Everybody who comes to Cageside Seats has an opinion about what’s going on in pro wrestling — the Wrestler Rankings are where YOU let us know YOURS.
What are the Wrestler Rankings?
Well, for years, they were called the Smark’s Shoot Standings (S3). A few years back, we changed the name. Whatever we call it, it’s a way for members of the Cageside community to vote on which wrestlers entertained them the most every week.
Whether you’ve been casting ballots every year since 2012 or if this is your first time on the site, the rest of
the post will tell you everything you need to know. And if you have any questions beyond that, ask in the comments! Either I or one of our regular voters will help you out.
The Rankings come out every Sunday. The post will normally have the outcome of the previous Sunday’s voting in the form of a Top 10 Ranking. Placing in the weekly Top 10 earns wrestlers points in our annual competition for the Cageside Cup, given to whoever has the most points at the end of the year. Our “year” starts with the Raw after WrestleMania and ends with the following WrestleMania. Read about last year’s winner, and see how all 165 performers who received votes in 2025-26 did, here.
Tip your hat again to our third female Cup winner, and our third from AEW…
Okay, so how does this all work?
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Cageside Community Wrestler Rankings & The Cageside Cup:
Anyone who wrestled or appeared on a televised or streamed show during the preceding seven days is eligible for a spot on your ballot. Beyond that, the criteria for voting is entirely up to you. It can be because someone impressed you, or because you believe something happened that changes their standing in their promotion or the business. Maybe they entertained that week, or maybe they’re your favorite every week. We invite you to explain your selections, but that’s not mandatory.
We’re a fan blog. You’re fans. There are all kinds of fans with all kinds of tastes and preferences. We don’t judge.
You vote via the comments.
On a comment “ballot”, you now have five slots. If you place one performer in each, first place is assigned 5 points for the week, second 4, third 3, second 2, and fifth 1.
You can list more than one wrestler per slot, either as a tag team or a tie between unrelated performers. If you have people tied in any one slot, those performers will split the points assigned to that slot. For instance:
1. Kyle Fletcher
2. Fraxiom
3. Flammer
4. Oleg Boltin
5. Kali Armstrong
Gives the Protostar 5 points in the tallying of that week’s Rankings. Axiom & Nathan Frazer get 2 each (splitting the 4 points assigned to a second place vote), while the reigning Reina de Reinas champ gets the 3 points for third, the Kazakh grappler from New Japan receives 2 for fourth, and the inaugural Evolve Women’s titleholder picks up 1.
On the other hand, you can assign more points for a tie by having the tie replace one of your other slots, like so:
1. Kyle Fletcher
2. Fraxiom
4. Flammer
5. Oleg Boltin
In this instance, the long-time NXT Tag champs each receive 3.5 points for the week, as they will split the 4 points for second and the 3 points for third. The rising AAA star then gets 2 for fourth, and the fifth place Oleg scores 1.
You can not put the same wrestler in multiple slots. Even if your ballot looks like this:
1 – 5 Kyle Fletcher
The currently-injured Aussie still only receives the 5 points for first place. The remaining points for that ballot are forfeit.
The annual Rankings are calculated in a similar fashion. Finishing first in the weekly Rankings is worth 10 points in the Cageside Cup Standings… down through tenth being worth 1 point. Ties split the points assigned to the rankings between the number of people tied. So if one week, Natsupoi, AJ Francis, and Blake Christian tie for seventh, they each get 3 points — splitting the 4 for seventh, 3 for eighth and 2 for ninth three ways.
Possible Swerve?
Unless there are serious objections (place them in the ballot box/comment section below), this season I’m considering adding a multiplier to weeks that include a main roster WWE PLE or AEW PPV. I’m thinking a small multiplier (1.25 or so) for everyone in the Top 10, as a way to separate voting periods where there’s a lot of big matches and angles happening from, say, the second week in December or something.
Clear as mud? Remember, feel free to ask questions below. Now…
Let’s do this thing!
Normally, each Sunday’s vote would cover the previous Sunday-Saturday. Because both days of WrestleMania 42 were included in our final vote of last “season”, this time we’re voting on nationally televised and internet streaming pro wrestling shows that took place April 19-25 — Raw, NXT, Dynamite, Impact, ROH on HonorClub, SmackDown, Collision, AAA & CMLL’s weekend shows, and everything else I’m no doubt forgetting.
We’ll see you next week with the first results — and another vote!
