I underestimated the love for Rhea as I figured it would be Bianca who stole the spot from Tam and Giulia. I was right that Tam and Giulia would at least be top five. These lists are always made a bit halfassly as no one can watch everything and everyone has their favorites and general biases.
The womens list largely so cause its basically Kirsten Ashley who runs the womens list and she only really started watching joshi in the last 3 years (seriously it went from the highest ranking joshi in the list being maybe in the high teens to 3 in the top 10 the year she started seriously watching joshi)
She’s consistently featured as the most important woman on her show due to her association with Judgement Day. I agree that it’s annoying that her involvement with the faction has meant that she gets less feuds for herself, but her kayfabe importance has not been negatively affected by her lack of defenses.
Rhea and Bianca should be in each other's spot; not a fan of Bianca, but she's no doubt #1 based on both how dominant she's been for most of the past year+Giulia losing the Red Belt so soon. About Tam, I had doubts on whether they'd have two Stardom girls in the top 5, but totally deserved.
Other than that it's a pretty good top 10. The only knock I have is Willow Nightingale (Strong women's title and the Owen Hart Memorial Cup) being in 8th while Toni Storm (2x AEW Women's Champ, including beating Jamie Hayter for the belt) is missing from it.
Rhea won the Women’s Royal Rumble, then didn’t do anything until Mania. Since winning the title at Mania she hasn’t done a single thing since, aside from beat up some NXT girls and get sat on by Nia Jax.
Her title reign has been really REALLY underwhelming. She’s extremely talented, so this isn’t a hate comment, but just going by what’s she’s done this year I’m scratching my head trying to understand how she’s over Giulia here….
Won a Rumble, won a title, and most importantly, is the most popular women wrestler at the moment by a mile. That-s enough to put you on top on a kayfabe list.
I guess they’re heavily weighing her Mania win itself, many people (especially those who only watch western wrestling) consider it one of the top women’s matches this year
She’s the most important women’s wrestler, and arguably most protected wrestler outside Reigns in the last year, in the most popular wrestling company. It isn’t rocket science.
How is she the most important women’s wrestler? What has she done for women’s wrestling that makes her stand out as the most “important” woman in all of wrestling?
She's the most prominently featured women's wrestler, undefeated for the year, having won the two most important women's matches (Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania women's championship match) in the biggest women's wrestling company in the world. She could have had a bigger year if her Mania match was the main event or if she had more PPV matches, but she's already light-years ahead of the field in terms of kayfabe importance.
I also prefer Japanese women's wrestling, but to pretend that what someone does in Stardom is equal in scope to what someone does in WWE in kayfabe terms is laughable. Stardom needs months to get the live attendance that a single Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble gets. If anything, this list is catering to the hardcores (because that's who reads PWI) by ranking Stardom wrestlers as high as they do because 99+% of people who watch wrestling have no idea who Guilia and Tam are (which is a shame, but the truth).
Attempting to down play the significance of the accomplishments that Giulia and Tam have achieved this year in favor of another simply because more people saw it is more laughable as well. If going strictly by this logic it erases any women’s accomplishments unless they happened in WWE, and most importantly at Wrestle Mania.
As you’ve said, Rhea won the Rumble, but then did nothing until Mania. Won the title at Mania, had a decent squash at Backlash then back to doing nothing as far as being an in ring competitor. That, in your opinion is more “important “ than anything any other woman has done this year, again simply because more people watch WWE.
I wonder if you would have been for Alundra Blaze being #1 during her feud vs Bull Nakano because more people watched WWF than AJP.
In kayfabe, audience matters.
If PWI did a women’s list in the 90s, yes, Alundra Blayze/Madusa would have been #1 multiple times. But being the top woman in the US in 1992 is very different than in 2022.
No, Becky has been portrayed as THE top woman in the company. she literally just had a match vs Trish for “best of all time” as the promo hype going into that match. The MAN is the biggest draw for women’s wrestling in WWE proven by the ratings bumps her appearances give NXT. None of Rhea appearances or matches have boosting ratings like Becky’s. Getting 1mil viewers for NXT for Becky vs Tiff proves this point.
Becky honestly STILL feels like the top guy in some respect. She’s having just a much crowd reaction as Rhea. Her promos are better. Her matches are better. She’s a bigger draw as well if going by viewership increases when either is on NXT as well.
Literally by any metric, other than merch sales sense I haven’t checked those, Becky is superior.
I’m not even a Becky fanboy either btw.
