411’s WWE Top 50 Greatest Women Superstars (#35 – 21) Report

-We continue with episode two as we cover spots 35 to 21. Let’s get to it!

-Sarah Schreiber welcomes us back and she thanks us for the response on social media. I would also like to thank those who have posted in the comments section. As always remember this list is just to get some discussion going and some debate as we take a trip down memory lane.

35: Bianca Belair
-2021 Royal Rumble Winner; #2 Entrant 2020 Royal Rumble Match

-Probably a bit too high at this point because all she has as of now is The Rumble win, but in 5-10 years she will likely be much higher than this. Bianca got her start in NXT and then popped up in the 2020 Rumble and set a record for most eliminations in a Women’s Rumble. She also put in a strong 33 minute effort. After a short stint on RAW where she didn’t get to do much, she was drafted to SmackDown and won the 2021 Rumble with a new longevity record of 56:49. Next for Bianca is WrestleMania 37.

34: Carmella
-SmackDown Women’s Champion; Money in the Bank Winner; WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal Winner

-Now on the surface this seems high but she has accomplished more than others on the list at this point and others should probably be above her. Aren’t lists fun? Carmella made her NXT debut in 2014 (no mention of Enzo and Cass) and then headed to SmackDown where she made history by becoming the very first Miss Money in the Bank. Ellsworth! The ending angered enough people they did redid the match on SmackDown nine days later and Carmella got the win again. Which makes her and CM Punk the only two people to win a MITB Ladder Match twice. Carmella then cashed in shortly after Mania on Charlotte to win the SD Women’s Championship. That takes us to today as Carmella is Untouchable!

33: Gail Kim
-WWE Women’s Champion; Won WWE Women’s Championship in Debut Match

-Wow, good on them for including Gail as I wasn’t expecting to see her on this list considering the things she has said about the WWE over the years. Gail made debut on RAW in 2003 and in her first match she won a Battle Royal to claim the WWE Women’s Championship. Gail was great and would tear it up with the crop of women in the WWE/NXT today.

32: Jacqueline
-2 Time WWE Women’s Champion; WWE Cruiserweight Champion; WWE Hall of Famer

-See now does this mean everyone above her deserves to be in the Hall of Fame when they are retired? Sweet, WCW footage! Jackie started out in USWA as Miss Texas and of course they have that footage. In 1996 she debuted in WCW and was a lot of fun as she would beat the piss out men and women. Next she got the call to head to the WWE and in short order she became the first African American to win the WWE Women’s Championship. She also knocked off Chavo Guerrero to win the Cruiserweight Championship, but she wasn’t the first one to do so as I believe Medusa got a reign in the dying days of WCW. Jackie then got the Hall of Fame call to put a bow on her career.

31: Kairi Sane
-NXT Women’s Champion; 2017 Mae Young Classic Winner; WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion

-I miss Kairi and it’s a shame we didn’t get her making a WrestleMania entrance on the Pirate Ship in Tampa. Kairi made her WWE debut in the Mae Young Classic in 2017 and got the win over Shayna Baszler in the finals. Next up was NXT where she ended once again beat Shayna Baszler, this time in Brooklyn to win the NXT Title. She headed to RAW next and was paired with Asuka and they made a wonderful tag team that went on to win the Tag Team Titles.

30: Naomi
-2 Time SmackDown Women’s Champion; WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal Winner

-I tend to forget she started out as a Funkadactyl. What is Cameron up to now? I guess I will search for that later. They breeze past that era and jump to Naomi being part of Team BAD and starting the Divas’/Women’s Revolution. Naomi then got to break out in 2017 on SmackDown and defeated Bliss for the SD Women’s Title at Elimination Chamber with the crowd chanting “you deserve it” in a sweet moment. Unfortunately an injury forced her to relinquish the title in a sad scene. She ended up winning The Championship back at WrestleMania 33 in her hometown of Orlando.

-Back to Sarah to praise Naomi and then tease who is next.

29: Bull Nakano
-WWE Women’s Champion

-Yes! She would wreck shop in today’s WWE and I would be all for it. Wow, they show some footage of a young Nakano working in the WWF in the 80s before coming back in the early 90s to feud with Alundra Blayze. Nakano won the WWF Women’s Title from Alundra in the Tokyo Dome and soon after their rivalry went to WCW. They make sure to work in Medusa tossing the WWF Women’s Championship in the trash can. This segment was great!

28: Ivory
-3 Time WWE Women’s Champion; WWE Hall of Famer

-Again, another Hall of Famer in the middle of the pack. As an aside I love Tough Enough from the MTV era and Ivory was great on the show as a trainer. Ivory was a wonderful heel that could work in the ring and was good on the mic. She then joined Right To Censor in what was a good fit and defended the WWE Women’s Title at WrestleMania X-7 where she was steamrolled by Chyna. Ivory then took her place in the WWE Hall of Fame.

27: Melina
-3 Time WWE Women’s Champion; 2 Time WWE Divas Champion

-Didn’t take long for them to mention her famous entrance and of course they use a soundbite from Jerry Lawler. Melina was in OVW and was teamed up with Morrison (Tough Enough Winner) and Mercury to form MNM. I always liked MNM. In 2007 Melina entered in ring competition and knocked off Mickie James for her first WWE Women’s Championship. The Most Dominant Diva in the WWE!

