches were consistently great, with her excellent Dream Queendom match against Saya Iida standing out the most for me, but what really elevated the reign was the way Konami fully embraced being a cackling comic-book supervillain. Other heels in HATE often still wanted to come across as cool or secretly likable, with Saya Kamitani being the clearest example. Konami, meanwhile, simply dedicated herself to becoming the single most detestable woman alive, and if not for the existence of Margaret Thatcher she may actually have succeeded. She portrayed someone who didn’t merely understand that she was a complete asshole, but actively reveled in it at every possible opportunity. Long after I’ve forgotten my own name, I’ll probably still remember the image of the stage opening up behind newly crowned Cinderella winner Hanan at Yokohama Budokan, revealing this absolutely maniacal woman standing there laughing her ass off in pure delight at the fact she was about to ruin the moment for her. Konami somehow made the actual stepmother from the Cinderella story look like a kind and loving soul by comparison, and frankly, I absolutely love that for her. Now go get started on that handwritten apology letter, which she’ll probably send back covered in black spray paint (and you just know she laughed continuously from the moment she opened it until she dropped it back into the mailbox).” – John Carroll

“Konami gives H.A.T.E. the sense of danger and menace that it needs for credibility as the black-clad, rule-breaking squad that dominates Stardom. Her match with Rina was highlighted by the sense of violence that Konami brought.” – Kim Wong

Kota Minoura

Age: 27
Years Active: 7
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Twin Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 23
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Kouga

Age: 25
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: GWF Berlin Champion, World Cup 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 28
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“The 25-year-old Yu Owada, I mean Owadasan, I mean Kouga, is on excursion presently in Europe. He has been wrestling for PROGRESS, GWF, & Ichiban Wrestling to name a few, and I have enjoyed following along. He has really shown a growing personality to match his proficient in ring work. I am looking forward to his return to NOAH and hope that when he does, that he hits the ground running. NOAH needs another top babyface to oppose OZAWA and Team 2000X that isn’t named Yoshiki Inamura, and I think Kouga is that babyface. I am aware that when he left for excursion, he was a member of Team 2000X but NOAH would be missing an opportunity by simply sticking him back with them. I truly see a very bright future for Kouga if he stays healthy and the booker of NOAH, whoever that is at the moment, sees what I see.” – Jason Hart

Luke Jacobs

Age: 25
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: PROGRESS World Champion, Infinite World Champion, RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Champion, PROGRESS Tag Team Champion, Infinite Promotions Tag Team Champion, Trios Grand Prix 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Madoka Kikuta

Age: 26
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Dream Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 22
Last Year’s Ranking: 24

“This is a guy who should be a top five in the world under the age of 30, but I cannot in good conscience rate him higher than the minimum with how awful his current Dream Gate run has been. Do better in 2026-27, ol Hip Hop.” – Mike Spears

Maggie Lee

Age: 25
Years Active: 3
Promotion: TNA Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion, Glory Pro Women’s World Crown Champion, AAW Women’s Champion, RPW Glamour Champion, MAW Women’s Champion, DREAMWAVE Women’s Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Among the many reasons I find modern TNA just frustrating is their gross misuse and miscasting of Maggie Lee as M by Elegance. Maggie, still just 25, remains one of the best prospects in all of wrestling and someone who has proven the ability on the indies to work as an effective babyface and heel, can work a straight wrestling match, and excel in plunder matches. Sky remains the limit, and it’s unfathomable that someone this young and this talented is relegated to a background player in a joke stable.” -Rich Kraetsch

Maika

Age: 28
Years Active: 7
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 11
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

MAO

Age: 29
Years Active: 10
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: KO-D Tag Team Champion, BZW Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 11
Last Year’s Ranking: 17

“Feels like he has been around forever, MAO shined during his run in the Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW and remained a standout in DDT, mostly as a tag team wrestler working with fellow Under 30 star KANON.” – Jesse Collings

“The clown prince of wrestling, MAO has a great connection with the DDT crowd by giving them what they want: great wrestling mixed with comedy.” – Kim Wong

Masami Inahata

Age: 20
Years Active: 1
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: King Of JTO Champion, MOP Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I haven’t seen much of his work in DDT so far, but (Thunder) Masami Inahata enjoyed an impressive run as JTO Champion up until the turn of the year.

He has a genuine superstar look and, given his age, all the potential to develop into a major star for DDT in the years to come.” – Chris Gascoigne

Maya World

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: VIP Women’s Champion, HOT Women’s Champion, Inspire Pro Pure Prestige Champion, DFW All-Pro Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“This indie prospect is a solid worker with a great look that has been gathering more and more attention since her debut in 2022. She took advantage of a big opportunity to show up in AEW that has only attracted more eyeballs to her. This exposure has opened the door, so the question is how far she can walk through it.” – Warren Hayes

Megan Bayne

Age: 27
Years Active: 8
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 9
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“She’s a powerhouse whose charisma has been growing each and every week on television. Her movement skills in the ring are becoming more natural, and that will elevate her to the top of the AEW women’s division. They don’t make wrestlers that look like Bayne, and pairing her special attraction look with good in-ring work makes the sky is the limit.” – Tyler Forness

Mei Seira

Age: 24
Years Active: 7
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: High Speed Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 13
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Is Mei Seira the greatest wrestler (allegedly) ever forced to leave a promotion because she once snuck out of a dojo dorm at night (probably to go drinking, judging by recent social media evidence), vanished for over nineteen months to the point that almost nobody realistically expected her to ever return, and then suddenly reappeared in another promotion out of nowhere? Well, that’s admittedly an extremely specific question, but yes, probably! Mei moves so quickly in the ring at times that you could genuinely blink and miss half of what she’s doing. Naturally, that made her almost perfectly suited for STARDOM’s High Speed Championship, a title she held for an incredible 514 days before finally losing it last fall. But the “Ultimate Shooting Star” is hardly just a one-trick high speed specialist. Earlier this January at Korakuen Hall (in a match I was lucky enough to see live), she and Hazuki went out and absolutely tore the house down while wrestling over an obscure “CMLL Japan” title that practically nobody on Earth actually cares about. Mei has also consistently stood out in multi-woman tags in recent times, and if Taro Okada ever remembers the Artist of STARDOM is an actual title that exists, I’m sure she’d have an excellent run with those belts too. I don’t know that she necessarily screams “future top star” to me- she’s extremely likable, but maybe just a little understated charisma-wise compared to some of STARDOM’s bigger personalities- yet she’s such an incredibly reliable in-ring wrestler that you could slot her almost anywhere on a card and feel very confident in her ability to deliver something genuinely great. Any wrestling promotion in the world would be lucky to have her, and honestly, I suspect if you got Taro under oath he’d probably admit he’s very happy Mei snuck out of that Marvelous dojo all those years ago. Oh, and somehow even after everything she’s been through already she’s still only 24 years old, by the way!” – John Carroll

“Mei Seira is the queen of the high speed style, and she proved that she could play in the hardcore sandbox with Suzu Suzuki last year. She and Hazuki then tried to create an epic for the CMLL-Japan Women’s title in January, showing their ambition to push the high speed style to the limit and combine it with main event theatrics.” – Kim Wong

Mei Suruga

Age: 26
Years Active: 7
Promotion: ChocoPro
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DPW Women’s World Champion, Super Asia Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 8
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Mei Suruga is one of the best wrestlers in the world. For me, it is vital that wrestlers remain creative, dynamic and think about their craft. No one encapsulates that better for me than Mei. No single match of hers is the same as the last. It is as if she sits down before each match and thinks “how can I try out something new that I haven’t done before?” That is an extremely difficult thing to do when you’ve wrestled hundreds of matches, and yet, because Mei is so good, it is exactly what she does. She is the most creative wrestler in the world and the outcome of every match is that her opponent looks better. You cannot ask more from a performer. 

