After this message I'd like the devs to move this thread to the closed sections. This thread is really becoming a useless thread not contributing anything, in fact it's really about Shu vs Lui. They both are equal in their own ways. If we are talking about battle, I'd to go with Shu. NOT because I'm a fanboy of his. It's because he is much better of a blader than Lui up to date. We should have ended this topic here. Now it's moving towards Aiga vs Shu, Lui vs Free, and the whole ranting about the rankings who is #1. I don't care who you are, where you are from, what fanbase you have. But I'll to give my honest rankings here. And there's no way anyone can say against it to override this ranking. Because it's the fact. Not my bias.
This ranking will depend on the people who actually battle in ranking/title matches. Meaning these bladers are in the rankings unlike any other mediocre bladers who are set for backgrounds. In Beyblade Burst Chouzetsu/Super Zetsu/Turbo they did said in the series. That if Aiga were to battle Valt or in fact anyone he would have to be in the rankings. That's the prior requirements that is letting people challenge other powerful bladers in the end arc of this series. Aiga got to battle Lui because Lui announced the Longinus/Luinor Cup where the champion of the whole tournament gets to battle Lui. It was that purpose Lui became cocky.
Here's the list anyways, this list is the AFTERMATH/BEGINNING Of the Gachi series (Note I'm going to add Gachi characters here because they battled someone in the rankings as well in the manga. I'll add Anime and Manga battles to justify my rankings.)
1. Aiga Akabane - (He defeated everyone, and I don't really care if it's an official or just an exhibition battle the point is he defeated everybody included the battles in the manga and anime. He defeated Free, Shu, Valt, Phi, Lui the important characters in the fanbase so he truly deserves the #1 spot you can't go away with that anyway since he is the #1 blader in the world in the end of Chouzetsu.)
2. Valt Aoi - (Our wonder boy is on the 2nd list indeed he didn't defeated Lui, and Phi. He's still on #2 because he was #1 majority of Chouzetsu. Lui wasn't able to capture Valt's title because there was a No Contest in the end. That really just proves that Lui failed. So technically in the rules of title matches Valt really won...Phi never challenged Valt because he wanted to crush Aiga then battle Valt. Which in the end he never successfully manages to do...He defeated Free, Shu, Hearts, Lui (Technically) So really Valt is the #2 since Aiga manages to defeat Valt by anime plot.)
3. Phi - (The God of Destruction is #3 on the list, he manages to defeat and break Aiga, Shu, Free, Hearts, Laban's beys debatably all good bladers on average scale. Heck he even states to be IMMORTAL which really has nothing to do with the rankings. He lost to Aiga, and never battled Valt so we can't speculate if Phi would win. That's why Phi is #3 because we never saw a battle between Phi vs Valt.)
4. Shu Kurenai - (Red Eye also known as Shu, did not have that many battles in Chouzetsu mostly they were for practice/exhibition but he just had 1 official battle between Phi. He never defeated Free after that flashback of Shu vs Free in ep 36 of Beyblade Burst God. Thus, he defeated Lui at last his main rival in Beyblade Burst. He destroyed many beys like Phi but it is not relevant if we are talking about rankings. He was #2 best blader in the world after the God Bladers Cup because Valt defeated Free because he forfeited. So Valt moved on to battle Shu, and won as expected. Since they were battling in finals comparing to semi-finals Shu is superior than Free in rankings because he PROCEEDED instead of ELIMINATED.)
5. Free De La Hoya - (The former #1 blader in the world, really had #1 purpose as Jinbee said he was really lazy in the first 40 episodes of god but went serious and that was really the point of Free. Getting him to be SERIOUS in beyblade and expose his true power. He gave all he got to battle Valt and lost, because he forfeited. People may not be satisfied with this defeat, so they did another battle between Valt vs Free as an exhibition battle. Free STILL lost against Valt giving his full power. This proves Valt is definitely superior than Free. About Lui, indeed he lost to Lui and gave the #1 title to him. He became serious and claimed it back against Lui, this time around Free didn't underestimated Lui, and Lui even got fired up and lost. Free is better than Lui hence proved because of this battle. The battle between Free vs Phi. Phi defeated Free with absolutely nothing it took for him to break Fafnir. This also proves obviously Phi is better than Free.)
6. Delta - (This character is the guy who looks partial Shu Kurenai, and partial Red Eye with that aqua hair. He managed to defeat Kit Lopez in the manga so that's why this blader is so high on the list.)
7. Kit Lopez - (Kit, the guy who is inspired by Valt. Is high on this list because he defeated Aiga on the official ranking match. Which Aiga defeated Hearts with Cho-Z Achilles, so if Kit defeats Aiga it's safe to say Kit is better than Hearts. Although, this battle may not be that important, since Aiga manages to defeat Kit later on the episodes. So Aiga is overall better. Valt manages to defeat Kit, so he is better than him as well.)
8. Hearts - (The underworld king a remade version of Kurt Baratier. Hearts younger brother of Phi is #8 because he was #1 for a while after defeating Aiga. Though, he lost against Valt, and Valt became the champion once again. Phi won against Hearts between the battle of them 2. He broke Hades, and evolved Phoenix to Dead Phoenix. We never had a battle between Hearts vs Shu, Free, Lui to prove if he is better than those 3 what can I say is that he gets this spot because he really is better than Lui for sure (which I will discuss later on) and since didn't have a battle between Hearts and Shu, Free. Hearts degrades himself on the list so he really isn't the part of Big 5 anymore.)
9. Xhakuenji Kaiza - (Xhaka aka Xander in english dub is #9 surprisingly even though he did not participate any other battle besides him vs Aiga. He is a retired blader, it is worth noting that he defeated Aiga in evil possessed version. That Lui for SURE could not do since he gave his full against Aiga in Longinus Cup and STILL lost. Really this battle justifies that Xhaka is better than Lui. Indeed he lost against Lui in God Bladers Cup but that was the past. Live on the present. He lost to Valt, Shu, Free. Didn't have a battle between Phi and Hearts if he defeated all those bladers he would definitely be the #2 best blader but he did NOT so he's #9.)
10. Lui Shirasagi - (Our former Asia Champion the White Knight Lui is #10. People may be mad about this to be honest I find this the perfect spot for Lui, because Aiga, Free, Shu, defeated him. Valt managed to hold his title against him so really it's a technical defeat. You can't go wrong about that. He defeated Xhaka in God, thus Xhaka defeated Aiga that Lui couldn't negates the fact that Xhaka is better than Lui, sadly. We never had an official/unofficial battle between Lui vs Hearts or Phi so it's just not safe to say Lui is better than those 2 especially Phi.)
11. Sisco Karlisle - (Yes, you heard it right Sisco aka Silas is better than Fubuki, Suoh, Laban, Xavier/Xhan because those 4 did not battle an official/unofficial between Sisco or Kurt so it's safe to place those 2 here since back when I said in order to challenge someone official/unofficially you have to be in the rankings/or the challenger accepts his will.)
12. Kurt Baratier - (The underworld emperor who did not make an appearance after his title battle against Valt. Since he was #6 best blader in the world after God Bladers Cup, he got bumped down on the list because new powerful bladers took place.)
13, 14, 15 16... I'll leave that up to you all.
you better watch this if you want nostalgia over these years. MEP Legendary:
https://youtu.be/BxXAlIpZ-ns