The 25 most important wrestlers of the 2010s

Before 2010, the idea that WWE would sign AJ Styles was unfathomable. It was unfathomable before he actually signed in 2016, to be perfectly honest, not because of a lack of talent or even the indie thing or even the Claire Lynch thing but because he was a — nay, the — TNA guy. Now TNA guys are all over WWE, from Samoa Joe to Bobby Roode to Eric Young to EC3. Even Jeff Jarrett, who created TNA, is back in WWE and in its Hall of Fame. But after AJ left TNA in 2013, he returned to the indie scene — to places like ROH, PWG and CZW while also debuting in CHIKARA and other indie promotions — and then made his debut in NJPW, which is where everything changed. Styles was always "Phenomenal," but in NJPW he became undeniable. He also became a member of Bullet Club, making his debut on leader Prince Devitt's (Finn Balor) last NJPW show. AJ became a two-time IWGP heavyweight champion in NJPW, and then he made his WWE debut in 2016 at the Royal Rumble (in the titular match). Since then, Styles has beaten up John Cena, been a multi-time WWE champion (among other titles) and has become a guaranteed future WWE Hall of Famer. Unfathomable.

In 2010, before she was in WWE as Asuka, Kana upset the Joshi community with her "Joshi Manifesto" to improve women's wrestling in Japan. Said manifesto ended up propelling her career to new heights, as she became "The World Famous" Kana and joined forces with wrestling sisters Io (now in NXT) and Mio Shirai to form Triple Tails. Five years later, Asuka made one of the first "new NXT signee" appearances ever, in the crowd at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, and Triple H soon announced her to WWE and NXT audiences as "the newest face of the future." Now Asuka is best known for her 522-day NXT Women's Championship reign — where she relinquished the title due to injury, officially never losing the title — a reign that still hovers over the NXT Women's Championship as Shayna Baszler inches closer to that number...on combined days as champion, over two reigns. Asuka's reign also came along with her undefeated streak, which with both NXT and the main WWE roster combined, shook out to 914 days, the longest undefeated streak in WWE history.

One-fourth of WWE's Four Horsewomen, Bayley was also one-half of what has considered the best women's match in WWE history (Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn). She's also (so far), the only woman to have won the RAW, SmackDown, NXT and Women's Tag Team Champions, making her the first Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. Despite her love of hugging, Bayley was always the most physical member of the Four Horsewomen, something which came in handy (though she came up short) in her battles against Asuka in NXT, just like her positive demeanor came in handy when it came to connecting with young fans in WWE, something Bayley always took pride in from her NXT days on. And yet happy-go-lucky Bayley got no respect until she chopped off her hair and basically told the WWE Universe that it is not her real dad.

Arguably the top star — male or female — in WWE right now, "The Man" Becky Lynch has had a long road to get to this point in WWE and pro wrestling as a whole. After a six-year hiatus from professional wrestling (back when she went by "Rebecca Knox"), seemingly out of nowhere, Becky signed a developmental contract (NXT) with WWE in 2013, where she became Becky Lynch and then eventually one-half of Team B.A.E. (with Sasha Banks) and, of course, one-fourth of WWE's Four Horsewomen. Despite her popularity with the WWE Universe, Becky was often portrayed as second fiddle to wrestlers like Charlotte Flair, even with successes like being the first woman drafted to SmackDown LIVE and becoming the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion. But that actual portrayal also became an integral part of the story that led to Becky becoming "The Man" when she refused to be second fiddle to anyone, whether it be Charlotte Flair or Ronda Rousey or even people outside of the women's division, like John Cena and WWE Hall of Famer Edge. With this new attitude and direction, Becky proved everyone who saw her as second string or the also-ran of the Four Horsewomen wrong, eventually main eventing WrestleMania, becoming "Becky Two Belts" and being the first female "WWE 2K" video game cover Superstar.

