Written By: Kimmy Sokol
As we are ending a quite interesting year in the world of professional wrestling all eyes are geared towards the Pro Wrestling Illustrated lists of 2022. Earlier this month the PWI 500 dropped, listing this year’s 500 best professional wrestlers. As this sparked up quite the debate on Twitter we now turn towards the PWI 150, the list of the 150 best female talents this year. With a year full of highlighted performances this is my prediction for the top 10 of the PWI 150.
10: Jade Cargill: As someone who not only won rookie of the year in the PWI end of year awards in 2021, but also got the number 50 spot on this list last year, what a year Cargill has had. In January she became the first ever TBS Women’s champion and she is also 38-0 in her time within AEW. When Cargill first came in 2020 a lot of people were doubtful of her but if this year has shown anything she can truly accomplish anything. Now with the baddies (Red Velvet, Kierra Hogan, and Leila Grey) standing by her side who can really be the one to finally defeat “that bitch”
9: Becky Lynch: From her return last year at Summerslam to her unfortunate injury at this years biggest party of the summer what a comeback for “The Man”. Lynch held the Raw Women’s Championship for 161 days upon return and also had what is to be considered rivalry of the year with Bianca Belair. This year was really Lynch in her prime, stellar matches with great promos while being able to put younger talent on the map. Due to injury and a poor win loss record after Wrestlemania is why she is lower on the top 10 list compared to last year.
8: Mandy Rose: If you are on Tough Enough it is not very often that you have a successful WWE career. Rose became the second Tough Enough competitor to ever win a championship within WWE and has had an incredible year. She has now held the NXT Women’s championship for over 300 days and has been able to put on classic matches with some of the best that NXT has to offer. They often say that going back down to developmental can either make or break someone’s athletic career and in this scenario, it definitely made Rose’s career. While having Toxic Attraction by her side Rose is truly an unstoppable force within the NXT Women’s division.
7: Deonna Purrazo: After losing the Knockout’s championship earlier this year no one really knew what was next for Purrazo. However after capturing both the Reina de Reina & ROH Women’s championships the “champ champ” open challenge was born. Purrazo then began defending championships in a series of independent promotions around the world including an AEW Dynamite main event. Now as one half of the current Knockout’s Tag Team Champions Purrazo continues to prove why WWE really dropped the ball with the virtuosa.
6: Liv Morgan: Earlier this year she was mostly in tag team action, but now she has definitely proven that you should have all eyes on her. Morgan was the ultimate favorite to win the Money in the Bank briefcase and successfully cashed it in defeating Ronda Rousey and Natayla to capture the Smackdown Women’s championship. She has held the title for almost 100 days in her first title reign and is also the only person to defeat Rousey on multiple occasions. Morgan has definitely been an underdog in most of her WWE career, but this year she has definitely been a standout delivering constant classic matches and great in-ring promos. She is definitely a character that a lot of fans can relate to which is why her title reign has been inspiring to see!
5: Tasha Steelz: Tasha Steelz has definitely had a year to remember. Winning the first ever Women’s Ultimate X match to start her first reign as Knockouts Champion she has definitely come into her own over this past year. After her tag team partner Kierra Hogan left Impact it was going to be interesting to see what Steelz was going to do next, but she has had banger after banger this year. Her character development has also been great to see as well as amazing gear choices attributing different movies or cities that she is competing in. In an already stacked women’s division Steelz has proven why she is one of the best in the world today.
4: Thunder Rosa: My personal frenemy… Despite Rosa and I’s beef over Britt Baker, Rosa has had an incredible year. As she is running her own all female wrestling promotion in Texas (Mission Pro) she still shows up every week and delivers amazing matches. She was finally able to defeat Baker in her hometown and capture the AEW Women’s World Championship and then have amazing feuds with Toni Storm and Seerena Deeb. Although injury made her relinquish the title Rosa has definitely had a stand out year.
3: Jordynne Grace: To me, Jordynne Grace is one of the most underrated superstars today. Constantly having great promo work and matches, but never finding something to do with her on the Impact Roster. However at Slammiversary she finally won the big one and became Knockouts Women’s Champion for the second time in the first ever Queen of the Mountain match. Late last year she also became the inaugural Digital Media Champion losing it in February. Grace is a great talent to have and she definitely proved that this year.
2: Charlotte Flair: Although Flair gets her fair share of hate she definitely has had an incredible year. She had an incredible feud with Ronda Rousey and carried the Smackdown Women’s division on her back. Her promo skills have definitely improved over time and you can tell she is more comfortable on a microphone. Flair is also one of those talents that can never have a bad match. She has definitely shown why she is one of the pillars in women’s wrestling.
1: Bianca Belair: This was such a hard spot to decide, but when you think about 2022 and women’s wrestling how does Belair not come to mind. Now if this list is even close to accurate this would mean Belair would land the number one spot two years in a row, which is a rare occurrence. Belair truly had a redemption story to get her title back from Lynch starting from the bottom and ultimately winning the Elimination Chamber to get her WrESTlemania moment. Belair is also a great crossover talent to have recently participating in College Gameday Predictions and representing WWE at the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 as well as the Kentucky Derby, Rolling Loud Miami amongst other events. Being this much of a game changer as well as continuing to produce great matches and storylines every week is why I believe she will get the number one spot for the second year in a row.