Recommended Match: Mei Suruga vs. Rina Yamashita – ChocoPro, 5th September 2025” – Eric Addy

Mika Iwata

Age: 29
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Sendai Girls Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Sendai Girls Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 9
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“This is sadly the final year of eligibility for Mika Iwata, who I genuinely believe is one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. She’s been tasked with an incredibly thankless role for years now: the #2 wrestler on a tiny roster behind an overwhelmingly dominant ace in Chihiro Hashimoto. In practice, that often translates to “lose to Chihiro, then lose to every outsider on their way to wrestling Chihiro,” so when you really look at Sendai Girls’ booking patterns and overall structure, it becomes pretty easy to understand why “lol Iwata loses” eventually became such a meme among joshi fans. But if anyone thinks that says anything negative about Iwata herself as a wrestler, they’re completely wrong. All she ever does is go out there and absolutely kill it every single chance she gets, whether she’s throwing some of the greatest kicks I’ve ever seen in wrestling or simply giving an unbelievably badass stare that somehow feels icy and intense at the exact same time. I absolutely had to sneak her into the top half of my list this year, because she’s more than earned it.” – John Carroll

Miku Kanae

Age: 25
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Billed at 4’11” and 97 pounds, Miku Kanae might be short in stature, but she is long in resilience. (Would The Resilience have been able to beat the No Remorse Corps if Miku Kanae had traveled back in time to 2007 and replaced Matt Cross in the faction? Who can say, really?) She is a queen of fiery and energetic comebacks, a model of valiance in the face of a beating from her usually larger opponents.” – Kim Wong

Mio Momono

Age: 27
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Marvelous That’s Women Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: West Coast Pro Women’s Champion, Sendai Girls Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 2
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“While Mio is internationally renowned as one of the world’s premier babyfaces, exceptional at taking punishment before mounting a fiery comeback, Marvelous viewers will know that she is equally adept at a stiff, fast-paced, and uncompromising style. She delivers open-handed strikes and Chigusa Nagayo-style German suplexes with a smile on her face. This contrast is signified best through two matches within the stretch of a few months in 2026 with her brutal, tough love match on 5th February against Marvelous’ young wrestler Ai Houzan, and one of the best high-speed matches you’ll see against Mei Seira on 5th May at Yokohama BUNTAI. She even provided what was likely the best under-ten-minute match of the year in 2025: a blistering encounter against Utami Hayashishita during the closing stretch of the Marigold vs. Marvelous gauntlet on 8th August 2025. It was a hidden gem in a year of bountiful MOTYCs, proving that even in a “muted” 2025 year, Mio Momono was world class. Mio has followed that “muted” year with a blistering first half of 2026, and is currently one of the best, and arguably, the best, wrestler in the world.

Recommended Matches: Ai Houzan vs. Mio Momono – Marvelous, 5th February 2026, Mei Seira vs. Mio Momono – 5th May 2026” – Eric Addy

“A classic “wait, she’s still eligible for this list for HOW many more years??” pick, Mio Momono has already been an excellent professional wrestler for longer than some pretty old kids have even been alive at this point. I’m not sure anyone in wrestling today possesses quite the range that she does. As an undersized wrestler, she performs the high speed style about as well as anyone currently active- witness her incredible match with Mei Seira from the Marvelous 10th Anniversary Show earlier this year, which may genuinely be one of the greatest sub-seven-minute matches you’ll ever see. She can effortlessly play the spunky underdog when needed, while in the goofiest moments of her already-legendary Bob Bob Momo Banana team with the sublime Yurika Oka (who just barely missed making my list too), she somehow resembles an early-90s neon-colored Nickelodeon game show brought to life- which, to be clear, I mean this as an enormous compliment. But then go watch her match with Ai Houzan from earlier this year and witness a woman standing barely five feet tall (or under 150 cm for our metric-system friends) somehow project an almost unimaginable level of menace while bullying the absolute fuck out of someone noticeably larger than her. She comes out to a wonderful techno-bop entrance theme, her entrance video portrays her as a Powerpuff Girl, and yet she still somehow radiates the energy of someone who could legitimately kill a person with her bare hands if she ever felt like it. What a wonderful professional wrestler.” – John Carroll

“Mio Momono can do it all. Need someone to anchor her team in a trios match in a friendly inter-company feud that is the spotlight for two super-rookies? Momono’s got you covered like State Farm. Need someone to have a great, bomb-throwing championship match in a bar in a foreign country and keep the crowd engaged? Momono can do that. Need someone to play goofy, dress up like a banana, and have killer tag team matches? Momono can do that too. And do you need someone who can project violent intensity and challenge a wrestler who is in-story (and maybe in real life too) to do better and live up to her potential? Of course Momono can do that.” – Kim Wong

MIRAI

Age: 26
Years Active: 7
Promotion: Michinoku Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: International Princess Champion, JTO Girls Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 3
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“MIRAI showed her versatility in her fantastic January, where she seemed to wrestle everywhere. She most impressed me in her tag team match with NORI against Miku Kanae and Rin, where she used her size against Kanae, her brains against Rin, and a basic wrestling attack in an aggressive and inventive way. She is pursuing her own path in Michinoku Pro, and she is one to watch.” – Kim Wong

Miran

Age: 16
Years Active: 4
Promotion: World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Crystal Champion, Triangle Ribbon Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Miran is the least known prodigy in the women’s wrestling scene. It is honestly ridiculous how good Miran is while still being only 16 and wrestling part-time as she is in high school. The easiest, and most accurate, way to describe Diana’s future star is that she is a cross between STARDOM’s duo AZM and Mei Seira. She is mindblowingly athletic and can wrestle the “high-speed” style like the back of her hand, but in the past few months, she has been working on her striking, developing frighteningly good kicks. Given how young she is, her inability to focus full-time on wrestling, but how damn good she is, she has incredible upside as a wrestler. When people praise the likes of Brodie Lee Jr., I cannot help but laugh after watching Miran do her thing. I honestly think Miran would make some fans’ heads explode as they realise a whole world exists outside there that doesn’t get reported on.

Recommended Match: Honoka vs. Miran – Diana, 25th March 2026” – Eric Addy

Miyu Amasaki

Age: 24
Years Active: 4
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Goddesses Of Stardom Champion, Artist Of Stardom Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 25
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Everyone who gave up on Miyu Amasaki should frankly be ashamed of themselves. On the other hand, the people currently trying to completely retcon her early career should slow their roll a little too. One of the things that makes Miyu’s rise so satisfying to me now is just how thoroughly she stalled out for a while there, so there’s no need for Miyu stans (and to be clear, I liked her even when she wasn’t that good too!) to sugarcoat that reality in hindsight. This was a wrestler STARDOM clearly identified as a future star almost immediately after her debut- which, to be fair, makes perfect sense, because LOOK AT HER- and they built huge portions of the early NEW BLOOD era around showcasing her potential. I’ve seen some people argue against that simply because she lost many of those early focus matches, but of course she was losing them. Any rookie wrestler would lose those matches- just getting them at all told you all you needed to know about what they viewed as her potential ceiling. The real issue was that Miyu simply didn’t develop much in-ring for several years afterward. In stark contrast to many of the wrestlers on this very ballot who looked impossibly smooth almost from day one, Miyu often looked awkward even on her better nights. And on her worst nights? Oh man. She could genuinely move around the ring like someone with two left feet. But very slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, that began to change throughout 2025. She appeared in an Artist of STARDOM title match early that year so great it earned a full ***** rating from Dave Meltzer (immediately spawning the incredible “Miyu Amasaki has a five-star Meltzer match while Kurt Angle never got one” meme on social media, which I personally adored), and while I wouldn’t exactly call Miyu the standout performer in that match, she also absolutely did not drag it down either. But it was really during the 5STAR later that year that things finally started clicking into place. Her infamously DDT-heavy moveset began gaining some much-needed variety (the Blizzard suplex she suddenly started pulling out of nowhere looks gorgeous), her once-awkward rope running became dramatically smoother, and more importantly, she simply started carrying herself with the confidence and fluidity you’d expect from someone who had now worked well over 350 matches. Frankly, it’s the exact kind of developmental leap young wrestlers are supposed to make after getting that much experience, which perhaps explains why so few younger AEW wrestlers ever seem to improve much at all, but anyway! By the end of 2025, Miyu had gotten so dramatically better that I found myself constantly wondering when STARDOM’s booking would finally catch on, because she was still eating way too many falls for someone who had quietly become this good. When she and AZM, as the increasingly excellent 02line tag team, went just 2-5 in the annual Goddesses Tag League, I was honestly borderline despondent. But things turned around for Miyu very, very quickly after that low point. She and AZM had one of my favorite matches of my entire 2025-26 Wrestle Kingdom season trip when they unsuccessfully challenged BMI2000 for the tag titles at Korakuen Hall, and that ultimately proved to be just the prelude to them finally dethroning the dominant champions on STARDOM’s biggest show of the year. The woman STARDOM had been insisting since day one “Blooms at the Top” may have taken a much longer road to get there than any of us originally imagined, but dammit, she got there in the end. And to Miyu’s immense credit, that confident smile while firing those finger guns into the camera never wavered even once.” – John Carroll

