PWI Top 500 Wrestlers Of 2019 - Top 10 Names REVEALED

5. Kazuchika Okada

Last years number 1, Okada's journey in New Japan perhaps necessitated some time out of the spotlight. Losing his title to Kenny Omega set him off on a path of self-reflection and rediscovery and, intrinsically, held him back somewhat from delivering the era-defining matches. He's come back with a bang in 2019, but The Rainmaker has had a quiet 12 months by his impossibly high standards.

With Omega gone, Okada is still the present and future of New Japan's main-event scene, and the quality of matches he's delivered in this year's G1 means that his current run with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship is likely to continue (on and off) for many years to come. Already this year he's been involved in four matches rated 5 stars or higher. Ospreay, Ibushi, and a pair with SANADA.

At just 31 years of age, he likely has at least a decade left in this role and if, as is so often reported, his professional desires extend no further than New Japan, he'll be given countless more opportunities to prove himself as the world's preeminent puro worker. He might have given 4 other men a bigger slice of the acclaim this year, but this is still Okada's world.