This is the third and final part of our countdown celebrating the best in women's wrestling in 2017. Parts 1 & 2 can be found here and here.
15. Alexa Bliss
The curious case of Alexa Bliss, who was never in the title picture in NXT but started the year as Smackdown women's champion and ended it with the Raw belt. She is one of the most divisive wrestlers in the whole of WWE but my take on it is that she is improving in the ring and is capable of putting on good matches with the right opponent. Where she excels is in her promo work, not necessarily in content but in delivery. She even tried her best to do something with the shitshow that was Bayley This Is Your Life.
14. Rosemary
Rosemary has been hands down the best thing about the Impact Wrestling Knockouts division, and probably the whole company, and she held the Knockouts title for the first half of the year. She has a gimmick that sets her apart from most other female wrestlers and it led to a pair of really good gimmick matches against Jade (AKA Mia Yim), one was Monsters Ball and the other was Last Knockout Standing. She also wrestled on the independent scene in both the US and the UK, having title matches in Shimmer and RISE.
13. Candice LeRae
Candice is somebody that really made her name by wrestling in matches against men. This allowed her to do things that she wouldn't have necessarily been able to do if she were always wrestling other women. It is also the reason that she is such a good fit for the underdog role against bigger more vicious wrestlers, as seen in her Mae Young Classic match against Shayna Baszler. She has had good matches in PROGRESS and Shimmer and continues her World's Cutest Tag Team with Joey Ryan.
12. Ruby Riott
Ruby Riott's first match this year was her first WWE match, and at the time she was still wrestled under her previous name Heidi Lovelace. She made her first in ring TV appearance at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, teaming with Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong and Tye Dillinger in a very good match against SAnitY. From there on in she was involved in the upper echelons of the NXT women's division and had consistently good to great matches before moving up to the main roster on Smackdown.
11. Viper/Piper Niven
Piper Niven was arguably the most consistent performer in the Mae Young Classic, having great matches against Santana Garrett and Toni Storm, but she also had a great year elsewhere. In addition to working matches against the best the UK has to offer she was also a staple of the Stardom roster, meaning she was competing against a other top female wrestlers in the regularly. This is another wrestler that has good matches night in, night out that the WWE should really consider signing.
10. Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks is pretty much the mirror version of Alexa Bliss. While she is one of the most reliable in ring performers in the women's division, her mic work isn't up to the same standards. In previous years she would have been ranked higher but she is a victim of how the WWE is booking it's women's divisions. With all the multi-woman matches she hasn't had the chance to craft truly memorable performances.
9. Nikki Cross
I don't think there is a single female wrestler that is more in tune with their gimmick than Nikki Cross. She has consistently been one of the best things on NXT this year, with both her promos and matches being highly entertaining. The title matches against Asuka were great, with the Last Woman Standing Match from NXT TV in June being the particular highlight. It was a wild brawl that was one of the best TV matches to take place in WWE this year.
8. Ember Moon
Ember Moon has been a success story for WWE this year. While her character could do with some fleshing out, she has had a great year from an in ring perspective. Her feud with Asuka produced a pair of top notch matches at TakeOver: Orlando and TakeOver: Brooklyn III, with the second of those matches being a particular highlight. After Asuka vacated the title Ember won a 4-way at TakeOver: WarGames to take NXT forward into 2018.
7. Charlotte Flair
While I was compiling this list it became apparent that, for the most part, the current booking of the women's divisions on the main roster has made it difficult for the wrestlers to have the quality years they should. This is evident from Charlotte's 2017. She is good on the mic and is clearly very gifted in the ring but the opportunities to show this are more sparse than they should be. When she has been given the chance though, such as her match with Bayley in February or her matches with Naomi, she proves that she is in the upper echelon of female wrestlers. Hopefully better booking allows her more time to shine in 2018.
6. Mayu Iwatani
Mayu Iwatani is an incredible wrestler. She wrestles for Stardom in Japan and with their wealth of talent she is involved in great matches all the time. She made it to the final of Stardom's Cinderella tournament and held the company's World of Stardom, Wonder of Stardom and High Speed titles at various points during the year. Her match against Kairi Hojo (now Kairi Sane) is superb and her champion vs champion match against Io Shirai is a thing of wonder. Best of all she is only 24.
5. Meiko Satomura
Satomura's home promotion is Sendai Girls but she was also involved in matches in a whole host of other promotions during 2017. The 22 year veteran put on great matches with Chihiro Hashimoto, both as a partner and an opponent. My favourite Satomura match of 2017 though was the final of Chikara's King of Trios tournament where she teamed with Cassandra Miyagi & DASH Chisako to face British Strong Style. The story of Pete Dunne bullying the two smaller members of the team, before Satomura came in and fucked him up, was great. If you get the opportunity you should check it out.
4. Toni Storm
There aren't many 22 year olds that are in as good a place in their career as Toni Storm. She is the current PROGRESS women's champion along with being the World of Stardom champion and she has held the SWA Undisputed World Women's Championship for 527 days. She also won Stardom's Cinderella and 5 Star Grand Prix tournaments, in addition to the Femmes Fatales tournament in wXw. She was part of a number of great matches in the Mae Young Classic, particularly against Piper Niven and Kairi Sane, and has been consistently good whoever she has been paired against.
3. Kairi Sane
Kairi Sane has the prettiest looking finisher in all of wrestling, that diving elbow is a thing of beauty. She also happens to be a fantastic wrestler. She spent the first half of the year wrestling for Stardom, under the name Kairi Hojo, where she had great matches against Io Shirai & Jungle Kyona among others. She then signed for the WWE and won the Mae Young Classic, putting on impressive performances in her matches against Toni Storm, Bianca Belair and Tessa Blanchard. She has already been involved in the title picture in NXT and she is over with the crowd. She should have a great 2018.
2. Io Shirai
To be completely frank, Io Shirai is the best female wrestler in the world, in fact she is one of the best wrestlers regardless of gender. She would have been first on this list if I did it in 2016 and she will probably be top in 2018. The only real blip that she had this year was that she unable to sign with the WWE when both sides seemed close to a deal. The standard of matches she has put on has been fantastic again this year with her matches against Mayu Iwatani, Kairi Hojo & Shayna Baszler being the pinnacle of Joshi wrestling in 2017.
1. Asuka
Io Shirai may be the better wrestler but Asuka has had the better year. In NXT she was the most important piece of the puzzle, female or male, and on the main roster she is one of the few members of the women's roster the maintains any kind of aura about them. In a world of 50/50 booking it's refreshing to see someone so dominant that they go the whole year unbeaten and she currently stands at 159-0 in one on one singles matches. Her feud with Ember Moon produced a pair of excellent matches and her wild Last Woman Standing match with Nikki Cross was a joy to behold. I fully expect her to continue to be dominant going forward because nobody is ready for Asuka.
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