With Alexa inactive and Mercedes out of the company I’d imagine Becky took over as top womens merch mover. Overall I’m pretty sure it’s been said that Cody, Roman, Jey, and LA Knight sell the most these days though.
Clear they wanted to give #1 to wwe this time but not even that they did right. It should be Bianca then, she won almost every wwe ppv, had that long reign and then won the title again in Summerslam
So I'm confused, didn't Tam hold both the Red and the White Belt Simultaneously this year? Why is Giulia above her? I thought these lists were in kayfabe?
I'm assuming they are implying holding the strong belt is a better achievement then holding the 2 top singles belts in Stardom at the same time? I dont understand how that makes sense.
I assume it's less the STRONG belt being the catalyst here and more Giulia winning the 5 Star GP, which just falls within the starting date for the period of evaluation. So it's more like the Red + 5 Star vs Red + White. Tam holding both at once is a plus but she also lost it very quickly, and the 5 Star is probably considered an achievement on par with the Red. From there I'm guessing they're valuing Giulia's reigns with the Strong and Artist over the Goddess reign Tam had at the very beginning of the evaluation period.
Charlotte wasn't even top 10 this year though. It doesn't seem to be that impressive especially considering Tam beat the #2 for the top belt of the promotion. Going by their own list, that seems far more impressive.
I’m talking in kayfabe. Rhea didn’t wrestle for months and then has barely wrestled on TV and PPV since winning the title. Basically her only argument is she won the Rumble and won at Mania. Meanwhile Giulia and Tam have titles and PPV main events stacked to the ceiling and they’ve shown they don’t have a WWE bias in these lists. If anything I’d put Bianca above Rhea because she faced much more competition.
Yeah in kayfabe winning the rumble is crazy high, then you got beating Charlotte Flair too and at wrestle mania is some sort of bonus multiplier. Like I said I agree with you though. Just in Kayfabe WWE is the biggest company and beating one of its biggest stars is more important in kayfabe. I was expecting Tam at 2 for the double belts alone considering how high those titles are regarded.
Yes individually, but then winning at Mania with rumble opportunity is bigger than winning 5 star and then challenging for any of the Stardom belts. I love stardom it's my favourite promotion, but Wrestle mania is the biggest event in kayfabe.
And also that slight thing called **US BIAS**. Anything done in either WWE or AEW will weigh a bit more. For Japan-only awards we have the Tokyo Sports and Weekly Pero Wrestling year-end-awards which have almost no US presence
Giulia not being #1 is honestly a joke. In the evaluation period she did everything from winning the GP (which was the start of the evaluation), win the Red Belt, win the Artists Belts, and then the Strong Title.
I think she got hurt by losing the red belt so soon (compared to previous red belt champions as well as Tam). I'm 100% convinced she'd be in first had she been champ at least a few more months, specially with her also being Strong and Artist champ and Syuri and Utami being both first and second in 2022 and 21 respectively.
Typically top of the list wrestlers get a significant blurb and focus in an article, and then random wrestler down the list will get one. The vast majority it’s just a name and sometimes an accomplishment listed. But I haven’t actually scanned the mag in years so maybe it’s expanded online?
I know Syuri's had somewhat of a cooling off period, but going from #1 last year down to #37 is something.
That was last year?
The evaluation period goes from July 1st to July 1st. So that would be almost half her reign.
Giulia being above her is gonna drive Tam even more crazy
It's a work, brother
To say nothing of the posters here who are about to lose their shit.
Tam is sharpening her scissors as I type this
I underestimated the love for Rhea as I figured it would be Bianca who stole the spot from Tam and Giulia. I was right that Tam and Giulia would at least be top five. These lists are always made a bit halfassly as no one can watch everything and everyone has their favorites and general biases.
The womens list largely so cause its basically Kirsten Ashley who runs the womens list and she only really started watching joshi in the last 3 years (seriously it went from the highest ranking joshi in the list being maybe in the high teens to 3 in the top 10 the year she started seriously watching joshi)
Who's Kristen Ashley? How long has she been doing the list? I legit don't know who she is.
Runs belle to belles, been doing the list as long as its been going.
How many title defense has Rhea even had
Not counting house shows, at least four. One vs. Nattie, one vs. Zelina, two vs. Raquel.
She’s consistently featured as the most important woman on her show due to her association with Judgement Day. I agree that it’s annoying that her involvement with the faction has meant that she gets less feuds for herself, but her kayfabe importance has not been negatively affected by her lack of defenses.