Believe it or not, the Bella Twins have been wildly important to women’s professional wrestling in the mainstream, thanks to "Total Divas" (and as a result, their spinoff, "Total Bellas"). It's hard to believe, but "Total Divas" premiered in 2013, and since then WWE has been able to reach a larger outside audience who are invested in its female wrestlers and the Women's Evolution because of it. Onscreen in weekly WWE TV, Nikki Bella may have represented the Divas Era during said Evolution, but her in-ring work also made her integral in putting over main roster call-ups Charlotte Flair (especially), Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, as well as SmackDown LIVE colleagues like Carmella and Natalya and WWE rookie Ronda Rousey.

Despite how much fans — sometimes reasonably, mind you — complain about how little Brock Lesnar is actually around, it’s amazing just how important Lesnar is to the current climate of WWE and pro wrestling. His return to WWE in 2012 provided that still-amazing brutalization of John Cena at SummerSlam (the original "Eat, Sleep, Suplex, Repeat"). Since then, the best of Lesnar has provided "Suplex City, Bi**h," the still stunning breaking of The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak, that time he F-5'd Michael Cole out of his shoes, that time he told Heath Slater he didn't care about his kids and his surprisingly great (proving he can still work when he's actually booked to) matches against the likes of AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Daniel Bryan and of course, Seth Rollins. For better or often worse, much of WWE is written around Lesnar. And much of wrestling talk is centered about whether that's a good or bad thing.

Of all four WWE Four Horsewomen, Charlotte Flair — yes relation — notably has the most accomplishments and "first-evers" under her belt. While her name and status as a legacy has a lot to do with that, she's also proved herself up for the task. She was the last Divas Champion ever (and also the first WWE Women's Champion) and has won the Women's Championship (in all of its iterations and brands) a record 10 times (in addition to her one-time as NXT Women's Champion). She competed in the first-ever women's Hell in a Cell match (against Sasha Banks), which was also the first-ever women's match in WWE history to main event a pay-per-view. She was the first woman in WWE history to compete in main events of RAW, SmackDown and pay-per-view, one of the competitors in the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match, one of the competitors in the first-ever (main roster) Last Woman Standing match and first-ever women's main event of WrestleMania. Again, a lot of "first-evers." And she did it all with flair.

There is no professional wrestler who knows how to reinvent himself better than Chris Jericho. Full stop. And this isn't even a recent development in the past decade — this has always been the case for him. (Just think about the transition from WCW to WWF.) However, in the past decade, Jericho has reminded folks of that simple fact even more than before. "Best in the World at What I Do" Jericho was just before 2010, but you know what was after that? The introduction of Light Up Jacket Jericho. The hilarious blink-and-you-miss it Y2AJ Jericho. Which then gave way to Scarf, "Stupid Idiot," and "69 Tacks" Jericho. Then came "The List of Jericho" and his team up with Kevin Owens, which Jericho went on to call the most fun he'd ever had in his career. But that wasn't even his final form, as 2017 saw Jericho return to NJPW for the first time in almost 20 years to feud with Kenny Omega (and then other top stars)... and then to ultimately become the face of WWE's first true pro wrestling rival since WCW, AEW. For someone who, post-WCW, seemed like a WWE lifer — who would always come back to WWE after a Fozzy or acting-based hiatus or when called by Vince McMahon himself for a favor, even during those initial NJPW shows — Jericho completely flipped the script by becoming All Elite.

CM Punk left WWE and life as a pro wrestler all together in 2014, but that doesn't change how important he was — and still continues to be, honestly — to this decade of professional wrestling. The Straight Edge Society truly got going in 2010. Then the New Nexus. Then, of course, the infamous "pipe bomb" and the Summer of Punk II happened in 2011. That's all just the beginning of the decade. You can't forget his part in John Cena vs. The Rock, or his feud with Undertaker or his feud with Lesnar or his part in #AJALL (the feud between Punk, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Kane, all centered on Punk's now real-life wife AJ Lee). You also can't forget about how Punk left (and then was finally released from) WWE and then recorded a tell-all on his former friend Colt Cabana's podcast in November 2014, an even greater pipe bomb than the original. The thing is that with all of Punk's frustrations and issues with WWE, things he had issues with have actually gotten better in WWE: Superstars get to take time off to recharge without fear of punishment, indie stars are signed and treated with respect (a major issue when Punk joined WWE), and WWE actually listened to the WWE Universe and Daniel Bryan mainevented WrestleMania 30 (instead of facing Sheamus again). Still no ice cream bars though, so actually maybe he shouldn't be on this list...

