With SummerSlam rapidly approaching this weekend, I am in the mood to talk a bit of wrestling! So, I thought it may be fun to start a potentially new annual tradition and rank my top 10 superstars on the WWE roster currently where we sit in 2026. So, this will be an interesting sort of list that has potential to shift yearly depending on people’s status on the card, storylines, injuries, new call-ups, etc. I have a hard time believing some of my top spots would shift too much considering they’re some of my favorite wrestlers on WWE’s roster currently, but as I said anything can happen any given year. So, this isn’t necessarily a cut and dry list of who my favorite wrestlers in the company are, more so who I’m behind as a fan and who’s on my radar the most where we sit currently, on a year-to-year basis. Sorry if that explanation is confusing, but I feel like it’ll start to make sense once I get into it here. Remember, this is just my personal list. Nothing about this implies I’m right or wrong, just opinions and I’d love to hear yours so let me know! Without further ado, let’s get into it!
#10: Jacob Fatu
I am a big Fatu fan, but currently I can’t help but feel like he’s being held back in a lot of ways. The Samoan Werewolf character is an unhinged ball of wreckage and chaos and he’s so fun to watch. The way this guy moves and flips in the ring for a guy his size really is impressive, and it was that level of chaos and unhinged energy and aggression that made his character so fun and wild and unpredictable to watch. It has sort of felt like since Fatu has been in the sphere of Roman Reigns in this post-Mania season this year, his character really has been put on a chain, and this wild card Samoan Werewolf has just become a background henchman for the Bloodline the last couple months. I still am a big fan of his and he’s still the same ass kicker from an in-ring standpoint, and maybe in the long run something further is planned out for him with all of this, but currently he’s just kind of biding his time with the family and it’s not always the most compelling to me.
#9: Charlotte Flair
Charlotte has become one of the true vets on the women’s roster at this point and is the most decorated woman in WWE’s history. Going to be a minute before anyone breaks her title record probably. The big difference with Charlotte throughout this entire year though is the cheers and pops she’s been receiving from the live audiences wherever they go. This tag-team/friendship with Alexa has done wonders for them both, but especially for Charlotte in getting her back into the crowd’s good graces. Which I am thankful for as a Charlotte fan. I understand there was some fatigue with her at a point and I get it, but no one can argue she’s one of the best women’s wrestlers on the roster and has been for years and years at this point. Selfishly, I am kind of ready to see the tag-team split though at this point just because I’m ready to see Charlotte and Alexa both chase some more single’s gold before it’s too late and they age out or WWE moves onto shiny new toys. Especially for Charlotte, even though she’s so proven. Everyone may not want to see her win another World Title, but I honestly really do.
#8: Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn has had quite the turbulent year in the ring. I’ve always really appreciated Sami and truly feel like he is one of the best in-ring competitors on a weekly bell-to-bell basis that WWE has and, in my mind, he’s still pretty underappreciated. He doesn’t have the standard “look” of a pro wrestler but the man, like his best friend Kevin Owens, is an Indy God who grinded in wrestling circuits all over the world before getting to WWE and this year it felt like in certain ways, he was finally seen and given his moment on a large scale. On one hand, he won the WWE Championship in front of a roaring Saudi crowd that was heavily behind him, and on the other hand he was forced to defend it 9 days later and lost it on a random episode of Raw. Sami is easily the most screwed over wrestler on the roster currently and he has every right to bitch and complain about his current situation and the way he’s been treated, but the gimmick is getting a little old already. I get he’s the whiny Sami, but he has every right to be! Time for this man to take it up a level at this point and just fully snap. I’m ready for it and it would feel like some fresh character development which he could use.