Mochizuki Jr.

Age: 23
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Triangle Gate Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 19
Last Year’s Ranking: 18

“His position here is more reflective of how Dragongate books him than his ability. Eventually they’ll realize they should go full court press on their first native Second Generation wrestler, I just hope he won’t be his dad’s age before they do that.” – Mike Spears

Moe Hiiro

Age: 14
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Hot Shushu
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Wow, Moe Hiiro, you’d better get moving if you want to climb higher than 29th place on my 30 Under 30 ballot in future years! After all, you only have, uh… fifteen more years of eligibility remaining. Yes, if you’ve never heard of this standout from Ice Ribbon offshoot Hot Shushu- who has also appeared regularly on recent STARDOM NEW BLOOD shows- Moe Hiiro is somehow still only 14 years old as I’m writing this. And for a literal teenager with barely a year and a half of wrestling experience, she’s REALLY freaking good already. Moe is thus probably my ultimate “projection” pick on the entire ballot. Is she actually the 29th best wrestler under the age of 30 in the world right now? Of course not. But is she an incredibly smooth and naturally gifted wrestler for, once again, an actual child? Absolutely. Since being purchased by Bushiroad, STARDOM has generally moved away from bringing under-18 trainees directly into their dojo system, but they’ve very clearly taken notice of Moe nonetheless, repeatedly booking both her and her even younger sister Mase Hiiro on NEW BLOOD events over the last several months. I suspect that’s because they too have realized just how absurdly talented Moe already looks at such a ridiculous age, and honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there’s already a future STARDOM contract waiting for her the moment she turns 18. Child wrestlers in joshi are always a little difficult to project in the medium to long-term, though. Sometimes they simply vanish one day and are never heard from again, or at least not for a very long time (occasionally child wrestlers we thought we’d never hear from again randomly pop back up as adults after many years away, like Yuuka and Hikari Minami both did just recently in Ice Ribbon!) while other times they grow up into wrestlers like AZM or Starlight Kid and end up ranking in the top six of my list this year. It’ll still be years before we know which path Moe ultimately takes, but I can already picture some possibilities. Five years from now she could be standing there with the Future of STARDOM Championship wrapped around her waist. Or maybe she’s still with tiny little Hot Shushu, but has become so good she’s practically putting the entire promotion on the map single-handedly. And if either of those things happen, I’ll absolutely be pointing back at this list in 2031 going, “See? Look how incredibly smart and forward-thinking I was.” while I rank her in the top 10 at minimum. Now, granted, there’s also a very real possibility that five years from now Moe is happily retired after briefly dabbling in the bizarre world of professional wrestling as a childhood hobby instead. But in that case, I can simply pretend this blurb never existed. And honestly, my friends, that’s the true essence of punditry.” – John Carroll

Momo Watanabe

Age: 26
Years Active: 11
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: 5STAR Grand Prix 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Nick Wayne

Age: 20
Years Active: 8
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: ROH World Television Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 6
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Nick Wayne has seemingly limitless potential, showing growth in his presence that should pair well with his innate athleticism. With an impressive understanding of how to work quality matches at such a young age, it seems like Wayne is just waiting to be launched into stardom in AEW. The period after BOSJ will be very telling for his short term future.” – Fred Morlan

“Nick Wayne still shows promise and gifts a lot of veterans don’t possess, but the injury over the past year stunted his spot on this list and stalled his first big-time push. He’s still extremely young with all the time in the world, but it’s starting to feel like it’s time to try something meaty with Wayne and get him to hone his skills even more.” – Warren Hayes

Oba Femi

Age: 28
Years Active: 3
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WWE NXT Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 3
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“WWE should just belt him up now and run through the roster Goldberg style.” – Gerard Di Trolio

“Few individuals are more inherently impressive than Oba Femi. The self-styled Ruler of WWE is not short on qualities. There’s the sheer size of the man. He is giant, thick and imposing; but he’s no lumbering hoss, he’s a legit athlete with good speed and leaping ability. Then, of course, there’s his raw power, which manifests in his ability to hurl even WWE’s typically beefy roster members high up into the air and halfway across the ring with his signature back suplex throw. To top it all off, he’s charismatic to boot. Despite sporting a faux-Nigerian accent, Oba is an incredible promo, capable of being both erudite, commanding, witty and oddly relatable too. Remarkably, however, I have not yet touched upon his greatest attribute: his poise. Since stepping foot in NXT, from championship gold and PLE main events to promo battles with Paul Heyman and squashing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, Oba Femi has always proved remarkably serene in the highest-pressure stakes. He always meets the moment, playing his character to a tee and, despite being almost literally larger than life, he has shown a real knack for relating to the audience with subtle gestures and quiet moments of humanity. Oba really has it all and he is a tippy top star in the making: if WWE fumble him, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.” – David Hayter

Oji Shiiba

Age: 29
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Osaka Tag Festival 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 9
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Oji Shiiba’s resurgence in the spotlight as SUZAKU has been one of the more intriguing comeback stories in recent memory. A product of the famous Dragon Gate Dojo, Shiiba left the company and stepped away from wrestling for a period, with his momentum further stalled in the following years by two major injuries. Since returning in late 2025, however, he has looked outstanding under the SUZAKU mask in Osaka Pro. He captured the Tag Festival and also came super close to winning the Tennozan tournament. Now 29 years old, it finally feels as Shiiba is back on the path toward earning the wider recognition his talent has long deserved.” – Chris Gascoigne

“Even more than Aran Sano, SUZAKU seems primed for success in Osaka Pro (and possibly beyond). His execution is sharp and precise, and we know he’s capable of both the attack and sell sides of wrestling from the vaunted tag match for the Osaka Pro tag team titles.” – Kim Wong

OSKAR

Age: 27
Years Active: 7
Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: IWGP Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 17
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“There are few things in 2026 wrestling discourse that annoy me quite as much as people giving Yuto-Ice 100% of the credit for the Knockout Brothers’ success while treating my boy OSKAR like he’s just some tall German guy who happens to also be standing in the ring during all these incredible matches. That’s selling OSKAR way short, and honestly it surprises me most coming from NJPW fans specifically, because how many mediocre-to-awful “big men” have we suffered through as a fandom over the years? I mean, okay, Lance Archer was genuinely very good, but Hikuleo decidedly was not, Bad Luck Fale has been almost entirely without merit ever since he put on those stupid sunglasses, and even some giants who had great runs elsewhere ended up being terrible fits for NJPW specifically (you would genuinely have to hold me at gunpoint to make me sit through another Brock Lesnar NJPW match). Then along comes a legitimately excellent giant who fit seamlessly into the promotion almost immediately after excursion while consistently delivering great match after great match, and some of you still want to downplay him? Couldn’t be me. OSKAR succeeds because he’s an actually good wrestler rather than just a giant body everyone else has to awkwardly work around, and the fact he’s somehow managed to turn a move as simple as a sleeper hold into a genuine crowd-reacting high spot is honestly kind of incredible. He’s also a surprisingly savage backstage promo for someone who looks like he’d probably be fairly soft-spoken in real life; just witness him recently telling Great-O-Khan that he’s an otaku loser who should literally apologize to a tree for wasting its oxygen if you need evidence. So yes: please put some respect- along with the all caps- on my man OSKAR’s name.” – John Carroll

“Has unexpectedly turned into a delightful wrestler as one half of the Knockout Brothers. Like most tall guys, he has a longer learning curve and he’s probably several years away from fully realizing his potential.” – Jesse Collings

Pantera Jr.