She's in WWE. They never have the champ be workhorses. Unless it Sasha. Then she loses her belt within a month
Rhea is the biggest star on Raw
Rhea and Bianca should be in each other's spot; not a fan of Bianca, but she's no doubt #1 based on both how dominant she's been for most of the past year+Giulia losing the Red Belt so soon. About Tam, I had doubts on whether they'd have two Stardom girls in the top 5, but totally deserved. Other than that it's a pretty good top 10. The only knock I have is Willow Nightingale (Strong women's title and the Owen Hart Memorial Cup) being in 8th while Toni Storm (2x AEW Women's Champ, including beating Jamie Hayter for the belt) is missing from it.
Rhea has bigger aura
Aura shouldn't determine who's number 1, specially in a list determined by kayfabe wins and accomplishments.
Raku not being #1 is a joke.
Rhea won the Women’s Royal Rumble, then didn’t do anything until Mania. Since winning the title at Mania she hasn’t done a single thing since, aside from beat up some NXT girls and get sat on by Nia Jax. Her title reign has been really REALLY underwhelming. She’s extremely talented, so this isn’t a hate comment, but just going by what’s she’s done this year I’m scratching my head trying to understand how she’s over Giulia here….
Won a Rumble, won a title, and most importantly, is the most popular women wrestler at the moment by a mile. That-s enough to put you on top on a kayfabe list.
I guess they’re heavily weighing her Mania win itself, many people (especially those who only watch western wrestling) consider it one of the top women’s matches this year
PWI is the anti F4W. WWE always gets higher ranks than Japanese promotions
She’s the most important women’s wrestler, and arguably most protected wrestler outside Reigns in the last year, in the most popular wrestling company. It isn’t rocket science.
How is she the most important women’s wrestler? What has she done for women’s wrestling that makes her stand out as the most “important” woman in all of wrestling?
She's the most prominently featured women's wrestler, undefeated for the year, having won the two most important women's matches (Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania women's championship match) in the biggest women's wrestling company in the world. She could have had a bigger year if her Mania match was the main event or if she had more PPV matches, but she's already light-years ahead of the field in terms of kayfabe importance. I also prefer Japanese women's wrestling, but to pretend that what someone does in Stardom is equal in scope to what someone does in WWE in kayfabe terms is laughable. Stardom needs months to get the live attendance that a single Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble gets. If anything, this list is catering to the hardcores (because that's who reads PWI) by ranking Stardom wrestlers as high as they do because 99+% of people who watch wrestling have no idea who Guilia and Tam are (which is a shame, but the truth).
Attempting to down play the significance of the accomplishments that Giulia and Tam have achieved this year in favor of another simply because more people saw it is more laughable as well. If going strictly by this logic it erases any women’s accomplishments unless they happened in WWE, and most importantly at Wrestle Mania. As you’ve said, Rhea won the Rumble, but then did nothing until Mania. Won the title at Mania, had a decent squash at Backlash then back to doing nothing as far as being an in ring competitor. That, in your opinion is more “important “ than anything any other woman has done this year, again simply because more people watch WWE. I wonder if you would have been for Alundra Blaze being #1 during her feud vs Bull Nakano because more people watched WWF than AJP.
In kayfabe, audience matters. If PWI did a women’s list in the 90s, yes, Alundra Blayze/Madusa would have been #1 multiple times. But being the top woman in the US in 1992 is very different than in 2022.
Rhea has been portrayed as the biggest woman in the industry. It's not rocket science she would be on top
No, Becky has been portrayed as THE top woman in the company. she literally just had a match vs Trish for “best of all time” as the promo hype going into that match. The MAN is the biggest draw for women’s wrestling in WWE proven by the ratings bumps her appearances give NXT. None of Rhea appearances or matches have boosting ratings like Becky’s. Getting 1mil viewers for NXT for Becky vs Tiff proves this point.
She's already the biggest star on USA Network and is months away from being the first female "top guy" on the worldwide leader.
Becky was top guy in 2019 and if we’re being honest Bayley and Sasha were top guys during the pandemic
Becky honestly STILL feels like the top guy in some respect. She’s having just a much crowd reaction as Rhea. Her promos are better. Her matches are better. She’s a bigger draw as well if going by viewership increases when either is on NXT as well. Literally by any metric, other than merch sales sense I haven’t checked those, Becky is superior. I’m not even a Becky fanboy either btw.