The "Dashing" Cody Rhodes gimmick began in the spring of 2010, which means Cody has both started and ended the decade with some major contributions to professional wrestling. From 2010-2012, as "Dashing" (and then "Undashing") Cody Rhodes, Cody was easily the most entertaining part of SmackDown and WWE as a whole, tied with and then surpassed by heel World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan (and the beginning of the "YES" chants and rise of AJ Lee). Later, his time as Stardust continued to prove just how much Cody Rhodes could spin anything to gold, even if he was never allowed to be at the top. And then in May 2016, Cody left WWE, Stardust and his last name behind, hitting the indies, as well as ROH, TNA and NJPW, with a list of wrestlers he wanted to face and experiences he wanted to have. By the end of that year, he'd joined Bullet Club as "The American Nightmare" Cody. Then in fall of 2018, he and Bullet Club buddies The Young Bucks put together the first non-WWE/WCW pro wrestling show in the U.S. to sell over 10,000 tickets since 1993, All In. From that, AEW — the first true mainstream alternative to WWE since WCW — was born, with Cody serving as one of the executive vice presidents, as well as talent.

In 2010, Daniel Bryan was fired by and then rehired by WWE. The following year, he won the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match and from that point on, the rest truly was wrestling history. After months of losing (as has become the Money in the Bank holder's way), Bryan (who was the face at the time and in an onscreen relationship with AJ LEe) found himself in the position to go back on his promise to cash in the contract at the following year's WrestleMania. After a couple of failed cash-ins on Mark Henry, Bryan cashed in on new World Heavyweight Champion Big Show, which led to the beginning of Abusive Boyfriend and  Obnoxious "YES"-Chanting World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and culminated in the 18-second loss to Sheamus at WrestleMania 28...which only made heel Bryan more popular (and, unfortunately, turned a lot of fans against Sheamus). He was so popular that he eventually turned face again as one half of Team Hell No (with his "NO" chants that did not make the "YES" chants any less popular), which of course segued into him winning the WWE championship multiple times (once against John Cena), and then the "YES!" Movement and "The Miracle on Bourbon Street" of Daniel Bryan main eventing (and winning at) WrestleMania 30. In early 2016, Bryan retired due to medical issues, remaining onscreen as the SmackDown LIVE general manager. But he remained transparent about the fact that he was looking to get medically cleared to wrestle in WWE (and would just wrestle elsewhere when his contract ended), and he did in the spring of 2018. Since then Bryan has won the WWE championship for a fourth time and also reinvented himself as someone the WWE Universe could actually boo as "The New Champion."

Even though DIY is no longer actually a team, these two are so inextricably linked that they needed to be one singular entry. From working in NXT as unsigned (but notably indie) talent to teaming up and getting part-time NXT contracts to going full-time NXT and creating tag team magic against The Revival, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, in a lot of ways, are the perfect encapsulation of NXT's transformation from WWE development to the third main brand. These two have become the faces of NXT as well as the faces of NXT's ability to deliver on long-form storytelling, even in the "plans change" world of WWE. (That multiple injuries have sidetracked both men but they were still able to give their story a satisfying conclusion truly says a lot.) Not for nothing, "Johnny Wrestling" and "The Greatest Sports Entertainer of All Time" have also proved that it's still quite possible in the broken kayfabe 2010s to tell a super babyface and super heel story in pro wrestling and have the audience cheer and boo accordingly.

As Prince Devitt in NJPW, Finn Balor was the founder and original leader of the Bullet Club (which began in 2013). If you don’t think the entire landscape of professional wrestling is any different if that’s not the case, then you really, really haven’t been paying attention. Without Bullet Club, there is no Elite or Super Kliq or The Club or The O.C. or even Balor Club. There is most likely no AEW, to be perfectly honest. (There is most likely Undisputed Era, but who can even be sure?) Who even knows if there is Finn Balor in WWE without Bullet Club? And whether you believe it's a title with any prestige or not, Balor was the first-ever WWE Universal Champion.

