The 411 Wrestling Top 5 12.02.09: Week 51 – Women Wrestlers

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions.

So, on to this week’s topic…

THE TOP 5 WOMEN WRESTLERS

Because let’s face it, wrestling isn’t just for the boys anymore.

So what did our group of writers select? Let’s find out…

Ryan Byers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Fabulous Moolah – I’m not a huge fan of Moolah as a performer. She was pretty bland and only held on to her spot as the top woman wrestler in the world through political machinations that would make Hulk Hogan and Triple H roll their eyes. However, she was on top for so long and trained so many women that, regardless of my personal feelings, any list of top female wrestlers would be incomplete without her.

Trish Stratus – Trish Stratus wasn’t a great in-ring performer in the classic sense of the word. She was GREAT at putting together three to eight minute TV matches that relied mainly on certain big highspots, but she was never put in a position to do anything more than that. Stratus deserves some credit for becoming the most popular North American female wrestler of the past five years, but that’s about it.

June Byers – How could I NOT give a little love to this former NWA Women’s Champion? Nepotism never felt so good.

5.Megumi Kudoh – Kudoh may not have been the best pure “wrestler” in the world, and she definitely didn’t wrestle for the biggest of promotions. However, FMW’s Megumi Kudoh has always held a special place in my heart because she was so remarkably different form every female wrestler who came before her and every female wrestler who has come since. Kudoh was the undisputed Queen of the Deathmatches, a woman who looked like a beauty queen but wrestled like Mick Foley, regularly competing in hardcore bouts involving barbed wire, land mines, and broken glass. She was as good as if not better at putting on those types of bouts than most of the male deathmatch wrestlers of her era, which makes her immeasurably better than a lot of the wrestlers putting on those matches today. She also gets bonus points for popularizing the Kudome Valentine, one of the most brutal finishers in all of wrestling, which would go on to be known as Gregory Helms’ Vertebreaker and Homicide’s Cop Killa.

4.Penny Banner – I alluded to the Fabulous Moolah being an expert politician earlier in my list, and there is perhaps no better example of the success of her politicking than the fact that, though almost every wrestling fan of my age knows who Moolah is, few to none of them know the first thing about Penny Banner. Banner, who made her debut in professional wrestling just five years after Moolah did, quickly became the best female in-ring performer of her era. Her feud with the aforementioned June Byers was the stuff of legend, leading to Banner holding many prominent women’s titles on both national and regional levels. Unfortunately, when Moolah took over women’s wrestling in the United States, Banner was not part of and did not want to become part of her troupe, so she was forced into relative obscurity for quite some time despite being more talented than Moolah and the majority of her hangers on. Penny’s excellent autobiography, Banner Days, has brought some attention back to the under-appreciated Banner in recent years, and I highly recommend that anybody who is interested in women’s wrestling check it out.

3.Aja Kong – “God made the devil just for fun . . . but when he wanted the real thing he made AJA KOOOOOOONG!” That’s an actual lyric from one of the theme songs that Aja Kong used in the mid-1990’s, and, if you’ve ever watched her wrestle in a big match situation, it’s hard to believe that it’s not true. The daughter of a Japanese native and an African American serviceman stationed in the country, Kong reportedly had difficulty finding a place where she could truly fit in within Japanese society until she stumbled across professional wrestling. After training with All Japan Women, she debuted as a wrestler in 1986, and it became clear almost immediately that she was going to be one of the most physical, rough and tumble fighters that joshi had ever seen. Her style made her into a top star in relatively short order, as she won AJW’s vaunted WWWA World Heavyweight Title on two separate occassions and feuded with every top woman from the glory days of joshi puroresu, including Bull Nakano, Manami Toyota, and many more. The scary thing is that Kong is still fairly active in wrestling today, and, even though she is not quite as good as she was in her prime, she is still capable of pulling out the periodic awesome performance, and, regardless of whether her matches are technical masterpieces, she is still just as physical and intimidating as ever.

