SINCE 2008, PRO Wrestling Illustrated magazine has published a version of the ranking you are about to read. It began life as the “Female 50,” with Awesome Kong as #1 in the first-ever edition. Other early “Female 50s” noted the rising influence of SHIMMER and independent women’s promotions, as Madison Eagles and Cheerleader Melissa topped the 2011 and 2013 lists, respectively.
By the time the list doubled in size in 2018, WWE’s “Women’s Revolution” had resulted in wider mainstream acceptance of women’s wrestling as something worthy of celebration. Ronda Rousey was the top-ranked wrestler in that edition. And, when the ranking grew again in 2021—becoming the “Women’s 150”—Bianca Belair was the eighth WWE wrestler in as many years to rank first.
In 2022, Stardom’s Syuri made history as the first athlete competing in a Japanese women’s promotion to be selected as our #1 wrestler. With the January 2023 arrival of Mercedes Mone in Japan, we’ve seen even more North American and European wrestling enthusiasts take an interest in joshi promotions, including Stardom, TJPW, and Pro Wrestling WAVE.
Video streaming has made it easier than ever for readers of this magazine to enjoy women’s promotions and divisions worldwide, but also for wrestlers and promoters to tune in. As pandemic-era travel restrictions have been cast aside, overseas bookings are now much more common—allowing women wrestlers additional opportunities for personal growth and to make a living.
Thus, ask anybody involved: Our 2022 “Women’s 150” list was likely our most competitive ranking to date. And so, with an increasing number of talented women vying for a limited number of spots, we have once again opted to increase the magic number by 100.
To be sure, pro wrestling is still in many ways a male-dominated sport. PWI Contributing Writer Kristen Ashly conducted a 2023 study of top American promotions and noted the portion of each weekly TV program devoted to women’s matches. Most of the shows studied, from promotions including WWE, AEW, and even IMPACT, struggled to feature women even 33% of the time.
Yet, we’d be disingenuous to imply we’ve not seen growth when it comes to women in wrestling. Whenever promotions devote sufficient, meaningful attention to their women’s divisions, fans respond in kind. WWE has proven this time and again with spiked TV ratings, positive media coverage, and skyhigh merch sales as it has capitalized on the popularity of Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and many others.
This is by no means limited to WWE. For instance, tickets to the NWA Empowerrr pay-per-view in 2021 sold like hotcakes, and diehard fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. That same year, AEW brass discovered they had a star in Britt Baker, who took home three plaques in our annual, fan-voted Achievement Awards. And, lest we forget, the highest-rated TV segments in IMPACT Wrestling history featured the Knockouts. To this day, the division is consistently praised as a highlight of the company’s efforts.
And yes, when PWI has featured more women’s wrestling stories within its pages, we’ve noticed that we often see an uptick in sales. Dating back to the days of Mildred Burke, notions that women’s wrestling doesn’t draw are simply untrue.
In the interest of fairness, we try to think of our different rankings as reflecting different athletic divisions—not unlike other professional sports with both men’s and women’s leagues. Of course, pro wrestling is a bit of a different beast. Some competitors have ranked on our Women’s lists and the “PWI 500” for the same year, based on their simultaneous accomplishments in women’s divisions and intergender or heavyweight contention.
In an industry where such competitors are still the exception, we feel it’s important to continue producing a robust, annual women’s ranking in addition to the “500.” That way, we can recognize accomplishments across the board and offer you more analysis to dive into. (And, if EricYoung wants to have another serious run at Knockouts championship gold, we suppose we’ll consider him for both lists, too.)
THE CRITERIA
This is the second list in our triumvirate of annual rankings—also including our “PWI 500” and Tag Team lists—with the “Women’s 250” serving as an expansion of our weekly and monthly Top 10 Women’s rankings.
EVALUATION PERIOD:
September 16, 2022–September 30, 2023
PRIMARY CRITERIA:
• IN-RING ACHIEVEMENT—Win-loss records, championships, tournaments won.
• INFLUENCE—Visibility and prestige within a promotion and/or the industry.
• TECHNICAL ABILITY—Quality of moves, matches, and ring psychology.
• COMPETITION—Success against the most varied and highest quality opponents.
• ACTIVITY—Minimum 10 singles (non-tag) matches total; or, barring this, six such matches in separate months.
RANKING COMMITTEE:
Kristen Ashly, Pat Laprade, Candace Cordelia, Karen Peterson, Warren Hayes, PatriciaRogers, and Kevin McElvaney.
ADDITIONAL BIOS WRITTEN BY:
Al Castle, David Fitzgerald Jr., and Liz Hunter.
NOTE: This list prioritizes success in singles competition and in vying for individual women’s accolades. The numbers in parentheses next to each name indicate that wrestler’s total years competing professionally and placement on last year’s list, respectively, with an “NL” designation for those who were unlisted.