The ace of NJPW — the "John Cena" of NJPW — Hiroshi Tanahashi tied the record for most IWGP Heavyweight Championships back in 2012 (at six wins) and has since won the title two more times. (Despite this, he's ranked second for combined reigns — thanks to Kazuchika Okada — at 1,396 days.) There are few wrestlers in the world today or in the past 10 years who can make everything look as effortless as Tanahashi does, and there are even fewer wrestlers who can pull off air guitar like he does. In fact, while his matches are always highly anticipated — as any event Tanahashi is in is surely an event — somehow, his post-match air guitar celebrations are a truly beloved encore.

You don't get nicknames like "Big Match John" and "The Face That Runs the Place" for nothing. In John Cena's case, it was because he was the top of the mountain in WWE since 2015 and didn't really step into true part-timer status until around 2018. (Even with a more relaxed schedule in 2016-2017, at least when he was around, he was around full time.) The man has been a constant in WWE for nearly two decades, and for the longest time, for better or worse, Cena was the name and face synonymous with contemporary WWE. Recognize.

Indie wrestler Jon Moxley signed with WWE to its developmental territory (FCW) in 2011, where he became Dean Ambrose. After making waves — as much as anyone could make waves in FCW, before NXT made developmental must-watch TV — in his FCW 15 Championship feud with Seth Rollins and later feud with William Regal, he eventually made his WWE debut in November 2012, with Rollins and Roman Reigns, as one-third of The Shield. The Shield wasn't just one of the most dominant factions in WWE, but it also successfully created three bona fide maineventers, in an era of WWE where bona fide main-eventers seem to be made less and less. In early 2019, it was announced that Ambrose would not be renewing his contract with WWE that spring...and once it did, he returned to the indies as Jon Moxley, made his debut in NJPW and then eventually debuted as AEW's newest big acquisition. After spending the better part of the decade playing a character that Moxley would later go on to call ruined by all of the goofy stuff he was made to do post-Shield breakup, Moxley's return to wrestling outside of WWE saw a shift to (or really, a return to) a more technical and intense wrestling style, as well as his hardcore roots, and his character also returned to a more serious and dangerous one.

Depending on whom you ask, "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada is the best wrestler in the entire world. (He definitely has the best dropkick in the world). Or Kenny Omega. After all, with their powers combined, their four-match series in NJPW (centered around the IWGP heavyweight championship) received the following star ratings from Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer: 6, 6.25, 6, and 7. And the rating scale is out of five stars. Really think about that. While Hiroshi Tanahashi is still the face of NJPW — you'd have to pry the title from his cold dead hands — Okada truly is the face and the, well, rainmaker of NJPW. He has been since he became the "Rainmaker" in 2012.

Kenny Omega is obviously an important figure in pro wrestling as one of the executive vice presidents of AEW, but he's also integral when talking about NJPW's popularity in North America and being the talk of the wrestling world. Again, note the insane star ratings in his matches with Kazuchika Okada, which have been repeatedly called the best matches of all time. And he made his debut in NJPW in 2010 alongside his soulmate, Kota Ibushi (as the Golden Lovers), meaning it took a little under a decade for him to get that recognition. In 2014, Omega joined Bullet Club as "The Cleaner," which propelled him into the spotlight — as it was during the AJ Styles era — eventually taking over in 2016 after kicking out AJ Styles. From there, The Elite formed — which of course gave Omega, The Young Bucks, and their brethren the ability to form a brand and then a wrestling empire that wasn't actually owned by NJPW, unlike Bullet Club — and now everything is All Elite.

Like Chris Jericho, the Hardys understand the power of reinvention, especially Matt Hardy, whose "Broken" Matt Hardy and Broken Universe — with Jeff "Brother Nero" Hardy in tow to fade away and classify himself as obsolete...OBSOLETE — was truly the hottest thing in pro wrestling in 2016 and 2017. But even before that, the past decade of wrestling for Matt (who left WWE in fall of 2010 before his return in 2017) involved him being part of two notable ROH stables, S.C.U.and then the original iteration of The Kingdom (with Adam Cole, Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis) as well as reinventing himself with the "Big Money Matt" persona (which segued into "Broken" Matt Hardy). For Jeff, 2011 was when his redemption story in TNA began, and in 2014 he brought out his Willow character in the promotion — which really only worked because he's Jeff Hardy, and he (like his brother) makes really weird stuff work.