Age: 26
Years Active: 11
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: MPW Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 12
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Pantera Jr. has steadily built a strong reputation in Japan over the past few years and is now a two-time Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion, an achievement that speaks volumes about his talent as a foreign wrestler. While I’m not deeply familiar with the Mexican wrestling scene, it seems clear that his impressive performances in Japan helped open the door for opportunities with CMLL this year. Pantera’s relentless grind to establish himself as one of the world’s most exciting luchadors is clearly paying off.” – Chris Gascoigne

Persephone

Age: 24
Years Active: 9
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: CMLL World Women’s Champion, CMLL International Women’s Grand Prix 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 12
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Peter Tihanyi

Age: 26
Years Active: 8
Promotion: Westside Xtreme Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion, WrestlingCorner.de Champion, GWF World Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 2
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Hungary’s biggest wrestling star right now is two-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Peter Tihanyi. The past few months have been remarkable for him, as he not only held the top prize in Europe’s biggest wrestling promotion, but also reached the finals of one of professional wrestling’s most prestigious tournaments. Tihanyi is an excellent in-ring performer with a strong look, and at just 26 years old, he still has plenty of time to refine the one area where he remains a work in progress: his character development.” – Chris Gascoigne

“Much like I did with my top pick, Peter just seems to rise above the others to me. Admittedly, I’m pretty dialed into modern day wXw and that certainly is going to create a level of familiarity but he also just had one of the greatest wXw matches of all time against Yota Tsuji in Hamburg, had a great Unified World Wrestling title run last year, and has created a feud with Ahura that feels like Europe’s best anywhere. Peter is someone that has all the grace, charisma, and heart you look for in a pro wrestler.” – Corey Clark

Randy Chambers

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 3
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: SLAM! Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Randy Chambers was my most pleasant discovery this year. He was a great white meat babyface with a set of solid babyface moves and a great connection with the Australian crowd.” – Kim Wong

Ranna Yagami

Age: Under 30
Years Active: 2
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Future Of Stardom Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 21
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Reiya Igarashi

Age: 20
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 17
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Reiya Igarashi departed Osaka Style Pro, making the move to Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS, where he has already established himself as a valuable part of the undercard. Like his former fellow rookie Shota Kofuji, he was consistently exciting to watch during his time in OSW. Igarashi has all the tools to become a major asset to FREEDOMS’ somewhat stagnant Junior Heavyweight division in the months and years ahead.” – Chris Gascoigne

Rhea Ripley

Age: 29
Years Active: 12
Promotion: WWE
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WWE Women’s Champion, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 5
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Rhea Ripley is one of the more over acts in WWE, combining good presence with a great strength-based in-ring performance. She might get discounted a bit by the hardcore fans because of how rarely she actually has high level matches due to WWE’s reluctance to actually have wrestling on their shows. A jump out of WWE to somewhere more workrate focused is an intriguing proposition.” – Fred Morlan

“Rhea Ripley has been so popular and so dominant for so long that it’s easy to take her stardom for granted. She is, by any measure, the biggest female wrestling star in the world and is one of the few Western wrestlers who has managed to penetrate the Japanese market. She’s regularly featured in ShuPro and Saya Kamitani confirmed in her autobiography that her money-spinning Phenex Queen reinvention was in part inspired by Rhea. Remarkably, Ripley has managed to maintain her star power while taking a backseat, teaming with Iyo Sky to critical and commercial acclaim in the women’s tag division without sacrificing her popularity in the way other stars (most notably Becky Lynch) have when they’ve dipped into the midcard. Rhea is also a fantastic worker who has been adding new strings to her bow, including a new babyface hot tag comeback, a series of slick sliding kicks and a raft of lucha libre sequences to be used against taller opponents.
The last point is perhaps the most interesting because Rhea has visibly changed in 2026. She has become lean to an incredible degree. She is now pure muscle and bone, with the transformation happening at an alarming rate. Rhea has since spoken publicly about having an eating disorder and issues with fainting before big matches. This is certainly a worry, as while her lean physique has allowed her to move around the ring with more grace and violence than ever before, these new gifts should not come at the expense of her health and happiness. The world remains Rhea’s oyster in 2026 as, at 29 years of age, she is positioned as a World Champion and the face of the SmackDown brand alongside Cody Rhodes.” – David Hayter

Riiita

Age: 28
Years Active: 4
Promotion: Dragongate
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Open The Twin Gate Champion, Sou Ryuo Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Perhaps the most complete wrestler under 160cm. I wonder if we are really seeing “the best” of Riiita wrestling this style when he has such splendor as a technician. Riiita (along with Kamei) should be on the tip of everyone’s tongue when discussing hot tag teams, but we know where that blame goes.” – Mike Spears

“Riiita stands a whopping 156cm (5’1”) and yet his presence casts an incredibly large shadow over Dragongate. Riiita debuted as nothing more than a novelty and now, in year 5, he’s proven to be a valuable commodity for the promotion. In the last year, he’s not only bolstered his resume with more excellent tag matches alongside Jacky Kamei, but with a brilliant run in King of Gate 2025.” – Case Lowe

Rina

Age: 27
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling-X
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Rina, formerly known as NORI, is a former MMA fighter that turned to wrestling first in 2017 until she retired to focus on her MMA career, before returning to wrestling in 2023, joining Shinobu Kandori’s promotion, LLPW-X. LLPW-X does not run regular shows. It is one of the smallest independent promotions in the Japanese women’s wrestling scene, yet Rina is one of the scene’s worst kept secrets as a wrestler with endless potential that has not yet been unlocked. It is not only obvious to fans, even Sareee has taken a liking to Rina and booked her regularly on her produce shows. Rina can play both a babyface, which she has done regularly during LLPW-X’s former monthly residency shows at Kanda Myojin Hall, but also the heel. In fact, she is at her best when she is dominating her opponent with her MMA-like striking, including one of the most beautiful finishers in wrestling, a perfectly executed running enzuigiri to the dome. The only thing holding Rina back is the promotion she is a part of.