2.Lioness Asuka – Lioness Asuka is noteworthy in my mind not because she had one act that made her hugely popular which held on to throughout her entire career. Instead, Asuka is noteworthy in my book because she was able to reinvent herself over the years with each new persona being as effective as the last. When Asuka made her professional wrestling debut in the early 1980’s, she was one half of the Crush Gals tag team with Chigusa Nagayo. The Crush Gals were an INSANELY popular duo, essentially bring joshi into the mainstream in Japan, as their schtick became incredibly popular with teenage girls, making AJW’s regular television broadcasts very highly rated programs on Fuji TV and even leading into a recording career for Asuka and Nagayo that produced numerous singles that hit the top ten of the Japanese charts. As I said, though, Asuka isn’t just noteworth because she was one of the biggest stars in joshi as part of a teeny-bopper act that appealed to young girls. After initially retiring in the late 1980’s, she returned to the ring in the mid 1990’s, and, this time around, she managed to transform herself from a teen idol into one of the most menacing, sadistic heels that joshi had ever seen. In addition to having another run in AJW after her career revival, she was also instrumental in the success of its offshoot promotions GAEA Japan and ARSION, which carried the mantle for joshi in the early part of this decade when AJW was on its downswing.

1.Manami Toyota – When author John Molinaro wrote the book The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time in 2002, Manami Toyota was the only woman to come anywhere near making the list, making its “Honorable Mentions” section. That’s not to say that Molinaro’s opinion is the end all and be all of professional wrestling, but the fact that Toyota was able to come near anybody’s list including greats like Hulk Hogan, El Santo, Ric Flair, Lou Thesz, Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, and Giant Baba is a testament to her ability and notoriety in the world of professional wrestling. Her resume clearly backs up her ranking, as she is a four time WWWA World Heavyweight Champion, has competed in an impressive NINE matches given the full five stars by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, has wrestled in two different Observer matches of the year, and was named the WON’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for 1995. Toyota is a once in a lifetime performer, and she has had a career that 90% of male wrestlers would envy, let alone female wrestlers. If you’ve never seen one of her matches from the prime of your career, you have done yourself a disservice as a wrestling fan.

Jake Chambers

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Trish Stratus – Sure, her matches were some of the best in all the WWE in 2002-4, but sadly that’s not saying much.

Lita – She captured audience attention like few women in the WWE ever had when she started leaping around, and showing a thong above her belt line.

Sara Del Ray – In the past few years, Del Ray has made women’s US independent wrestling credible, and her presence in the underground mocks the very existence of the gutless mainstream women’s wrestling today.

5. Megumi Kudo – During the tape-trading heyday of the early to mid-nineties, if you were a horror movie fan, some of the best promotions to get your hands on were Japan’s FMW and WING, because the grainy footage and ultra-violence on the screen was a scarily realistic and enjoyable alternative to the weak horror movie genre at the time (not to mention they also used Jason, Freddy and Leatherface as wrestlers). In sharp contrast to the grotesque appearances of guys like Onita, Mr. Pogo or Hayabusa, was the gorgeous Kudo, who brought the drama and technicality of the All Japan wrestling scene into the extreme death matches like few of her male peers were capable.

4. Kyoko Inoue – This face-painted, tassels-wearing, tiny dynamo, was one of my personal favorites during the 90s Japanese wrestling craze. Honestly, there are about five All Japan women wrestlers that could fill this list interchangeable below my top three, but I always preferred watching the unique Inoue over the beasts, beauties and kickers that filled out one of the best-booked promotions in history. While she might have been considered a female Ultimate Warrior look-alike because of the nature of her face paint, you would never confuse their ring work, as Inoue employed a blend of Ricky Steamboat, a young Rey Mysterio, and maybe Arn Anderson, as she was just as prolific in tag teams as she was in epic singles matches.

3. Fabulous Moolah – While I couldn’t put any of the Moolah matches I’ve ever watched on a respectable list of greatest wrestling matches of all time, like those from AJPW, in my opinion there is no female wrestler in history who’s name is more synonymous with the craft than Moolah. Most of her entire wrestling prime took place before I was even born, from the moment I was conscious to the world of wrestling (around the time of the first Wrestlemania) it was drilled into my brain that Moolah was the greatest. While she looked like my grandmother, she carried herself like a young Roddy Piper. To me, Moolah’s presence was always best compared to Piper, neither had many classic matches but their intense personalities and iconic pro-wrestling auras during the 80s always led me to consider them two of the all-time greats regardless of their body of work in the ring.