The New Day is the transcendent embodiment of African-American wrestlers in WWE getting to do more than just smile, shuck and jive or be angry. Yes, New Day dance and smile...but it's because they're a trio of obnoxious nerds (all in different ways) who are Very Online and not because they're Vince McMahon's idea of what a black wrestler should be. If they were, they would still be the version of them that looked like it would be Nation of Domination 2.0 or preachers (Vince McMahon's original idea for the trio that New Day knew for a fact would bomb...and did). If they were, Xavier Woods probably wouldn't have a trombone. Instead, they're the top tag team in WWE, and with the power of positivity, they propelled Kofi Kingston into his rightful place in the WWE main event scene — something that should've happened over a decade ago — with him defeating Daniel Bryan for the WWE championship at this year's WrestleMania.

The heir apparent to John Cena — right down to the "LET'S GO ROMAN" / "ROMAN SUCKS" chants — Roman Reigns mainevented four WrestleManias in a row and was mercilessly booed during each one. Of course he's one of the most important wrestlers of the past 10 years (which is also the length of his pro wrestling career). As one-third of The Shield — and the one without an indie wrestling background prior to WWE — and a member of the Anoa'i Samoan wrestling dynasty (along with his cousins The Rock and The Usos), Reigns is a Triple Crown champion, a Grand Slam champion, a leukemia survivor and the topic of many an irrational wrestling fan argument.

Along with Bayley, "The Boss" Sasha Banks competed in what is still often considered the best women's match — and one of the best matches, in general — in WWE history: the NXT Women's Championship match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015. Since then, Sasha has been part of a lot of first-evers: WWE Women's Tag Team champion (with Bayley), women's 30-minute Iron Man match (against Bayley in NXT and then Charlotte Flair on the main roster), women's Hell in a Cell match (against Charlotte, which was also the first-ever women's pay-per-view main event). In fact, Sasha has been in both women's Hell in a Cell matches. She's also always been known as the member of the WWE's Four Horsewomen, who can have a great match with anyone and make anyone look good, whether it's Charlotte back in her early NXT days or even Ronda Rousey on the Road to WrestleMania.

Depending on who you ask, Seth Rollins may not be cool, but you cannot deny his importance in this past decade of professional wrestling (or sports entertainment or wrasslin' or whatever you call it). Rollins has been in WWE in one form or another since the beginning of this decade, having signed to developmental (FCW) in August 2010. Since then he's been the inaugural NXT Champion, been one-third of one of the most dominant factions in WWE history (The Shield, which he broke up like the monster he really is), mainevented WrestleMania with "the heist of the century" (his Money in the Bank cash in) and defeated the unbeatable Brock Lesnar one-on-one in WWE Universal Championship matches twice (one time at WrestleMania; the other time clean as a whistle).

One word, three letters: NXT. While the early part of the decade saw both of Triple H's WrestleMania matches agai nst The Undertaker and then later his run as leader of The Authority (and antagonist in the "YES!" Movement), Triple H's greatest contribution in this decade has been as the father of NXT. Just 15 years ago fans were trying to get over Triple H's "Reign of Terror" on RAW, and now he's the man legitimately looked to for positively fostering the future of WWE and this industry as a whole. The passage of time, huh?

Proving the tag team wrestling can be a draw — and that you really, really don't need WWE when you're already making that kind of money by just being said draw — The Young Bucks have been the most popular (and arguably best) tag team outside of WWE for pretty much this whole decade. (Even when TNA wanted to call them Generation Me, they were able to show their talent in places like PWG.) But in 2013, they joined NJPW and joined Bullet Club, and based on other wrestlers in this list, you absolutely know how that story goes. Now as executive vice presidents of AEW, the Bucks have promised to continue to highlight tag team wrestling as an important part of the show and the industry, and they're making good on that promise.