Ranking Every MVP Of Every Major Wrestling Company

This isn't a list meant to determine the best pro wrestler in each major company.

Daniel Bryan is the best wrestler on WWE's main roster. The man got a good and halfway convincing match out of the Fiend at Survivor Series by conspiring to nearly put an unkillable monster away with his vicious, precise, and expertly-timed ambushes.

NXT is positively loaded with incredible talent. Adam Cole has fused state-of-the-art work that can't draw traditional heat, because it's so exhilarating, with such slimy escapology that he does in fact get babyfaces over as babyfaces. Johnny Gargano's way of structuring a match feels...easy, on the surface, what with the excessive kick-outs, but the emotion enhances everything with proper working substance.

Kenny Omega is AEW's best in-ring worker by some distance. An athlete beyond the level of near everybody industry-wide, he is also a storytelling genius. Ahead of his World Tag Team Championship win this week, he requested of SCU a "gentleman's contest" to soothe tensions backstage after Hangman Page spilled alcohol over Christopher Daniels. Kazarian did not forget, and dropped Page directly onto his head in the match. Omega, furious at his code being broken, landed stiff kicks to Kazarian's head. The complexity to his work is tremendous.

They are not critical to each company's present/future fortunes...

N.B. - CMLL in particular is a major promotion, racking up deeply impressive attendances as part of a longstanding tradition of weekly Friday night shows, but a lucha knowledge gap omits it and AAA here.

It's difficult to determine WWE's MVP in this brand-is-the-star era because the brand is more valuable than the roster. This isn't necessarily a complaint; WWE, for all its divisive creative, is an expert marketing and promotional machine that has positioned itself to no longer rely on an Ace figure.

Roman Reigns is presented as that Ace, but his absence between 2018 and 2019 didn't drastically affect numbers. Seth Rollins failed to deputise in a challenging role. Becky Lynch is a segment-specific draw, by 2020 standards, and her NXT appearance drove the brand to its first head-to-head ratings win over AEW on November 20 - but the event of an injury wouldn't prove disastrous. The machine will roll on; it's what the machine does. Daniel Bryan is valuable - his work opposite the Fiend, particularly at Survivor Series, rescued it from the depths of universally-accepted WrestleCrap - but sadly, his phenomenal in-ring and captivating character work as the Planet's Champion didn't resonate beyond the core audience.

Brock Lesnar is the one.

He is the super-powered special attraction capable of drawing interest and ire alike, a real household name who when positioned in a major programme brings the buzz back to the promotion. This hasn't happened for a couple of years, but just think what would happen, were Lesnar to pulverise Matt Riddle all over Full Sail in retribution for his sh*t-talking.

With no practical data to draw from, theoretically, only the Beast can drive that Wednesday figure over a million.