Keeping My Eye On
I been researching so many talents within women wrestling lately: from indi wrestling, Stardom, WWE and countless other places because there’s so much talent that continue to pop up and flourish that you can’t ignore. So many that are different from the next and they all are great in their own way! There’s are my top ten women wrestlers that are upcoming and on their way to be the best/already are!
1. Maki Itoh:
Two minutes of seeing this woman during the AEW women tournament, I was in aww! Her singing and being an entertainer won me over. The theatrics of her is incredible! But that’s not all with her. Her whole character! Her facial expressions! The backstory of why she is “the cutest wrestler of the world” is powerful and wanting to be accepted. Her acting! Her wrestling! Her badass chaos energy: she was challenging Aja Kong to hit her with a trashbin repeatedly once and flipped her off too. She’s so layered. She has so much charisma and it’s powerful. She lights up the room. She’s out of this world. She can be an underdog, an entertainer, a dick heel but in a cute way... she is special! My favorite matches from her is her recent match with Riho, vs Thunder Rosa, vs Mikuza and vs Su Yung.
2. Mercedez Blaze:
Exactly like her theme song says: “a bag of money!” She looks like a bag of money. She is IT! Her look and how she carries herself. Her gear- that she creates! She carries herself like a star and look down on others. She knows who she is. Her in the ring is something else. She’s smooth, athletic and hard- hitting! From her dropkick to the corner, to the hurricarana, double underhook into the corner, the double knees... to hitting her opponent with her butt on the turnbuckle and then spearing them! Her aggression and character in between moves! How crisp but aggressive everything is! Your attention should be on her when she walks in a room! My favorite matches from her is her match with Trish Adora from PWE, her match with Rhio, and her exchange with Kanji during Progress. (She wrestled Jazz and I’m trying to find that match!)
3. Giulia:
I recently watched Stardom and from all I recently seen... she is my top fave from there! Her badass look (before AND after her haircut) hooked me in. She looked like a star and it translated into the ring. She was an asshole willing to do everything to beat Tam in their recent match. The table spot (or ripping bandages off an opponent while having on a submission) shows she will do everything it takes to win. Their match was everything of a pure babyface going next gear to beat the cocky brutal heel. Her wrestling is great: her submissions, striking and being a smart wrestler. She so good as a heel that she makes you want to root for the face to beat her. How she came in with so much heat and fans not liking her to being praised within fifteen months. She has so much praise and lives up to it! Now she working her way up with a new look/ mindset but keeping her aggressive at the same time. Everything so far feels different but she’s incredible either way. My favorite matches of hers is her recent match with Tam (hair vs hair), her DQ match with Natsuko, and her match with Starlight Kid!
4. Sahara Se7en
The Damned Daughter of Anubis! The Queen Incarnate! Sahara Se7en is a spoiled Egyptian queen who loves gold! Her character relates back to her family lineage (African and Egyptian) and it relates back to her presentation and her wrestling. Se7en is based on her family number being 7: “the number of completion”. She trained at Japan and it shows within her wrestling. Her brutality and striking in the ring down to the names: “ Pyramid of Pain... Queen Revenge (modified Widows Peak) ... the Wrath of Raw.” Shes also quick in the ring! Her dream matches are Jacqueline and Victoria; who resonated with her when watching wrestling. Her character is so larger than life and powerful, she has so much attitude and knows her worth. She’s an Egyptian Queen that looks down on her opponents! She has so attitude in the ring; she’s very vocal and entertaining. My favorite matches from her are her match with Queen Aminata, vs Adena Steele, vs Aja Perera, vs Laynie Luck!
5. Queen Aminata
The first time I saw her was on Smackdown where she was used as enhancement talent against Kairi and Asuka in 2019. She didn’t do much but her look caught my eye: her gear, her beauty, and her attitude when she was facing Kairi. I knew there was more to her and so much untapped potential to her. A couple years have gone by and she has completely changed into a star. You look at her: her headdresses and gears, her wrestling, her as a whole within wrestling. It’s not a gimmick with her! It’s her! She’s a queen! Everything with her as an African Women Wrestler is all her. She representing Guinea and puts a lot into her wrestling. Her wrestling style is hardhitting, smooth, and precise with everything; said she mimics Asuka in the ring (from her own words) . She wants to wrestle Asuka as a dream match. She’s so down to earth and peaceful as a person while in the ring she’s confident and dominant. She even has her YouTube channel. It ranges from posting her matches, visiting and helping out Guinea, vlogging about wrestling, and everything about her as a person. My favorite matches of hers are: her recent match with Sahara Se7en, vs Priscilla Kelly, vs Ray Lyn, and Tesha Price
6. Promise Braxton
When doing research on AQA, I encountered her match with Promise Braxton. The match was Promise being a rough up-coming talent dominating AQA. She was strong, cocky, smooth and made everything look brutal! She lost but her name was exactly what spoke about her career so far: she has promise! Studying more of her wrestling and she can work a technical submission style (like in her match with Thunder Rosa), she is really aggressive with her move-set, her strikes ... the way she plants her opponents! She wrestles in Reality of Wrestling and Mission Pro Wrestling mainly. Her character/her as a person is down to earth and very open minded: being carefree and being herself. She’s a Rebel Buddhist! She wants to inspire and pave the way for young weird black girls, rebels... etc .Her dream matches are with Sasha Banks and Deonna Purrazzo. She also has a trio black woman group called: The Queendom! My favorite matches from her are both of her matches with AQA, her matches with Rox-C, with Danni Bee, and her match with Thunder Rosa.
