Anytime an outlet drops a list ranking who or what is the “best” at something, the entire goal is to create discourse and clicks. Always remember that is the point. Still, there are times when these outlets outdo themselves and once such time occurred recently. ESPN released its 30 best pro wrestlers under 30 and the list was topped by none other than Dominik Mysterio. That set off a firestorm of debate throughout wrestling. This is one of those prime examples in which two things can be true. Mysterio is great at what he’s doing, but there’s no way he’s the best wrestler under 30 years old.
Dominik Mysterio topped a list that featured several important names in the business. Rhea Ripley, Leon Slater, Bron Breakker, Sareee, Gabe Kidd, HOOK, and several others were on the list. All in all, this is an excellent list that should breed excitement for the future of the business. But let’s talk about why Mysterio shouldn’t be recognized as the “best pro wrestler” under 30.
First, words matter. WWE does not offer pro wrestling to its viewers. What it does deliver is sports entertainment, which is vastly different. Triple H himself said that shows are not typically booked with the matches in mind, but more the stories that can be delivered week to week.
Take that information and place it on the overall match rankings for Mysterio. According to Cagematch, Dominik Mysterio has an average match rating of 6.64, with 351 total matches on his resume. That’s not such a great ranking overall. Compare this to someone like Kyle Fletcher who has more than double the amount of matches and an 8.32 rating. Oba Femi has less than half the number of matches of Mysterio, is a year younger, has been wrestling for much less time and his match rating sits at 8.72. While numbers don’t tell the entire story here, they matter and it is hard to call Mysterio the best in his age group when comparing the data to that of his peers.
Dominik Mysterio has the benefit of the WWE platform behind him
Second, it is important to talk about platforms in these conversations. WWE is the biggest sports entertainment platform in the world.Their stars will always look “bigger” than their peers in other organizations because of the resources that are available to them and put behind them. Mysterio may appear to be a bigger star than the aforementioned Fletcher, but there’s no telling what Fletcher could achieve as a superstar if given that same space. Toni Storm just missed the age cutoff for this list at 30, but if she was given the platform that Mysterio has had for these last few years, she’d be a megastar in the business. Unfortunately, we all know that WWE would never give that type of space to a female performer willingly, but that’s another conversation for another day.
As stated at the start of this piece, two things can be true. Dominik Mysterio is great at what he does. He’s hilarious, plays his character well, and has an uncanny knack of channeling Eddie Guerrero in a way that has more than a few people raising his eyebrow that perhaps he is really Eddie’s son. All jokes aside, he is great at what WWE presents as sports entertainment. The fans react wildly to his every word and move. He’s going to be a massive babyface for the company at some point, probably in 2026.
But Dominik Mysterio is not the best wrestler around under 30. There are several other performers who’d deserve that distinction, and even those points would be debatable. Mysterio is good at what he’s doing, but there are others who are better at what they are doing in every way.