Plenty of people care about kayfabe wrestler rankings, especially those from Pro Wrestling Illustrated. PWI’s ranking of the top 100 women’s wrestlers in the world has been released, and Bayley tops the list:
Congratulations to @itsBayleyWWE for ranking #1 in this year's PWI Women's 100! Preorder your print copy of this exciting issue at https://t.co/O8TDpHJexm pic.twitter.com/0HztapTl1k
— PWI (@OfficialPWI) October 15, 2020
As you can see from the cover, the rest of the top five is rounded out with Becky Lynch, Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and Sasha Banks. The next five women, in order, are Hikaru Shida, Tessa Blanchard, Riho, Io Shirai, and Mayu Iwatani.
Bayley beat out last year’s number one ranked wrestler, Becky Lynch, and it’s hard to argue with that result considering Lynch has not wrestled over the last six months. Asuka has thrived on Raw in the absence of Lynch, and an argument can be made that the Empress of Tomorrow is worthy of the top spot here, even over Bayley.
Bayley is currently in the midst of a dominant run on top as the SmackDown women’s champion. She has held the title for all but five of the last 500 days, and is lined up for a huge match at Hell in a Cell against Sasha Banks on Oct. 25.
The role model celebrated this news on Twitter, while also suggesting that she should have the magazine cover all to herself:
Now if only I got the cover all to myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Bayley-bration, 500 days of Bayley, the year of the Bayley, it just keeps getting better https://t.co/Dpjvryrm0O
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) October 15, 2020
Bayley now joins AEW world champion Jon Moxley as the top wrestlers in the world, per PWI’s rankings. As far as the Wednesday Night War is concerned, it’s worth nothing that two wrestlers from AEW’s frequently criticized women’s division appear on the list before any women from NXT show up.
You can purchase a digital or print copy of this full issue from Pro Wrestling Illustrated here.
What do you make of the rankings, Cagesiders?