ESPN Ranks 30 Best Wrestlers Under 30, Featuring MJF, Rhea Ripley, & More

The current landscape of professional wrestling is full of countless young prospects building up their skills to try and become the next mega-star. Some performers are undoubtedly ahead of others, however, and ESPN released their own ranking yesterday of the top 30 pro wrestlers under the age of 30. Topping the list? None other than 27-year-old AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman.

After Friedman, in the number two slot, is WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley, who is 26. Austin Theory and El Hijo del Vikingo, also both 26 years old, occupy the third and fourth slots, while ESPN ranks Ripley's onscreen partner Dominik Mysterio at number five. The top 10 is then rounded out by Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Konosuke Takeshita, Liv Morgan, and social media influencer Logan Paul.

The rest of the list features performers from across WWE, AEW, Impact Wrestling, and more, with international performers like STARDOM's Giulia and Kaito Kiyomiya of Pro Wrestling NOAH making appearances. Taking to Twitter, MJF offered up several reactions to ESPN's list, both criticizing the rankings and acknowledging his rightful place at the top.

"Lol," MJF wrote. "[ESPN,] let's keep it real. Picking the top of the list was a very easy task." In another reaction, MJF suggested Jamie Hayter, HOOK, Darby Allin, Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, Toni Storm, and Satnam Singh all either deserved a place on the list or a higher position (via Twitter).

Other performers to react to the ESPN rankings include Konosuke Takeshita and Colby Corino, who joked he wasn't eligible as he was "46 in wrestling years."