Recommended Match: Amu Fujiwara & Rina vs. Chi Chi & Miku Kanae – Sareee-ISM, 22nd March 2026” – Eric Addy

Rising HAYATO

Age: 27
Years Active: 9
Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: All Asia Tag Team Champion, Zennichi Junior Tag Festival 2026 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“HAYATO has quietly become the best worker in All Japan’s Jr. Heavyweight division. While he was noticeably shaky in his early days in All Japan, he really put things together once he adopted his punk rock gimmick. He has excelled as a singles wrestler and in tag teams with Yuma Anzai and Atsuki Aoyagi. He still has three years before he hits 30 and will be a mainstay of this list until then.” – Gerard Di Trolio

Ryo Inoue

Age: 23
Years Active: 4
Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Inoue is nearing five years in the business. He is slowly but surely moving up the card. While his ascent of All Japan’s Jr. Heavyweight division has not been rapid, his in-ring work has. Very early on you could see the spark in him, and he has only gotten better. He has explosive offense and is willing to go toe-to-toe with wrestlers much bigger than him. He can do it all, play the surly invader when he’s in Dragongate or the sympathetic babyface when in there against a veteran. It’s a matter of when, not if, he finally wins the PWF Jr. Heavyweight Title.” – Gerard Di Trolio

Ryuki Honda

Age: 26
Years Active: 7
Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 20
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Honda does suffer from the recent All Japan curse of doing too much comedy in the ring. That being said when he turns things up, he is an incredibly reliable wrestler who can deliver exciting matches at a high level. With All Japan turning a corner and reducing the comedy as a whole, Honda needs to follow suit to live up to his full potential. He could be Yuma Anzai’s generational rivalry if he gets his head in the game.” – Gerard Di Trolio

Ryuma Sekimo

Age: 20
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Big Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Ryuma Sekimo is a fantastic prospect and one of Big Japan’s rare bright sparks. An undersized junior and still green at age 20, Sekimo has come on leaps and bounds over recent months in large part thanks to a fascinating series of singles matches with Fuminori Abe. With more reps and continued physical development, he’s certain to rocket up my list in 12 months’ time.” – Andrew Sinclair

Ryuya Matsufusa

Age: 27
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Osaka Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Osaka Pro Champion, Tennozan 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 2
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Ryuya Matsufusa has improved tremendously over the past year. I had him ranked third on my last list, and since then he has climbed even higher within the Osaka Pro hierarchy. He won the Tennozan tournament in the fall and even captured Osaka Pro’s top championship.

Matsufusa has also established himself as the leader of VerteX, a faction made up of the promotion’s brightest young rising stars. The sky is the limit for him, and I can’t wait to see what the next twelve months have in store.” – Chris Gascoigne

Sangre Azteca Jr.

Age: 22
Years Active: 4
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 25
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Sangre Azteca Jr. is one of two Mexican Second Generation wrestler on the roster of Michinoku Pro recently. He’s a member of the heel unit Demonios, alongside ARASHI and Yasutaka Oosera, and made some big steps over the last months. His Tohoku Junior titlematch against Pantera Jr. was maybe the best match of M-Pro last year.” – Chris Gascoigne

Santi Rivera

Age: 23
Years Active: 5
Promotion: WWE ID
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Young and green, but with a very good physique and most importantly, a natural sense of charisma and how to present in front of a live audience. Similar to Austin Theory in a lot of ways, but hopefully with a higher upside and better crowd connection.” – Jesse Collings

Saya Iida

Age: 29
Years Active: 7
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Goddesses Of Stardom Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 18
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Seigo Tachibana

Age: 28
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Pro Wrestling Up Town
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion, SMASH Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 18
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Long written off as a comedy wrestler, over the last two years Tachibana has proven he is a great worker with furiously paced and hard hitting matches in All Japan for the GAORA TV title and the PWF Jr. Heavyweight Title. While he hasn’t totally shed his comedy stylings, he faces a choice as he approaches 30 next year – become a more serious wrestler and see where that takes him or just become a comedy midcarder. Thankfully, he seems to have chosen the first. Don’t sleep on Tachibana, arguably the most underrated wrestler in the business today.” – Gerard Di Trolio

Selene Misora

Age: 20
Years Active: 1
Promotion: SEAdLINNNG
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Selene Misora is my rookie. I’ve been writing and talking about her since her debut and the most remarkable thing about her is that despite my initial, already extremely high impression of her, she does not only keep living up to it but actually exceeding it. The thing I love about Selene, the thing that caught my eye on day one, was her attitude. It’s really subtle, but she was doing things other rookies weren’t, such as knocking vets off the apron in tag matches, leaning her chest forward to receive VENY’s brutal forearms, things that you just don’t see people with under 10 matches (at that time) do. It all made sense when she revealed that her idol was Sareee. She’s VENY’s first ever junior and boy does she take after her: an ice cold attitude and hard-hitting action. The star-making moment for me was when Honori Hana delivered a shoot headbutt to Selene and cracked her open. She had to be attended to for a few minutes during the match, but nevertheless, she finished the match. Not only that, but she delivered a cold-blooded promo demanding a tag title challenge, as if she hadn’t just received a skull-cracking headbutt only 10 matches into her career. If you’re not on board already, get on board. It’s not too late!

Recommended Match: Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Selene Misora & VENY – SEAdLINNNG, 10th February 2026” – Eric Addy

Seri Yamaoka

Age: 19
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Dream Star Fighting Marigold
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: British Empire Women’s World Champion, Twin Star Cup 2025 Winner, Rookie Of The Year 2025 Tournament Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Seri Yamaoka is literally too much of a good thing. Perpetually compared to her fellow super rookie and career rival, Senka Akatsuki, Seri often comes off second best in the fans’ eyes. Senka is so satisfyingly cohesive, every movement of her body feels like a natural and organic extension of her fundamental and rooted sense of self. Whereas Seri, well, Seri is messy: she’s a shooter and flyer, she’s an ultra-credible fighter and gravure model baddie, she’s an underdog and she’s a bully, she’s a Nanae Takahashi worshipping hen-party day-glo monstrosity and a fluffy “spunky monster”, all at the same time.

In short, she’s way too much. Except she isn’t. It doesn’t really matter that she’s so fundamentally incoherent, when she’s so immaculate in absolutely everything she does. She springboards to the top rope with an effortless grace, just as she hurls her opponents through the air with gruesome violence. She’s a dead-eyed grappler refusing to give up wrist control and she’s a playful smokeshow smiling to the crowds one moment and posting raunchy photoshoots online with her sister the next. The brilliance of Seri Yamaoka is that she isn’t actually incoherent and she certainly isn’t confused, she’s simply free to be exactly who she wants to be and — best of all — she’s the absolute best at everything she does.

Maybe she’ll one day settle down into a unified and cohesive pro-wrestling presentation or maybe she’ll simply continue to be a beautiful contradiction. Like Chihiro Hashimoto, the ultra-credible, ultra-fluffy, cuddly wrestling machine, or Mayu Iwatani, a fox-tailed, chicken-brained, killer zombie — the truth is, sometimes the best wrestlers in the world don’t make a lick of sense, and that’s great.” – David Hayter

Shimbashi

Age: 25
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 23
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“We knew that Shimbashi could make for a fiery babyface, and now he’s showing in the New Fever team with Orion that he can play a sleazeball heel too. His offense looks great, and he has a great connection with the New Texas Pro crowd. The challenge will be for Shimbashi to project his likability to a larger crowd, but I think that he can rise to the occasion.” – Kim Wong

Sho Mizuno

Age: 24
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 21
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“The future looks very bright for Mizuno, who is still only 24 years old. Trained by Seichi Ikemoto and with a background in MMA, that influence is clearly reflected in his in-ring style.

His unique approach makes him a particularly compelling wrestler to watch, as it provides a refreshing contrast to the more traditional styles typically seen in Osaka Pro. His performance during Osaka’s Tag Festival was especially impressive and showcased just how much potential he has.” – Chris Gascoigne

Shota Kofuji

Age: 25
Years Active: 1
Promotion: All Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 16
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Shota Kofuji’s decision to leave Osaka Style Pro and join All Japan Pro-Wrestling already looks like a very smart move for his career. Last year, he and Igarashi, his fellow young boy counterpart in OSW, were among the most entertaining parts of the promotion’s small dojo shows. Kofuji’s fast paced offense makes him consistently exciting to watch, and considering he is only one year into his career, there is every reason to expect significant growth from him in the years ahead.” – Chris Gascoigne

