Top 7 Female Wrestlers of the 2010s

I think it’s safe to say that the 2010s have been the best decade in the history of North American women’s wrestling. Unless you were really high on the Fabulous Moolah’s ringwork back in the day, or think those bra & panties matches in the 2000s were hidden gems, you likely agree. This was the decade that people in power in American wrestling finally decided to let women go out there and have the chance to showcase athleticism.

It started in the indies, but once WWE embraced it, the evolution of women’s wrestling was on. There were more top-flight female performers in the 2010s than in any previous decade. Narrowing the list down to seven was pretty tough, but that’s what we do here.

Here are the Top 7 Female Wrestlers of the 2010s.

7. Nikki Bella
2-time WWE Divas Champion

If the phrase “WWE Diva” appeared in an encyclopedia, Nikki’s picture would have to be featured. She exemplified everything the WWE Divas Era was about. Smart, sexy, powerful, all that stuff. There’s no doubt that Nikki got the push initially from WWE largely due to her appearance, but she honed her craft, worked hard and became a really good in-ring talent over the years. The Bellas’ first WWE run was very Divay (if that could be a word), but they came correct the second time around. Nikki was a very successful champion and got a lot of heat from people who didn’t think she deserved her push. They were wrong, and I’m pretty sure most of them never realized it.

6. Bayley
1-time WWE Raw Women’s Champion
2-time WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
1-time NXT Women’s Champion
1-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion

After starting out on the West Coast & making some Shimmer appearances, Bayley was signed by WWE in late 2012. She emerged in NXT as a total fangirl that just loved pro wrestling and meeting all the famous WWE Superstars. It was a gimmick with a certain shelf-life, but it was tremendously popular and Bayley had a fun build towards finally becoming NXT Women’s Champion. She was still very popular when she got called up to WWE and sold plenty of multi-color t-shirts, but Bayley did get a bit of a backlash from WWE fans for being a little too nice. That isn’t a problem now. She is (currently as I write this) the only woman to win every championship that WWE offers to the North American portion of their roster.

5. Sasha Banks
4-time WWE Raw Women’s Champion
1-time NXT Women’s Champion
1-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion

Sasha started her wrestling career in 2010, working in the Northeast indies before going to a WWE tryout camp in June 2012 and getting signed. It wasn’t too long before Banks transformed herself into “The Boss”, becoming one of NXT’s most hated competitors and eventually taking the Women’s Championship from Charlotte. She would go on to have two classic TakeOver matches with Bayley before moving to the main roster full-time. She’s had some struggles holding onto championships after winning them, and took a leave of absence during 2019, but other than that it’s hard to complain about Sasha’s performance since arriving on the scene. She’s been part of the backbone of that Women’s Evolution/Revolution.

4. AJ Lee
3-time WWE Divas Champion

AJ was one of the key figures in shifting WWE from the Divas era towards a more serious approach in presenting women’s wrestling. She wasn’t the stereotypical WWE Diva and that’s why the fans really took to her. AJ was also very talented on the microphone, becoming one of the key characters on Raw while her character went back & forth between romantic relationships with Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. Eventually she got over that and became a long-running Divas Champion. AJ retired in 2015, having accomplished everything she had set out to do in pro wrestling.

3. Becky Lynch
1-time Raw Women’s Champion
3-time SmackDown Women’s Champion

When this decade started, Becky hadn’t wrestled regularly for four years. A head injury along with other issues kept Becky out of active competition until 2013, when she signed with WWE & reported to the Performance Center. Becky Lynch emerged in June 2014 and quickly became one of NXT’s most popular performers. She made it to the main roster in 2015 and despite being the first SmackDown Women’s Champion was always considered to be in the shadow of her fellow “Horsewomen”. Fans wanted Lynch to get a stronger push for years, and finally got one when Becky “turned heel” on Charlotte at SummerSlam 2018.

If this list was solely based off of the last two years of the decade, Becky would be the obvious choice for #1. Becky became “The Man” and won the main event of WrestleMania 35, becoming the first person to hold both the Raw & SmackDown Women’s Championship at the same time. She still reigns as Raw Women’s Champion as I write this, and as one of the most popular WWE Superstars of the past few years.

2. Asuka
1-time WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
1-time NXT Women’s Champion
1-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion

Before getting signed by WWE in 2015, the woman known as Kana was one of wrestling’s most well-regarded female competitors. She was a regular in her native country of Japan and made occasional appearances in America for companies like Shimmer Women Athletes & Chikara. It didn’t come as a surprise to those in the know when she signed with WWE and immediately became one of NXT’s brightest stars.

Asuka was absolutely dominant in NXT, wrestling for the brand for over two years without suffering a defeat and reigning over 500 days as their Women’s Champion. Her move to the main roster has definitely had its ups & downs. She does have a SmackDown Women’s Championship reign to her credit and teamed with Kairi Sane to obtain the Women’s Tag Team Championship. There wasn’t a more consistent performer throughout the entire decade than Asuka.

Honorable Mention: Ronda Rousey

Considering that Rowdy Ronda only wrestled for one year of the decade, it’s tough to put her on this list over people that have been more active. However, one could argue that she had more of an impact on the business than anybody else here. Does WWE give their “Women’s Revolution” as much of a push if they don’t sign somebody like Ronda that has enough mainstream appeal to draw interest on a main event level? Maybe they do, but it was a lot easier for WWE to justify putting the ladies on last at WrestleMania with Ronda as part of the mix.

1. Charlotte Flair
4-time WWE Raw Women’s Champion
5-time WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
1-time WWE Divas Champion
1-time NXT Women’s Champion

The expectations were high for Charlotte from the moment she stepped into the Performance Center in 2012. When you’re the offspring of arguably the greatest wrestler of all time and want to follow in their footsteps, you better be able to cut the mustard. Fortunately, Charlotte took to wrestling like a fish to water. She dominated NXT competition and became their Women’s Champion before getting called up to the main roster along with Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks to jumpstart a Women’s Revolution. Whether she was on Raw or SmackDown, Charlotte more often than not was right in the middle of everything involving championships & featured matches. Most of those first-ever women’s matches featured Charlotte.

Charlotte has a lot of doubters out there. She’s much better as a heel than as a babyface. It’s tough for her to get sympathy from an audience. The bottom line is that she’s among the best in-ring performers in any division she’s put in & deserves a slot at the top of the card. She has said that she doesn’t want to be known only as “Ric Flair’s daughter”, and when it’s all said & done she’ll be known for a lot more than that. Including being the most successful female wrestler of the 2010s.