2. Manami Toyota– Toyota, unlike Moolah, has that incredible body of work that proves she is the greatest female in-ring technician of all time. Along with those FMW tapes that we used to cherish in the mid-nineties, there was nothing more awe-inspring than the All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling matches that used to blow our minds back then. Toyota was Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair combined in all those matches, setting a consistent tradition of excellent ring work that still holds up as innovative and breath-taking when you watch them today. There should be no doubt that Toyota is the best female worker in history, but is she the top woman wrestler ever? I don’t think so…

1. Chyna – Anyone who would not consider Chyna the greatest woman wrestler of all time is delusional, in my opinion. Wrestling is a worked sport, and while Chyna may not have been the best technical female of all time, compared to the AJPW stars, no other woman in history had her success in the art of professional wrestling.

She transcended the entire genre of women’s wrestling and solely competed against men at the mid or main event level during the hottest period in WWF history. That would be like Serena Williams winning a men’s Grand Slam against Pete Sampras, Michelle Wie winning the US Men’s Open over Tiger Woods, Gina Carano knocking out Lyoto Machida, hell, I would say that it’s even like if a chimp were to win Best Actor at the Academy Awards, or a fern winning the Westminster Dog Show!

In my opinion, Chyna did a pretty fantastic job in the ring as well. I’ve seen hundreds of professional, top level male wrestlers who couldn’t put on as entertaining of matches as Chyna had during her run against men like Jericho, Mankind, Holly, and the feuds with dX and the Radicalz. Also, her popularity was unmatched for a woman in the biggest pro-wrestling company in the world, possibly only next to Elizabeth as a main event caliber presence in her time.

Saying that Chyna is NOT the Top Woman wrestler of all time would be like claiming that Hulk Hogan is not the Top Male wrestler ever, or that Michael Jordan is not the best basketball player ever, that the automobile was not the greatest invention in history or that there is a better color than black. Chyna may be thought of as a bit of a joke today because of her personal life, but she should never be forgotten for her legendary accomplishments in pro-wrestling, the likes of which we will most likely never see again.

Julian Bond

DISCLAIMER: I really don’t know crap about women’s wrestling as a global whole (i.e. not too familar with women from Japan, Mexico, etc). The only thing I really know is with my experience from watching throughout the late 90s up until mainly from WWE, TNA, and some independent wrestling DVDs like ROH. So no real international names from me…mostly U.S. girls.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Manami Toyota – I’m honestly not that familar with Toyota’s work per my explanation above, but I’ve heard plenty of her from friends and people on here. After watching a good amount of her sick-looking matches online, I definitely had to mention her here. Would put her higher only if I know more about her work in the past not just through YouTube.

Sara Del Ray – Seen a good few on her matches off of my ROH DVD collection and she is one of the few holding it down very well for women on the current independent scene for the last few years.

Jazz/Molly Holly/Victoria/Gail Kim – TIE – I really wish I could list all 4 of these awesome chics on my Top 5. I think that without the work of these four in WWE/TNA that some of the major more popular women wrestlers (Stratus, Kong, Lita) maybe wouldn’t have been as great as they turned out to be. Sadly the reason I didn’t get them past honorable mentions is the fact that they never became as super-popular or were household names as the others were.

5.Awesome Kong – “Kong kills bitches dead!!”. This is the exact term I have hilariously seen over and over written by my fellow writers in their TNA PPV predictions on this site. While that make sound funny as hell when read, the truth is that if wrestling was actually real, Awesome Kong would probably be the one to actually seriously cripple her opponents. I’ve seen some pretty big women wrestlers before, but never that have actually made a beatdown on an opponent look ever so easy. On top of this, she has put on some of the best women’s wrestling matches I have personally ever seen in her series against Gail Kim. While Kim is one hell of a wrestler also, Kong really was the key in making it work with her vicious no remorse-style beatings that she put down. Definitely one of the best cause she has made it seen on US grounds that women can sometimes be just as brutal and as vicious as male wrestlers can in the ring.