Shota Umino

Age: 29
Years Active: 9
Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“It is my great honor to once again enter the prestigious “Wrestling Writing’s Most Hilarious Understatement of the Year” competition. Without further ado, here is my official submission: “Shota Umino has experienced a few ups and downs since returning from excursion in the fall of 2022.” Okay, fine, you caught me- this is actually supposed to be Shota’s 30 Under 30 blurb and not an entirely fabricated award contest, but I still think that sentence would at least make the final four. At this point, Shota has cycled back and forth between “potential savior of the company” and “complete laughingstock loser” so many times that it’s honestly become difficult to keep track. I’m not expecting him to finish especially high on the overall aggregate list this year either (which, by the way, is somehow already his final year of eligibility for this project). And yet, despite all that, Shota quietly impressed me a surprising amount over the last twelve months. Many of the strengths that caused fans to initially project such an absurdly high ceiling onto him in the first place- well, besides the nepotism, which may actually not even be to his benefit at this point- have remained very visible throughout all the chaos. His ring work, for one, never actually stopped being smooth and effortless even during his lowest moments. On the other hand, one of the biggest criticisms of Shota for years now- especially following his infamous dud of a Wrestle Kingdom main event against Zack Sabre Jr. at the start of 2025- was that he simply had no idea how to project convincing babyface fire. Well … long after many people had already completely written him off as a future top star, Shota has actually gotten pretty damn good at showing babyface fire! There were hints of it during last year’s G1 Climax (including a genuinely redemptive performance against Zack himself), but it was really his tag team with Yuya Uemura and the subsequent feud against the breakout Knockout Brothers that finally made things click for me. Now, is it objectively kind of funny that I’m ranking Shota Umino 28th on a list like this? Absolutely. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m wrong, either. I still don’t view Shota as some can’t-miss generational prospect at this stage of his career. He’s already failed too many times for that label to fully fit anymore, and he continues to seem strangely resistant to the kind of heel turn that helped wrestlers like Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura completely reinvent themselves after struggling as early projected aces. Ranking him anywhere near the top of this ballot would therefore feel wrong to me. On the other hand, I also think many fans have become far too dismissive of his recent work specifically, because there’s still very clearly something there with Shota Umino. He may no longer feel like a guaranteed future ace, but he’s still an extremely talented young wrestler with more than enough time left to eventually claw his way to the top- even if the path he takes to get there ends up being an incredibly weird one. And honestly? That combination of talent, inconsistency, frustration, and lingering upside feels pretty perfectly suited for 28th place on my 2026 30 Under 30 ballot.” – John Carroll

“While Umino may never ascend to true top guy status, it would be in entirely bad faith to not acknowledge the improvements he’s made over the last year. He had a solid G1 in 2025 and followed it up with a series of impressive tag matches with Yuya Uemura. He was the 1B in that team but more than played his part every time out.” – Andrew Sinclair

Suzu Suzuki

Age: 23
Years Active: 7
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 14
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Syan Syan

Age: 21
Years Active: 1
Promotion: New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“One of the things I love about these lists, and especially the honourable mentions, is shouting out people that would otherwise never get the attention they deserve. Syan Syan is the perfect example to me. Syan Syan, 21, is from Taiwan, a country that only had a women’s wrestling scene develop in the last few years when supposedly the first full-time wrestler to debut in the country, Princess Pistachio, emerged in 2022. Despite that background and all the disadvantages Syan Syan had, she signed with a key Japanese women’s wrestling independent promotion, Diana, in 2024. Since then, Syan Syan’s improvement has been meteoric, to the point where I am genuinely unsure what her ceiling will be. She is multi-lingual, easy to root for, a studious learner, ambitious and most importantly a great wrestler. Given the biggest companies’ failures to break into countries such as China, Taiwan and the Southeast Asia region in general, it seems inevitable that one of the big companies will come knocking on Syan Syan’s door, and in five to ten years, everyone will know who Syan Syan is. For now, I am glad I get to enjoy her regularly in Diana, and with Diana’s other top young talent, Miran, it is a promotion that is secretly hoarding the future of women’s wrestling.

Recommended Match: Mizuki Kato vs. Syan Syan – Diana, 15th August 2025” – Eric Addy

Takeshi Masada

Age: 24
Years Active: 3
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 12
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Takeshi Masada is the next golden boy of DDT. It is wild to think that he is only in his fourth year as a wrestler. With Masada’s athletic background, he has always had a handle on the in-ring work. But that’s not what propels you to the top of DDT, currently Japan’s third biggest promotion. During 2025, Masada worked hard on his ability to entertain the audience, his timing, and his chemistry with other wrestlers. It is a tactic that paid off for him, culminating in a huge match on 3rd November 2025 at Sumo Hall as he and Kazusada Higuchi faced rival Kaisei Takechi and Konosuke Takeshita. While Masada lost, it was a match that earmarked him for the top, and since then, he has gone on to form his own faction full of the most popular young guys in DDT. The sky is the limit for Masada, and DDT will be looking for him to play a key role in their march to a Tokyo Dome show, alongside Kaisei Takechi.

Recommended Match: Kazuma Sumi vs. Takeshi Masada – DDT, 22nd February 2026” – Eric Addy

“There is enough of a whiff of Kevin Steen’s cheeky attitude to Masada, at least in his match against Sumi, that made me perk up and pay attention. Combine that attitude with solid wrestling and size and you have a highlight among DDT’s crop of young wrestlers.” – Kim Wong

Takuro Niki

Age: 25
Years Active: 6
Promotion: Active Advance Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: 2AW Openweight Champion, Chiba Pro Wrestling Hyakkenden Champion, Tenryu Project International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, 2AW Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 28
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Takuro Niki remains one of the strongest wrestlers on the Active Advance Pro Wrestling roster and is already a two-time champion. However, as I pointed out last year, he still needed that defining victory over 2AW’s final boss, Ayato Yoshida, and once again, he came up short, losing both the match and his title in the process.

At just 25 years old, there is still plenty of time for Niki to reach that next level. He has shown noticeably more character in recent months, but I still want to see him fully embrace a true leading role within the promotion.” – Chris Gascoigne

Titus Alexander

Age: 25
Years Active: 7
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: GHC Hardcore Openweight Champion, West Coast Pro Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 21
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Shifting from the US indie scene to being a regular in Japan has been a real blessing for Titus Alexander, who went from feeling like just another guy to someone who looks like he’s finally putting it all together. More seasoning is needed but the potential is there and he has the look to go along with it. The pieces are coming together at the right time.” – Griffin Peltier

To-y

Age: 26
Years Active: 5
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DDT Extreme Champion, KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champion, KO-D Ten Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 20
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“More than perhaps any other young wrestler on my entire 30 Under 30 ballot, To-y completely embodies the spirit of his home promotion. He is, very frequently, one of the most absurd wrestlers you will ever lay eyes on. This is a man who actively encourages crowds to chant his (quite bizarre) name, resulting in entire Korakuen Hall audiences awkwardly yelling “T-O-Y! T-O-Y!” like a group of children making a strangely formatted request to Santa Claus. And this almost always happens moments before To-y launches himself directly into disaster by diving onto absolutely nobody and eating shit in the most spectacular way imaginable. But To-y is far more than just some one-dimensional comedy wrestler. His incredibly inventive DDT Extreme Championship reign-  which occupied most of this voting period- showcased not only his creativity, but also just how shockingly good he actually is bell-to-bell beneath all the jokes and the irony. More than anything else, though, To-y is simply an immensely likable human being who you somehow end up rooting for almost in spite of yourself. Every time you think he may finally be crossing the line from “endearingly goofy” into “more than a little annoying,” he’ll flash some absolutely perfect wacky grin into the camera and instantly win you right back over again. You just find yourself going, “Oh, Toy Kojima… how could I ever stay mad at you?” I genuinely think he’s destined to become KO-D Openweight Champion someday, but perhaps even more importantly for DDT specifically, he feels like the kind of wrestler who’s going to remain a beloved fixture of the promotion for well over a decade to come. He absolutely screams “long career” to me. And hey, he still has three more opportunities to finish higher than 30th place on one of my 30 Under 30 ballots. Go get ’em, To-y! Just try to cut back on the gambling though, for your mom’s sake.” – John Carroll

Tommy Billington

Age: 24
Years Active: 8
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Dungeon Wrestling Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Tomoka Inaba

Age: 23
Years Active: 6
Promotion: JTO
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Queen Of JTO Champion, JTO Girls Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 8
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Tomoka Inaba, much like her sister, has established herself as one of JTO’s biggest stars, representing the promotion on a national stage through her regular appearances for Stardom over the past several months. She continues to improve at an impressive rate, and there is little doubt that Tomoka is on track to become one of the biggest stars in joshi wrestling over the coming years.” – Chris Gascoigne

Troglodita

Age: 20
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Troglodita was one of the standouts of the recent Torneo de Escuelas. He’s been building up his size and it shows. What really sets him apart on the CMLL undercard is the willingness to try cool new things you don’t always see down there. Super fun to watch every time out. A team with Barbaro Cavernario feels inevitable at some point and the thought of those two unhinged guys sharing a corner together sounds amazing.” – Griffin Peltier

Tsunagu Sato

Age: 20
Years Active: 1
Promotion: Michinoku Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 30
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Just one year into his career, Tsunagu Sato has already shown plenty of promise through his performances in Michinoku Pro Wrestling. He has all the tools to develop into a welcome presence across Japanese wrestling shows, and at only 20 years old, he has plenty of time on his side.