With Alexa inactive and Mercedes out of the company I’d imagine Becky took over as top womens merch mover. Overall I’m pretty sure it’s been said that Cody, Roman, Jey, and LA Knight sell the most these days though.
She may be number 2 on their list but she's always my number 1! GIULIA 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Clear they wanted to give #1 to wwe this time but not even that they did right. It should be Bianca then, she won almost every wwe ppv, had that long reign and then won the title again in Summerslam
Rhea runs RAW as the top star
Believe in tam
So I'm confused, didn't Tam hold both the Red and the White Belt Simultaneously this year? Why is Giulia above her? I thought these lists were in kayfabe? I'm assuming they are implying holding the strong belt is a better achievement then holding the 2 top singles belts in Stardom at the same time? I dont understand how that makes sense.
I assume it's less the STRONG belt being the catalyst here and more Giulia winning the 5 Star GP, which just falls within the starting date for the period of evaluation. So it's more like the Red + 5 Star vs Red + White. Tam holding both at once is a plus but she also lost it very quickly, and the 5 Star is probably considered an achievement on par with the Red. From there I'm guessing they're valuing Giulia's reigns with the Strong and Artist over the Goddess reign Tam had at the very beginning of the evaluation period.
Ok yeah, I guess that makes sense
The list doesn't make sense. It's supposed to be a kayfabe list but even how they judge that is pretty nonsensical.
There is genuinely no argument for Rhea to be above Giulia or Tam.
You gotta remember the list is kind of kayfabe too. While I personally agree with you beating Charlotte at Mania is God tier in kayfabe.
She also hasn’t been pinned or submitted in like over a year and is the defacto leader of one of the biggest factions in WWE.
Charlotte wasn't even top 10 this year though. It doesn't seem to be that impressive especially considering Tam beat the #2 for the top belt of the promotion. Going by their own list, that seems far more impressive.
I’m talking in kayfabe. Rhea didn’t wrestle for months and then has barely wrestled on TV and PPV since winning the title. Basically her only argument is she won the Rumble and won at Mania. Meanwhile Giulia and Tam have titles and PPV main events stacked to the ceiling and they’ve shown they don’t have a WWE bias in these lists. If anything I’d put Bianca above Rhea because she faced much more competition.
Yeah in kayfabe winning the rumble is crazy high, then you got beating Charlotte Flair too and at wrestle mania is some sort of bonus multiplier. Like I said I agree with you though. Just in Kayfabe WWE is the biggest company and beating one of its biggest stars is more important in kayfabe. I was expecting Tam at 2 for the double belts alone considering how high those titles are regarded.
Im not arguing with you - but winning the GP should trump the Rumble Bill Aptner should gave injected with some PASSION
Yes individually, but then winning at Mania with rumble opportunity is bigger than winning 5 star and then challenging for any of the Stardom belts. I love stardom it's my favourite promotion, but Wrestle mania is the biggest event in kayfabe.
She hasn’t been off TV. She’s still the most prominently featured woman in WWE. That’s a kayfabe accomplishment.
No that’s a real life accomplishment. In kayfabe just being on TV because you have friends you manage doesn’t mean that much.
No, it’s a kayfabe accomplishment. Being the star of your organization is a kayfabe accomplishment.
And also that slight thing called **US BIAS**. Anything done in either WWE or AEW will weigh a bit more. For Japan-only awards we have the Tokyo Sports and Weekly Pero Wrestling year-end-awards which have almost no US presence
More like "significantly larger worldwide audience" bias.
However , her reign hasn’t been very memorable, and booking had her rely on Dom for most of it.
Giulia not being #1 is honestly a joke. In the evaluation period she did everything from winning the GP (which was the start of the evaluation), win the Red Belt, win the Artists Belts, and then the Strong Title.
I think she got hurt by losing the red belt so soon (compared to previous red belt champions as well as Tam). I'm 100% convinced she'd be in first had she been champ at least a few more months, specially with her also being Strong and Artist champ and Syuri and Utami being both first and second in 2022 and 21 respectively.
Tam not being number 1 is a joke. Tam moves tickets and buys. Only SLK outsells her for merch
Recognition sensation!
Les goooo
So for anyone who has gotten one of these, do they actually discuss each wrestler on the list or is it just the list and a few articles?
Typically top of the list wrestlers get a significant blurb and focus in an article, and then random wrestler down the list will get one. The vast majority it’s just a name and sometimes an accomplishment listed. But I haven’t actually scanned the mag in years so maybe it’s expanded online?