4.Lita – Straight off the bat, some readers may said that Lita shouldn’t be near the top 5 since her resume doesn’t particuarly contain a whole host of 5 star matches. BUT Lita next to Chyna and Trish Stratus was one of the few in the golden age of the WWE Attitude era to get people standing up and cheering for a women’s wrestling match. While Stratus and Chyna could be said to have helped women’s wrestling become more known and popular to the mainstream, Lita may have been the one to have gotten more “everyday” watchers to become true fans. I say this because Trish seemed more like a “supermodel turned wrestler” and Chyna a “natural Amazon in the ring”, while Lita (per my observations and girls I knew who tuned in) was just a “regular down-to-earth girl” who liked to simply kick ass and take names and related a lot more to young girls at the time (i.e. no need for heavy make-up nor just bra/panties). Plus Lita’s high flying moves like her hurricaranas and moonsaults easily made for some pretty good highlight reels.

3.Chyna – I liked that at least one other person here on this week’s Top 5 listed Chyna cause no matter how screwed up her outside life has been (i.e. drugs, booze, overall craziness) wrestling fans simply cannot deny how much of an impact she has had for women wrestlers being seen in the mainstream as legit bad-asses. Sure there have been tons and tons of much better women wrestlers before AND after Chyna, but she was one of the first major ones to truly “cross the line” (excuse my corny TNA punt) in the ring by well holding her own against some very good male wrestlers including good series of matches against Chris Jericho, Jeff Jarrett, and a few others. Hell…she was and still is the only women wrestler to really get a super bad-ass looking entrance (you know…the one where she came out with a super-huge bazooka that shot out fireworks as she held it!!) that’s in comparison to many of the other great ones from the dudes and the pyro. Honestly the only things holding her back in my book from being number #1 is the fact that besides her matches against the guys, her other women’s matches weren’t all that memorable (which technically should get me shit for including her here, but I look at her overall accomplishments as a female wrestler and not just in “women’s divisions”) and the fact that she sadly didn’t go out on top in a good classy way (i.e. Trish Stratus) and instead have people remembering her “One Night In Chyna” DVD rather than the memories of her in-ring work.

2.Fabolous Moolah – Without Moolah kicking so much butt and constantly taking names as one of the first true groundbreaking women wrestlers, the whole art of “women’s wrestling” as a whole may have never gotten over with mainstream crowds. It doesn’t matter (in my book at least) that she wasn’t a technical ring master nor have the best women’s matches ever, but without her accomplishments and known noteriety in the ring as a killer heel, it could be argued that women’s wrestling today may have not existed the way it is now or possibly wouldn’t exist today at all.

1.Trish Stratus – Is Trish Stratus the best women’s wrestler based off of her in-ring work? No. Are Trish Stratus’ matches the best amongst all women wrestlers? Probably not. But if one was to take a snapshot of Trish’s overall WWE career to show an example of how women’s wrestling should be done on a good legit basic level (i.e. to the mainstream and not just us crazy fans), with just enough atheletism (diversity of moves, constantly good match pacing) and entertainment (the natural “T&A”, cool looking spots) shown in the ring without sacrificing either one, it would be the perfect shot to take. Trish is to me akin to someone like the Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin. To many hardcore fans, Rock and Austin may not be able to hold a candle in the ring to more technical and “Match of The Year regular” bad-asses like Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness. But it can be argued that Rock/Austin were able to successfully entertain the masses (which means people like my grandma and dad who do not watch wrestling and not just hardcore fans like ourselves) much more than Danielson and McGuinness could do, while also putting on a great overall match. In comparison, Trish is the same when compared to known “better” women wrestlers like Awesome Kong and Sara Del Ray. Not all of her matches were the best, but Trish always knew how to play to the crowds and you can tell that she was seriously always trying to put on a great show to whomever was watching. She first came in as a true novice in the ring with her work, worked her way up to winning the WWE Women’s Title a whopping 7 times, which is the most in WWE history (!!!), and gained INSANE amounts of popularity from the fans not just for her crazy hot looks but also for her in-ring work, and she succcessfully went out in an excellent way by winning the title one last time in her hometown of Toronto as she retired gracifully in the ring. What other women wrestler can said that about their own career?

Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Chyna – The most successful women’s wrestler of all time in WWE, with only Trish Stratus as serious competition.

Awesome Kong – A breath of fresh air on American Television, the monster heel is a brilliant addition to the TNA Knockouts and SHIMMER women’s athletes.

Lacey – I can’t not give love to this girl; she’s hot, her spoiled brat heel character is top of the line and played to perfection, and she is a crisp worker as well.

5.Kyoko Inoue – One of the most energetic wrestlers, male or female, you will see anywhere. With colorful costumes, tassels, and facepaint, the first idea that pops into your head is that this is a female Ultimate Warrior. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Kyoko can wrestle, as she proved in a ONE HOUR DRAW with Manami Toyota that was voted Dave Meltzer’s match of the year for 1995. And she can work fast and hit hard, as she proved in a tag team match with Takako Inoue (no relation) against Cutie Suzuki and Megumi Ozaki, a ****+ match by any unbiased reviewer’s opinion. Kyoko also knew when to take wrestling less seriously, delivering extremely long big swings or shaking her rear end before putting her opponents in a surfboard. This girl is amazing.

4.Akira Hokuto – There is something highly appealing about a girl that can kick your ass. Hokuto definitely fits that description. Akira was never the prettiest wrestler, either in physical appearance or her in-ring work. But she has proven her dedication to her art time and time again. Dubbed “The Dangerous Queen” by fans, Hokuto works hard and hits hard. And she takes as good as she gives. This woman has literally bled buckets for the sake of entertaining fans and proving her worth as a wrestler. Her match with Shinobu Kandori is one of the most dramatic, emotional, and violent matches, not just in women’s wrestling history, but wrestling history. But don’t think she can’t wrestle; her incredible series with Manami Toyota proved that she brings the goods in the ring as well.

3.Trish Stratus – The only non-Japanese woman on this list, and you could make an argument that she doesn’t deserve to be here, considering I’ve left out talent like Megumi Kudo, Megumi Ozaki, Lioness Asuka, Bull Nakano and so many others. But Trish is in many ways, a perfect women’s wrestler. First of all, she’s a blonde bombshell and career fitness model. While I prefer Stacy Keibler and Maria, Trish Stratus is undeniably one of the hottest women of all time. She also mastered playing the roles of babyface and heel, as she was great at both. She managed teams, she’s been involved in soap opera storylines that were entertaining. And she wrestled. While no one will confuse her as the greatest female in-ring worker, she created a style that appealed to wrestling purists and sports entertainment fans as well. She worked very hard to grow as a wrestler and was probably the most improved wrestler of the decade. Through her work, she earned the love, respect and admiration of her peers and her millions of male and female fans. For my money, she is the greatest American Female Wrestler of all time, and whoever is second is a distant second.

2.Aja Kong – Take Vader. Add Samoa Joe. Mix in a little Abdullah the Butcher for good measure. Sounds like a template for a great monster heel, right? Well, SHE exists. Aja Kong is an awesome, amazing wrestler. She can stretch you out, she can knock you out, or throw you around. It’s her prerogative. If Kong was a male, she would be amazing. But honestly, she benefits from wrestling females, because most female wrestlers in Japan are half of her size. Watching her kick, punch, crush, stretch, slam and piledrive helpless young women is a brutal experience. Depending on my mood, it makes me cheer for the smaller girls to overcome the odds, or I take sick pleasure in watching the woman-beast destroy the poor ladies. Either way, it’s a Hell of a good time. And while Awesome Kong may have her namesake, she isn’t a patch on the original. KONG IS QUEEN!