#7: Rhea Ripley
Mami, the WWE Women’s Champion. I mean what is there to say, it’s Rhea. I love Rhea and she is truly in her ERA in WWE right now. The only reason she’s even a couple spots lower on this list than she maybe would be is for the simple fact that she was coming off a couple career years in my mind in 2024 and 2025, and this year she’s spent a lot of it, at least as of late, on the shelf. Which obviously is completely understandable and beyond her control, but if she was going to be out this long, they should have just taken the title off of her and given it to someone else. There’s no need for this interim Women’s Championship nonsense; Rhea could just win the title back if they wanted to do that later on when she is ready to return and it would add another accomplishment to her resume. I just don’t get the point of her still being the champ if she was going to be on the shelf for months and I say that as a big fan of hers. Regardless, when she’s here Rhea is great. She knows her character well and delivers from an in-ring standpoint always also. Very credible powerhouse. Wasn’t the biggest fan of her rivalry with Jade before she got hurt, but that wasn’t really her fault either. Just not overly enticing.
#6: Tiffany Stratton
I’ve grown to be quite a fan of Tiffany’s since her Money in the Bank win in 2024, and she’s been pretty steadily on the up and up in the women’s division since that moment. She missed the end of 2025 after dropping the Women’s WWE title to Jade but returned at the Rumble at the beginning of this year and has kind of sneakily and steadily had a very productive 2026. She came up just short and finished as the runner-up in both the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber but has since gone on to win the Women’s United States title and has a chance to become ‘Tiffy 2 Belts’ at SummerSlam in the Women’s Ladder match. I also just enjoy the juxtaposition of her character a lot as well. She’s the prissy ‘blonde bombshell’ girl who is actually quite athletic and surprisingly strong inside the ring and delivers a fun and unique style of her own. She’s acrobatic and flippy as hell, which given her collegiate gymnastic background comes as no surprise, but she’s also got some power. She’s still young and adapting to the business as well so ‘Tiffy Time’ could continue to roll on for some years to come!
#5: Danhausen
If we’re being real here, there’s almost no one in the WWE having a better year than this guy. 2026 is the year of Danhausen and he’s exploded onto the scene since his ‘What’s in the box?’ style debut at this year’s ‘Elimination Chamber’ PLE. I have been loving it though, he’s a breath of fresh air on the weekly shows with his comedic timing and silly little schticks and his blended horror/comedy style character is one that’s directly up my alley. I’m not the biggest NBA guy either, but his relationship with the Knicks through this year’s postseason and them ultimately winning the Finals for the first time in a long time did nothing but help boost his popularity to a nationwide scale as well. You love to see it. He’s a true success story in the world of pro wrestling. Again, a guy that doesn’t necessarily look the typical part, but he found his own way and made it his own. He’s unique, one of a kind, very nice, very evil, and there’s nothing else on the show that even remotely resembles what Danhausen brings to the table. This recent stuff with Joe Hendry hasn’t been his best work though I will say, but overall, he’s just so much fun.
#4: Gunther
Gunther is truly one of the best and hardest hitting wrestlers on WWE’s current roster and I don’t think it’s really even a debate. The guy can put on a match with just about anyone they put him across the ring from and he’s going to take any and every opponent of his to deep waters. He makes his work believable. He isn’t one of the most flippy, flashy, or downright athletic wrestlers that they have, but as a spectator, you’re going to hear and feel every chop, clothesline, and slam he delivers and that’s the magic of Gunther. He isn’t there to be flashy and showy, he’s there to do a job and kick your ass. That’s why he’s as trusted as he is in the company. He’s been given the opportunity to retire some of the business’s greats and even if you look at his match with Pat McAfee or his upcoming match with Nick Aldis, maybe not always the most compelling stuff for Gunther himself, but he’s given those matches and those opportunities because he’s a safe and trusted worker and he’s going to make the stuff look and feel believable, even with non-wrestlers or people who haven’t wrestled in a long time. Only reason he’s even a couple spots lower is because this really hasn’t been a great year for Gunther from a booking standpoint if we’re being real, but he’s still one of the best pure wrestlers on the roster.