26: The Bella Twins
-Brie: WWE Divas Champion; Nikki: 2 Time WWE Divas Champion

-Okay, this is a cop-out ranking them together as Nikki should be ranked higher and honestly, I am shocked they have them this low. The comments section had Nikki pegged for a Top 10 spot and I was thinking the same thing. I mean this also becomes a list of 51 now as well. The Bellas were first noticed with The Divas Search and then got called up the Main Roster in 2006. Twin Magic! Brie Mode! Fearless Nikki! They both get more hate than they deserve and I can respect what they did as they could have done hundreds of different things in life that was much easier than bumping inside a wrestling ring for years. Nikki went on to hold the Divas Title longer than anyone as she surpassed AJ Lee’s mark by a week or so. I’m sure that wasn’t out of spit, but I could be wrong. Nikki also headlined The Evolution PPV against Rousey and this year both Bellas will be heading into The WWE Hall of Fame.

25: Io Shirai
-NXT Women’s Champion; Debuted 2018 Mae Young Classic

-Again, Io is amazing, but this seems a little high (if we are only counting what they have done in WWE/NXT) or at least a handful of women behind her have accomplished more. Much like Bianca, give her 5-10 years though. The Genius of The Sky! I’ve always liked that nickname. Man, we are coming up on one year since Io won the NXT Title at In Your House from Charlotte (with Ripley taking the fall in the Triple Threat Match). The dive from the In Your House set still looks great!

24: Luna Vachon
-WWE Hall of Famer; USWA Women’s Champion

-Well, I guess they aren’t just focusing on WWE accomplishments as they have Luna’s run as USWA Women’s Champion listed here. ECW Footage! Luna being paired with Bray Wyatt would just make all the sense in the world. Luna made her WWE debut at Mania IX kicking the crap out of Sherri, which was shocking to see as you never saw anyone do that to Sherri. At Mania X Luna got to work a Mania in MSG in a mixed tag match as she teamed with Bigelow against Doink and Dink. Too bad she never got a run with the WWE Women’s Title at some point. I nearly forgot the run with Goldust for some reason. Talk about bizarre. Mania XIV another mixed tag as her feud with Sable continued. Luna is wonderful and scared the crap out of my sister when we were kids.

23: Stephanie McMahon
-WWE Women’s Champion; Former RAW and SmackDown General Manager

-Well, this should shut down the talk of people thinking they would put her Top 10 or even in the top spot. Much like The Bella Twins, I am shocked to see her this low. Now on the other hand if you just went by in ring accomplishments she might be too high, so this probably seems about right. Aww, baby Steph from 1999 before he heel turn that made her and HHH. Steph won the WWE Women’s Title in kind of a joke way and dropped it to Lita on RAW. Her feud with Trish was fun and they over delivered in their match at Now Way Out 2001. B+ Player feud with Daniel Bryan which led to Steph vs Brie at SummerSlam. Steph out shined Brie in that one. Then came the Rousey feud and Steph got trucked as you would expect and she did so in tremendous fashion.

22: Michelle McCool
-2 Time WWE Women’s Champion; 2 Time WWE Divas Champion

-So Taker has more pull than HHH? I’m just kidding. This seems about right for Michelle as she dominated during her era and showed in Rumble appearances she would be okay in this current era. I also found a new respect for her in Taker’s Last Ride documentary as she is the backbone of that family. Like a lot of the women on this list she gained fame with The Divas Search as they show the Dodge Ball Game from SummerSlam where McCool wrecked the “Current Divas” squad. McCool was a heck of an athlete and she made history as the first WWE Divas Champion. A year later she won the Women’s Championship to become the first woman to capture both titles. LayCool! The Titles were unified into the Divas Championship and McCool got the win though LayCool claimed they were co-champions. Years later she made her return in the first Women’s Royal Rumble and as I mentioned she had a strong showing. You have to assume she is getting a Hall of Fame nod at some point.

21: Rhea Ripley
-NXT Women’s Champion; NXT UK Women’s Champion

-Again, this seems a little high for where she is at in her career. Much like Io and Bianca come back in 5 years and then we will talk. Her time to shine is just getting started and I expect this is going to be her year on RAW. They probably should have pulled the trigger last year, but they had a plan with Charlotte or so we were told. Two things I am learning from this show is that the WWE has harvested a lot of their talent from The Divas Search and The Mae Young Classic. Ripley got her WWE start with The Mae Young Classic and then won the NXT UK Women’s Champion. She changed her look and became The Nightmare and ended Shayna’ Baszler’s dominating run in NXT in late 2019. She would then make history by defending the NXT Women’s Championship in NXT and we know how that ended. The future is bright for Ripley and she is going to provide a breath of fresh air for RAW’s Women’s Division.

-Well, this was an eventful episode as The Bellas and Stephanie are out of the way before we even get to the Top 20. Again, this list continues to be fun just for the nostalgia and giving newer fans a history lesson of what came before this current Golden Era of women’s wrestling in the WWE. Thanks for reading!