His athletic background could also prove to be a major asset as he continues to grow and refine his craft, potentially laying the foundation for a very successful career.” – Chris Gascoigne

Utami Hayashishita

Age: 27
Years Active: 7
Promotion: STARDOM
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Marigold World Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 7
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Utami has had far from a banner year, which precludes her from getting one of the top spots that she was a shoe-in for in previous years. But for me it was never in doubt that she would get one of my votes. At 27 she already has an insane amount of accomplishments and has been in some of the best matches of the 2020s. Now her loyalty in Rossy appears to have been misplaced, as her run in Marigold aside from some highlights was a disappointment. However, her immediately getting put into a main event storyline upon her return to STARDOM shows that she’s up for a rebound in the second half of 2026.” Paul V

Valiente Jr.

Age: 26
Years Active: 6
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 10
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Don’t be surprised if Valiente Jr. shoots up this list next year after he inevitably shows out in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Crazy athletic and smooth as butter in the ring, he feels right on the precipice of breaking through to the next level in CMLL. The comparisons to where Mascara Dorada was about three years ago are hard to ignore and if that trajectory holds there is a lot to look forward to. The clock is ticking on him being this easy to overlook.” – Griffin Peltier

Van Vert Jack

Age: 20
Years Active: 13
Promotion: MYWAY
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champion, LMO Trios Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 3
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Jack finally receiving more media attention both in and outside of Japan is long overdue. Having started wrestling at the age of seven (!!), he always seemed destined to become at least a standout star on the independent scene.

He has primarily worked for Fukuoka based promotions such as Real Lucha Libre and MYWAY, both of which are a perfect fit for his distinctive LuchaResu style. The past few months have been especially impressive for him, as he has picked up notable appearances in GLEAT, ZERO1, and Tenryu Project, while also capturing the NWA International Lightweight Championship in ZERO1.

Jack is an incredibly entertaining wrestler with a unique offense, and he is unquestionably one of the most exciting young talents to watch.” – Chris Gascoigne 

“Twenty years old with thirteen years of experience. Let that sink in for a moment. It explains a lot about why he is as good as he is right now, and he has been one of the best discoveries of the past year through his work in ZERO1 and GLEAT. The potential is through the roof and watching someone this young with this much seasoning already under his belt continue to grow is going to be a lot of fun. Working his way up to more prominent promotions in Japan feels like a matter of when, not if.” – Griffin Peltier

VENY

Age: 27
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: DREAM Champion, SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Champion, CWP Tag Team Champion, Tenka-Ichi Junior Tournament 2025 Winner
Highest Panel Ranking: 5
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“VENY rarely crosses the precipice into the mainstream; she’s never appeared in STARDOM or Marigold, and her appearances in TJPW are sporadic at best. She doesn’t care. She’s perfectly content being the Queen of the Independent Scene. VENY is like a cross over between Mean Girls’ Regina George and Shuji Ishikawa: she’s fabulous, magnificent and refuses to compromise on her stiff-yet-acrobatic wrestling style. Despite a reputation to look out for herself – an understandable trait for a freelancer – VENY’s recent exploits were defined by her efforts to help SEAdLINNNG’s young talent flourish. During her five-month reign as the top champion, her primary feud was with Honori Hana, who was returning from a long absence due to COVID-19 complications. VENY immediately established Honori as a genuine “psycho killer,” culminating in a title match where Honori delivered a shoot headbutt so violent it left VENY with a massive hematoma. In a rare “chink in the armour,” VENY offered a verbal admission of respect, stating “Wow, you really did damage to me!” That is as high a rub as VENY provides. She subsequently moved on to mentor the standout rookie, Selene Misora. VENY remains one of the true gems of the independent scene, and long may she reign.

Recommended Match: Honori Hana vs. VENY – SEAdLINNNG, 30th May 2025” – Eric Addy

“VENY knows her character, and she plays it well: with anger, spite, and everything not nice. Her height and overall grumpiness help her to stand out among her peers, and she has the wrestling skill to back up her charisma.” – Kim Wong

Victoria Yuzuki

Age: 21
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Dream Star Fighting Marigold
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: Marigold United National Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 14
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Victoria Yuzuki’s recent long-term injury has only made it even clearer just how important she is to Marigold. The promotion honestly feels hollowed out without its incredibly confident blonde-haired swag demon constantly attempting moves that almost no other wrestlers with barely two years of experience would even think about trying. She should wear appearances on all those corny-ass “Marigold botch” Twitter accounts as a badge of honor, because whenever Yuzuki does mess something up, it’s usually just evidence of her nearly limitless ambition. Get well soon, queen. Marigold desperately needs you back, because things there have felt genuinely dire without you.” – John Carroll

Viento Maligno

Age: 26
Years Active: 6
Promotion: DDT Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: MOP Tag Team Champion, KO-D Ten Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 23
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Villano III Jr.

Age: 27
Years Active: 13
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 16
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“I recently rewatched his mask versus mask match with Aereo that caused the pandemic for being too good, and it holds up. Villano III Jr. is a crazy person in the best possible way, consistently giving 110% and trying things in the ring that most wrestlers wouldn’t even think about attempting. The tragedy is that he and his brother remain criminally underutilized in CMLL despite everything they bring to the table. At some point the promotion needs to wake up and push him to the slot he should already be in because talent has never been the issue. If CMLL can’t figure it out, a jump back to AAA might not be the worst idea in the world.” – Griffin Peltier

Wheeler Yuta

Age: 29
Years Active: 12
Promotion: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 29
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Yutani

Age: 25
Years Active: 5
Promotion: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 12
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Maximum sexiness. Yutani just gets it when it comes to working a crowd and almost always has a sold out Arena Mexico in the palm of his hand by the time he’s done. He has clearly outgrown his partnership with Okumura at this point and feels like he is right on the verge of breaking out in a big way. Rumours of New Japan interest add an interesting wrinkle to how his career develops from here. The thought of him in that environment is an exciting one. Certainly one to watch.” – Griffin Peltier

“One of the great joys of 2025 was watching a promotion in CMLL recognise something inherently brilliant in a young, good-looking, but completely under-the-radar talent. It was headline news in Mexico when Yutani was plucked from undercard obscurity to not only win a fall from, but main event in Puebla with, Mistico. Within a matter of weeks it became immediately apparent why Yutani had been chosen: he has an incredible blend of both composure and adaptability. The second he was placed in the limelight it was apparent that he belonged as a cocksure, snarling, hard-hitting pretty boy, capable of standing toe-to-toe with Titan in a lightning match or bumping like a wild man for Mascara Dorada’s flying. Yutani is a made man.” – David Hayter

Yuto Kikuchi

Age: 27
Years Active: 10
Promotion: Dotonbori Pro Wrestling
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: WDW Champion, WDW Six Man Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 22
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“Yuto Kikuchi enjoyed a strong 2025, highlighted by numerous appearances for Pro Wrestling NOAH alongside his fellow Dotonbori partner, Harutoki. Although NOAH has not brought him back this year, he has remained a central figure in Dotonbori Pro Wrestling, leading the promotion as its reigning heel champion and creating his newly formed faction, Krampus.