#3: Iyo Sky
The same can be said for Iyo Sky as I just said about Gunther. She’s one of the very best pro wrestlers on WWE’s current roster, men or women’s. She’s got a much different style from a guy like Gunther, she isn’t really a heavy hitter but she’s speedy, high-flying, evasive, and so very smooth. That woman’s specific style isn’t necessarily the easiest, but you’d never know it when you watch an Iyo Sky match. Lot of kicks and dives and moonsaults and back bends and she makes it all look so easy because she hits things so smoothly. I am glad that HHH seems like a big Iyo Sky guy. She feels like a wrestler who could unnecessarily fall under the radar because she doesn’t speak good English and she doesn’t really seem like she has a very pushy personality like she’d go to war for herself, but the company sees the value in her, realizes she may very well be the best women’s in ring wrestler they have, and they treat her and book her (for the most part) accordingly. Especially in the last couple of years. Her and Liv Morgan’s rivalry for the World Title heading into SummerSlam has had a very lackluster and somewhat nonexistent build unfortunately, but I have no doubts it will deliver in the ring and Iyo has a strong chance to become Women’s World Champion yet again!
#2: CM Punk
It’s honestly crazy for me to think and even type this out, but when I really think about the long and very storied career of CM Punk and everything he’s gone through both by his own hand and at the hands of others, he’s had some of the very best years of his entire wrestling career these last couple as the 46/47-year-old grizzled vet. This year has been the YEAR for CM Punk as well, given why he’s as high as he is on this list in a lot of ways. The guy went through Mania season as a World Champ and walked into the Night 2 main event against Roman Reigns. He took a nice break after WrestleMania and came back and won another World Title on the same night in his hometown, and he’s walking into a SummerSlam main event as the champion. From a booking standpoint, there’s no way that this isn’t the best year of his career. He’s also putting on some GREAT matches these last couple of years, wrestling just as good if not better than he ever has still. His return match for the belt against Sami is a perfect recent example of that and his Mania match against Roman this year is an all-timer for both of their careers. I have a lot of love for the guy too because he’s one of the last pieces of my childhood still hanging on and doing the thing and he’s still REALLY doing the damn thing too.
#1: Seth Rollins
To anyone who knows me, it’s probably no surprise that Seth Rollins is coming in at #1 on my personal list. Like I said, anything can change, but barring an injury Rollins is likely to top out my list doing this every year that he’s still around on a consistent basis and putting on matches. He’s my dude, I hitched my horse to that wagon even back in the days of ‘The Shield’ and chose him as my favorite member of the group. Since then, he’s went on to be a consistently prominent figure in the WWE landscape, and my fandom grew to the point that he became my favorite on the modern roster. Crazy to think we’ve reached the point that all The Shield guys are now all reaching their veteran status in the company in their early 40s. Seth has sustained a number of injuries too that have taken both time and titles away from him and as such a massive fan of his it’s a damn shame to me. Especially this most recent one because his heel stable with Paul Heyman as the manager could’ve been so freaking cool, but ‘The Vision’ has just been cursed. Rollins, Breakker, Bronson Reed, and now Logan Paul have all been hurt since being in that group. Scrap the damn thing at this point, just sucks. Regardless, Seth truly is an innovator and a revolutionary (pun intended) in a lot of ways because he can reinvent his character while still remaining the same guy and carrying the same credibility and that’s a skill not everyone has. He also puts on some great matches from a ring perspective and always has. Him and Roman are adding another chapter (perhaps the final?) to their storied relationship and rivalry this weekend in the main event of SummerSlam and I hope they absolutely burn the place down. Wink wink.
That’ll do it for this one though folks! I’ll be back very soon, this weekend to talk over the upcoming SummerSlam PLE! So, be sure to like the page on social media or come back to the website to keep up with that and all other new posts dropped weekly! Thanks for taking some time and reading along with me today and until next time, be good to one another!
