WWE's Rhea Ripley Tops Historic 2023 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women's 250 List
It's that time of year again, when Pro Wrestling Illustrated compiles its annual list of the best women's wrestlers competing today, which over the years has gone from including 50 women to 100 to 150 to this year's historic 250. This year's #1 spot went to WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley, who enjoyed a meteoric rise after ranking 42 last year.
#andNEW: Congratulations to @RheaRipley_WWE for being ranked #1 in the 2023 PWI #Womens250! To see the full list and all the analysis that comes with, pick up your copy of the latest issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated (digital edition or print preorder) at https://t.co/ylNeV87zar pic.twitter.com/cXGtWVIyga
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) October 18, 2023
Ripley was one of two WWE stars in the top ten, with Bianca Belair ranked #3. AEW's Jamie Hayter and Willow Nightingale took the #4 and #8 spots, respectively, while reigning Ring of Honor Women's Champion Athena ranked #6. The #2 spot belongs to STARDOM's Giulia, while Tam Nakano — the woman who took Giula's World of STARDOM Championship and wears it to this day — got #5. Rounding out the group is Impact Wrestling's Deonna Purrazzo at #7 and Jordynne Grace at #10, and NWA's Kamille at #9.
Interestingly, of the top ten, only Ripley, Giulia (who now holds the NJPW STRONG Women's title), Athena, and Nakano are current titleholders; AEW TBS Champion Kris Statlander, Impact Knockouts World Champion Trinity, WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY, AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida, and IWGP Women's Champion Mayu Iwatani came in at 18, 23, 24, 28, and 30, respectively. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that Saraya, who held the AEW Women's World title at the end of PWI's grading period, was all the way down at #52 in her return to the list for the first time since 2016.
The Horsewomen, dethroned
Also of note this year is the absence from the top spots of the wrestlers once known as the Four Horsewomen of WWE. For the first time since 2013 (before the Horsewomen existed) none of them appeared in the top ten — in fact, none of them even made the top 20, with Charlotte Flair coming in at #21, Becky Lynch at #29, and Bayley at #41. Mercedes Mone, formerly known as Sasha Banks, was not ranked, as she did not meet PWI's qualifications for activity during the grading period.
As for Ripley, this year's qualification period represented the pinnacle of her career so far, as the champion has become the figurehead of the Judgment Day faction and enjoyed a popular relationship with "NXT" North American Champion Dominik Mysterio. After winning the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble, Ripley defeated Flair on Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 for the "SmackDown Women's Championship." Not long after winning the title, it was redubbed the WWE Women's World Championship and given a new design, making Ripley the inaugural champion for the new title. Ripley also celebrated her engagement to AEW's Buddy Matthews, who is a member of a different spooky faction, the House of Black.
Ripley will have the deck stacked against her next month, as she'll face four other women in a fatal five-way match at WWE Crown Jewel on November 4 in Riyadh. The match was made after Nia Jax returned to WWE by attacking Ripley and other members of the "Raw" women's roster.