Kikuchi is consistently exciting to watch, and his distinctive character work helps set him apart from many of his peers.” – Chris Gascoigne

Yuuka

Age: 27
Years Active: 12
Promotion: Ice Ribbon
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: N/A
Highest Panel Ranking: 27
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“On December 31st, 2025, I attended Ice Ribbon’s RibbonMania show at Korakuen Hall- the annual biggest event of the year for a joshi promotion that was once one of the scene’s major players but has unfortunately fallen on harder times in recent years. I hadn’t been watching Ice Ribbon even semi-regularly myself for quite a while, so there were several wrestlers on the show I had either seen very little of or never watched at all before. But then out walked this absurd kick demon dressed entirely in white by the name of Yuuka. She immediately struck me as the kind of wrestler you occasionally discover on a deep indie-style show and instantly wonder why none of the larger promotions have already snatched her up. After watching her completely steal the spotlight in the triangle main event for the ICEx∞ Championship, I opened up her Cagematch profile afterward and was utterly stunned to discover I had just watched Yuuka compete in her first professional wrestling match since July 12th, 2016. Yes, Yuuka really disappeared for nearly nine-and-a-half years, casually returned on New Year’s Eve like nothing had happened, and immediately started throwing some of the stiffest-looking kicks I’ve ever seen in my life while somehow appearing to have accumulated approximately zero ring rust whatsoever. I’m honestly glad I didn’t know any of that beforehand, because the shock of discovering it afterward is a feeling I’ll probably never forget. Every time I’ve seen Yuuka wrestle since then, she’s looked just as incredible. The only real reason I don’t have her ranked even higher on my ballot is Ice Ribbon’s relatively shaky position in the current joshi landscape, combined with the understandable uncertainty over whether someone who already stepped away once for almost a full decade is necessarily committed to wrestling long-term this time around either. But purely as an in-ring performer? She’s so good she could walk into basically any promotion in Japan tomorrow – including all the major ones- and instantly not look out of place. So if Yuuka does decide she wants to fully commit to wrestling long-term, I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to eventually see her follow the path of wrestlers like Saori Anou and Giulia by moving from Ice Ribbon to STARDOM someday. Or maybe she’ll simply remain an Ice Ribbon lifer instead, continuing to reward the people who still faithfully follow the promotion with outstanding performances. Either way, Yuuka is one hell of a professional wrestler, and I sincerely hope she sticks around for a while now that she’s thankfully back.” – John Carroll

Yuya Aoki

Age: 29
Years Active: 9
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: UWA World Tag Team Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 23
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“He’s now technically a freelancer but as a Big Japan loyalist, I couldn’t leave out my man Yuya Aoki in his last year of eligibility on this list. He was largely downcycled over the last year but consistently worked hard in every opportunity, having a series of fun matches as his BJW contract expired and then having a notebook-worthy tag title match in ZERO1 alongside Daichi Hashimoto just before the end of the qualifying period.” – Andrew Sinclair

“This will be Aoki’s final year of eligibility for this list, and I believe his departure from Big Japan, despite still making occasional appearances there, has been a positive step forward for his career.

With opportunities opening up outside of BJW, Aoki’s horizons have expanded considerably, giving him the chance to further refine and develop his character work. That added exposure could prove to be exactly what he needs to reach the next level.” – Chris Gascoigne

Zoltan

Age: 18
Years Active: 2
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: wXw European Champion, wXw Academy Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 26
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

Zonik

Age: 18
Years Active: 6
Promotion: Freelancer
Accomplishments Over The Last Year: AKE Mixed Tag Champion
Highest Panel Ranking: 23
Last Year’s Ranking: NR

“One of the most exciting high fliers in the world right now, full stop. Always trying something new and innovative that will make your jaw drop, and the scary part is he has only just reached adulthood. The bigger opportunities feel inevitable at this point and it would be a surprise if he stays on the indie scene for very long. CMLL should be making that call sooner rather than later. ” – Griffin Peltier

List Of Names That Received At Least One Vote:

• Aero Panther
• AKEY
• Ali Najima
• Alpha Wolf
• Andrew Cass
• Aoi
• Aran Sano
• ARASHI
• Arisu Endo
• Atlantis Jr.
• Aya Sakura
• AZM
• Azusa Inaba
• Barboza
• Bozilla
• Bron Breakker
• Calavera Jr. I
• Calavera Jr. II
• Callum Newman
• Chanyota
• Chazz Hall
• Chi Chi
• Daichi Satoh
• Daiki Odashima
• Dan Tamura
• Dani Luna
• Daniel Garcia
• Danny Orion
• DIA
• Dragon Bane
• Drilla Moloney
• Elijah Blum
• Francesco Akira
• Gabe Kidd
• Gabe Roka
• Gaia Hox
• GuC
• Hanan
• Hazuki
• Hijo de Stuka Jr.
• Hiroto Tsuruya
• Homare
• Honori Hana
• HYO
• ISHIN
• Itsuki Aoki
• Jack Perry
• Jackson Drake
• JACKY KAMEI
• Jaden Newman
• Jamesen Shook
• Jarvis
• Je’Von Evans
• Jet Wei
• Joe Alonzo
• Johnnie Robbie
• Junya Matsunaga
• Kaisei Takechi
• Kaito Kiyomiya
• KANON
• Katsuya Murashima
• Kazuma Kimura
• Kazuma Sumi
• KeMalito
• Kendal Grey
• Kevin Knight
• Kodai Nozaki
• Kohei Kinoshita
• Komander
• Konami
• Kosei Fujita
• Kota Minoura
• Kouga
• Kyle Fletcher
• Leon Slater
• Luke Jacobs
• Madoka Kikuta
• Maggie Lee
• Maika
• MAO
• Masami Inahata
• Mascara Dorada
• Maya World
• Megan Bayne
• Mei Seira
• Mei Suruga
• Mika Iwata
• Miku Kanae
• Mio Momono
• MIRAI
• Miran
• Miu Watanabe
• Miyu Amasaki
• Mochizuki Jr.
• Moe Hiiro
• Momo Watanabe
• Neon
• Nick Wayne
• Oba Femi
• Oji Shiiba
• OSKAR
• OZAWA
• Pantera Jr.
• Persephone
• Peter Tihanyi
• Randy Chambers
• Ranna Yagami
• Reiya Igarashi
• Rhea Ripley
• Riiita
• Rina
• Rina (LLPW-X)
• Rising HAYATO
• Ryo Inoue
• Ryohei Oiwa
• Ryoya Tanaka
• Ryuki Honda
• Ryuma Sekimo
• Ryuya Matsufusa
• Sangre Azteca Jr.
• Santi Rivera
• Saya Iida
• Saya Kamitani
• Sayaka Kurara
• Seigo Tachibana
• Selene Misora
• Senka Akatsuki
• Seri Yamaoka
• Shimbashi
• Sho Mizuno
• Shota Kofuji
• Shota Umino
• Starlight Kid
• Suzu Suzuki
• Suzume
• Syan Syan
• Takeshi Masada
• Takuro Niki
• Titus Alexander
• To-y
• Tommy Billington
• Tomoka Inaba
• Troglodita
• Tsunagu Sato
• Utami Hayashishita
• Valiente Jr.
• Van Vert Jack
• VENY
• Victoria Yuzuki
• Viento Malingo
• Villano III Jr.
• Wheeler Yuta
• Xelhua
• Yuma Anzai
• Yutani
• Yuto Kikuchi
• Yuto-Ice
• Yuuka
• Yuya Aoki
• Zandokan Jr.
• Zoltan
• Zonik