7. Veny
One of the standouts in the recent AEW women tournament. Out of this world athleticism! The effortless charisma! Veny is referred as the “world’s first genderless pro-wrestler.” The way Veny moves in the ring! The outfit is simple but amazing. One of the best women matches this year vs Emi. The selling, athleticism and technical style vs Emi’s brutality! The moonsaults off the ropes and on the outside are amazing! Stiff kicks! The performance in the six woman tag especially with her moments with Shida was incredible! Veny is so intriguing and mysterious but then dancing during the matches. Veny is recently defeated Rina Yamashita to become to become the new SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Single champion! My favorites matches: match with Emi Sakura, vs Akito for the DDT Extreme Championship, vs Mei Suruga, and the six women tag during the AEW women tournament.
8. Trish Adora
The Afro-Punk! The Pan Afrikan World Diaspora Champion. Everything about her look is her and her African culture. Red, yellow and green and her African makeup! She knows who she is and not ashamed to represent her culture. From her gears (that she makes) to her as a person. She has full creative control of herself in wrestling; posting her own promos whenever she has an upcoming match (and she’s really good too at them). You can feel her energy from everything she does. Her iron-match with Tony Deppen was amazing and her performance spoke so much: her aggression and will to fight back especially in technical style. She is very hard-hitting in the ring but soft-spoken in interviews and as a person! She’s so great in the ring, so uplifting and powerful. She adds to much to the wrestling world with being Pan Afrikan World Dispora Champion and representing Africa within wrestling. Her dream match is Trish Stratus and Jazz. My favorite matches of her are: her match with Mercedez Blaze on Pro Wrestling EVE, vs Queen Aminata, vs Tony Deppen and her NXT UK match with Valkyrie.
9. Aleah James
When the news broke she was in the NXT UK Performance Center, I was intrigued. I saw her work and she was really athletic. She been in wrestling for over a year now; debuted in June 2019. When she got to NXT UK, she had less than 50 matches to her. She grew up on wrestling; inspired by Mickie and Melina and her dream match is Mickie James. She has this bubbly personality and her authentic of pink down to her hair is amazing. She’s likeable and has so much charisma to her. Even in the instances of being an enhancement talent, she showed a lot. Her athleticism, selling, her underdog spirit, her charm within a few minutes! She makes you want to see more out of her. Her matrix and rope dropkick! Her performances against Dani Luna, Valkyrie and Jinny. I want to see her against Kay Lee Ray because KLR is so great of a heel that she gonna have me rooting for Aleah even more and Aleah has so much energy and charm to her that I want her to win. Also I know they gonna have chemistry! Her vs Bayley! vs Sasha! vs Bianca! vs Shayna! I think she can add a lot to the NXT UK women division and be one of the top faces in their division. She has so much potential to her and I see a lot in her. My favorite matches from her are: her match with Valkyrie, vs Charlie Evans on Pro Wrestling Soul, and her match with Mike Bird
10. Kanji
The Queen of SouthSide Champion! Kanji been killing it in the UK scene the last couple years within multiple promotions: Progress, Pro Wrestling Soul, EVE, Rev Pro and etc. She been champion multiple times: Defiant Wrestling Women Champion, Queen of SouthSide champion. She’s technical, athletic and catches you by surprise in the ring. Her moveset is quick, aggressive and innovative! Her tilt a whirl DDT! Her kicks! Her top turnbuckle stunner finisher is amazing. Her selling is really good to and she’s a great underdog that can fight her way back to a match. My favorite matches of her are: her 30 minute match with Charlie Evans, vs Emi Sakura, vs Laura Di Matteo, and her moments with Mercedez Blaze in Progress.
Honorable Mentions: Savannah Evans, Leila Grey, Alex Garcia, Kilynn King, Konami and countless others.
Overall, these are my top ten that been killing it on smaller platforms or caught my eye the last couple months. There’s so much women wrestling and talent popping up more and more; it’s awesome to see and I want them all to succeed and grow because women wrestling is like no other. They are all so different and powerful in their own way. Thanks for reading my article !