1.Manami Toyota – Joshi puro, or Japanese women’s wrestling, is one of my favorite things in the wrestling world. Like almost all Japanese wrestlers, Japanese women are trained to be hard workers that only put out the highest quality of wrestling. But they also bring something new to the table. Women by nature are more emotional and dramatic than men, and that emotion and drama carries over into the ring. And in wrestling, there is nothing more important than creating an authentic emotional investment in your fans. When you watch these girls wrestle, you are in awe of their ability to work at a level that crushes most male wrestlers, Japanese or otherwise. But as you watch longer, you feel the anger, the pain, the sadness and the joy of your favorites. These girls can be sweet and sexy, harsh and bitchy, tough and violent, or brave and inspiring depending on their mood and the story that needs to be told. It is some of the greatest wrestling in the world. And the Queen of Joshi is Manami Toyota.

I could let Manami Toyota’s record speak for itself. Dave Meltzer has rated EIGHT Manami Toyota matches five stars. Two of those matches were rated as Match of the Year in 1993 and 1995. In 1995 she was voted as Most Outstanding Wrestler, an award that has been given to such greats as Ric Flair, Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Kurt Angle, Jushin Liger, Chris Benoit, Samoa Joe, and Bryan Danielson. This gives you an idea of the class of worker she was in her prime. You want the kicker? She was TWENTY-FIVE when she won that award. In 2002, at age 32, she was inducted into The Wrestling Observer’s Hall of Fame. That’s what “The Meltz” has to say about Toyota. She deserves every bit of it.

Now, here’s what I have to say about Toyota. I am twenty years old. I’ve been watching wrestling as long as I can remember. These days, more often than not, I am a critic first and a fan second. On one hand are a select few wrestlers who make me a fan first and a critic second. Flair. Guerrero. Misawa. Danielson. The last one is Manami Toyota. When Toyota screams in agony, I wince. When she screams in anger, I glare. When she defiantly refuses to give up, I smile. When she runs and jumps to the top rope and hits a moonsault without missing a beat, my jaw drops. When she delivers a variation of a suplex I’ve never seen before, I shake my head in wonder. When she drops an opponent on their head with the Victory Star Drop, I lose all pretext of being a smark. When she wins, I clap. When she loses, I still clap. That’s Manami Toyota, one of the greatest wrestlers, male or female, to grace a wrestling ring.

Mathew Sforcina

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Trish Stratus, Manami Toyota, Cheerleader Melissa, Ivory, Tori, The Jumping Bomb Angels, Amazing Kong, Daffney, Chyna, MsChif, Sara Del Ray, Daizee Haze & The Fabulous Moolah – All great, but they just can’t crack the top 5, alas.

5.The Head Ho – While this woman failed, overall, in her ‘Save The Hos’ campaign, one memorable spot gets her here. One episode of Raw, she tried valiantly, once again, to get the Goodfather to return to his proper ways of being a man who has a gaggle of women whose virtue is negotiable. When he refused, he did so in a very mean way, tossing this woman through a table. This one spot gets her this position, because even for 2001 WWF, that was a hell of a spot.

4.Head Bitch In Charge – See, I can be Snobby Indy Darling too. This woman paved the way for Cheerleader Melissa, playing the bitchy cheerleader long before Melissa thought about it. So there! Well, actually, she was a year or two behind Melissa, but she’s still better in my book.

3.Queen Victoria – Another Indy Darling of mine, this beautiful Princess of a woman terrorized OVW, leading, of all people, The Basham Brothers to success, her managerial skills and clearly only them getting Doug to the OVW Heavyweight Championship. Clearly not a woman to mess with.

2.Tara – My current favourite wrestler, TNA’s Spider Woman, she’s one hell of a competitor. A criminally short run as Knockouts Champion will, I’m sure, be rectified soon. Just a superb athlete, and damm hot to boot. But not actually holding the title she deserves right now is what costs her the top spot…

1.Victoria – My All Time favourite wrestler, Victoria has it all. The looks, the skill, the toughness, the moves. Some of my all time favourite moments and matches are thanks to her (and only her!), and she’s just the single best woman in the history of everything. And if you don’t agree, you’re either gay or a communist. Or a gay communist. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of them.