1 RHEA RIPLEY
YEARS PRO: 10
2022 RANK: 42
AFFILIATION: JUDGMENT DAY
PATH TO NUMBER 1
63 IN 2018
35 IN 2019
11 IN 2020
12 IN 2021
42 IN 2022
TOP FIVE MOMENTS DURING EVALUATION PERIOD:
1. Delivered a show-stealing performance in defeating Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s championship on night one of Wrestle-Mania in Los Angeles, California, on April 1.
2. Won the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match, entering first, eliminating seven other participants, and lasting more than 61 minutes—a new record.
3. Beat the imposing Raquel Rodriguez to retain her Women’s World championship at Payback on September 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
4. Retained her title against Zelina Vega at Backlash on May 6 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, winning with her “Riptide” finisher.
5. Made quick work of Natalya to hold on to her title at Night of Champions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on May 27.
WHY SHE’S NUMBER 1:
Perhaps more than any other wrestler on the roster—male or female—Rhea Ripley may represent the future of WWE … “The Eradicator” already lays claim to several WWE records, including the first woman to win the Royal Rumble entering at number one, the first Australian-born WWE titleholder, and the first competitor to have held the NXT U.K. Women’s championship, NXT Women’s championship, WWE Women’s tag team championship, Raw Women’s championship, and Smackdown Women’s championship … And she’s still in her mid-20s … After some false starts on the WWE roster, Ripley really came into her own as a member (and, arguably, leader) of the red-hot Judgment Day stable … Although she’s the only woman in the group, that hasn’t stopped her from mixing it up with anyone in the faction’s way, male or female … As if she’s not over enough, “Mami” attracts a little extra heat via her on-screen relationship with “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio … Combines swagger, strength, athleticism, and brutality to create an unprecedented threat in WWE’s women’s division … Despite already enjoying a career year, still has multiple big money feuds ahead of her, including potential scraps with Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair.
2 GIULIA
YEARS PRO: 6
2022 RANK: 57
SIGNATURE MOVE: BIANCA (RINGS OF SATURN/CROSSFACE VARIATION)
PATH TO NUMBER 2
54 IN 2020
16 IN 2021
57 IN 2022
TOP FIVE MOMENTS DURING EVALUATION PERIOD:
1. Ended Syuri’s 365-day reign as World of Stardom champion by pinning her in a thrilling 30-minute contest at the Dream Queendom event on December 29 in Tokyo, Japan.
2. Became the second person to hold the NJPW STRONG Women’s title after defeating inaugural champion Willow Nightingale at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on July 5.
3. Won Stardom’s 2022 5STAR Grand Prix round-robin tournament, beating Tam Nakano in the final on October 1 in Tokyo.
4. Retained her World of Stardom title in a defense against Suzu Suzuki at Stardom’s 12th Anniversary Supreme Fight event on February 4 in Osaka, winning with her Northern Lights bomb finisher.
5. Teamed with her Donna Del Mondo stablemates Thekla and Mai Sakurai to win the Artist of Stardom trios title from KAIRI, Natsupoi, & Saori Anou on May 27 in Tokyo.
WHY SHE’S NUMBER 2:
Long revered as one of the most talented and charismatic competitors in all of wrestling, “Beautiful Madness” finally had the kind of year that is befitting of her limitless potential, winning the prestigious 5STAR Grand Prix and three different championships during the evaluation period, including her first “Red Belt”.. Although her premiere world championship reign was relatively short-lived, Giulia has cemented herself as a marquee attraction in Stardom, as she likely would be in any promotion … Intense and emotional wrestling style elevates many of her matches to epic sagas, as was the case in her world title win over Syuri and subsequent title loss to Tam Nakano four months later … English, Italian, and Japanese roots combine for fashionable flair and unmatched sense of style that instantly makes Giulia the center of attention, whether she’s donning braids or a shaved head … Among the dream matches still ahead for her is a long-awaited clash with Mercedes Mone, who was reportedly set to do battle with Giulia for the NJPW STRONG title before the former Sasha Banks was sidelined by an injury.
3 BIANCA BELAIR
YEARS PRO: 7
2022 RANK: 2
NICKNAME: “THE EST”
PATH TO NUMBER 3
85 IN 2018
36 IN 2019
23 IN 2020
1 IN 2021
2 IN 2022
TOP FIVE MOMENTS DURING EVALUATION PERIOD:
1. For the third consecutive year, won a world title match at WrestleMania, defeating Asuka to retain her Raw Women’s championship on April 2 in Los Angeles.
2. Had another short-lived reign as WWE Women’s champion after beating titleholder Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a triple-threat match at SummerSlam on August 5 in Detroit, Michigan.
3. Beat Bayley in Last Woman Standing match to retain her Raw Women’s title at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 5.
4. Defeated Alexa Bliss to retain her title at the Royal Rumble on January 28 in San Antonio, Texas, pinning the former champion with her Kiss of Death finisher.
5. Retained her title in a May 6 defense against Iyo Sky at Backlash in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
WHY SHE’S NUMBER 3:
Although she lost a little of the momentum that she had in 2021 and 2022, Belair remained a workhorse in WWE’s women’s divisions in 2023, and, arguably, the best pure athlete on the entire roster
