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When WWE fans think of the greatest superstars in the history of RAW, the first names that pop to mind are always The Rock, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, John Cena and others, but those who often get overlooked are the women of WWE.
As the WWE Women's Revolution is still very young, the women of WWE have still only recently stepped out of their shell in terms of wrestling exciting matches every Monday night. Although women are only getting the respect they deserve in the wrestling ring today, there were several others in the past to have paved the way with a dozen great matches and angles to set a standard to break for the WWE women of today. This list will be a mix & match of some women of today and some from yesterday to provide the best matches and moments in WWE RAW history.
Honorable mentions: Paige, Molly Holly, Jazz, Candice Michelle, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Layla, Jacqueline, Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Sable and Stephanie McMahon.
#10 Melina
Melina first tried out for the wrestling business by auditioning for reality show Tough Enough in 2002 where she would make it to the final 21 before being eliminated in the final cut of the first episode. Just about a year later she was picked up by WWE and sent to OVW.
Melina would debut on WWE TV in April 2005 as the manager for Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury, MNM. Melina would manage the team to 3 WWE Tag Team Championship reigns before beginning her own fully fledged wrestling career in early 2007. WWE officials had high hopes for her as although she hadn't competed much, she did wrestle a match with Trish Stratus at Survivor Series 2005 where she looked better in the ring then anyone could have thought.
Melina defeated Mickie James to win the WWE Women's Championship for the first time in her career on the February 19 episode of RAW. Melina would go on to hold the Women's Championship two more times and would also become a 2-times WWE Diva's Champion before being released in 2011. She has wrestled on the independent circuit ever since.
For a time when women's wrestling in WWE wasn't up too very much, Melina had a string of highly entertaining matches with Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Candice Michelle and many more.
#9 Victoria
Victoria debuted on WWE TV all the way back in 2000 as one of The Godfather's Hoes. She would also be the reason Chyna ended her relationship with Eddie Guerrero after he was shown to be in the shower with her and briefly managed Too Cool.
After disappearing from TV shortly thereafter, Victoria re-emerged in 2002 immediately entering a feud with Trish Stratus. Victoria would defeat Trish for her first WWE Women's Championship at Survivor Series 2002 and had a lengthy (for the time) four months reign as Women's Champion before dropping it back to Trish at WrestleMania XIX.
In October 2003, Victoria would win the first ever Women's Steel Cage match on RAW when she defeated Lita. Victoria would hold the WWE Women's Championship once more in 2004, which included a feud with then former Champion Molly Holly that resulted in Victoria shaving Molly's head at WrestleMania XX.
Victoria would spend the next five years unsuccessfully challenging for the Women's Championship from Trish Stratus, Mickie James, Michelle McCool and others before departing WWE after January 16, 2009 episode of Smackdown. She would go on to become a five times TNA Women's Knockout Champion during a four year run with Impact Wrestling and has also opened her own wrestling school in Chicago, a Pizzeria in Louisville and formally owned a custom car and muffler shop in Louisville.
#8 AJ Lee
Trained by former TNA and current Ring of Honor star Jay Lethal in 2007, AJ Lee signed a contract with WWE in May 2009 and made her TV debut on the previous incarnation of NXT in 2010 on an all women's season won by Kaitlyn.
AJ made her main roster debut on the May 27, 2011, episode of Smackdown. After brief feuds with Natalya and Beth Phoenix, AJ was placed in an on-screen romance with Daniel Bryan. After a multi-romance angle with Bryan, CM Punk and Kane, AJ was made the General Manager of RAW on the 1000 episode of the show and served in the position until October to pursue another multi-romance angle with John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. Lee was finally given a shot at the WWE Diva's Championship and won her first match with Kaitlyn at WWE Payback in 2013. She would be a three times Diva's Champion and would have many thrilling matches with Paige before retiring 5 days after WrestleMania 31.
Many look to AJ for helping start the Women's revolution in WWE as a Tweet she responded to from Stephanie McMahon, pointing out how she was praising women's rights but the women in WWE receive only a fraction of the wages and screen time of their male counterparts.
Since retiring, AJ has gone on to release a New York Times top 10 best-selling book called Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules.
#7 Beth Phoenix
Beth Phoenix made her initial WWE RAW debut on the May 8, 2006, episode. She debuted as a face being aligned with Trish Stratus to aid her in her feud with Mickie James. Phoenix claimed that James had "ruined her life", and would not let her get away with it, thus heavily implying there was a history between them. This is something we would never find out as Phoenix suffered a legitimately fractured mandible during a match with Victoria, and was removed from TV to recover, but never returned to further the angle.
Beth would re-debut n the July 9, 2007, episode of RAW as a heel and "The Glamazon" spent almost every week running over every woman on RAW before defeating Candice Michelle for her first Women's Championship at No Mercy. Beth would become a 3-times WWE Women's Champion and would also hold the Diva's Championship, which included many exciting matches with Melina (including the first ever Women's I Quit match), Mickie James, Michelle McCool, Layla, Eve Torres and more. Beth also participated in a memorable romance angle with Santino Marella.
Beth would retire from WWE in 2012 and be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
#6 Chyna
The late great 'Ninth Wonder of The World' Chyna could have easily made the number #1 spot on this list, however, I decided that she had more of an unfair advantage over the other ladies here as Chyna spent the majority of her career tying it up with men.
The first woman t compete in a Royal Rumble match, the King of The Ring tournament and be a 2-times WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chyna debuted for WWE on February 16, 1997, at In Your House 13: Final Four and was quickly recruited by Triple H and Shawn Michaels to form D-Generation X. Following the group's demise, Chyna would team and feud with the like of Chris Jericho and the late great Eddie Guerrero, before winning the WWE Women's Championship from Ivory at WrestleMania X-Seven. After a month of being absent from TV, Chyna parted ways with WWE in July 2001 for reasons that were described by WWE as 'Too demanding'.
Chyna wrestled a little in Japan in 2003 and one match for TNA Wrestling in 2011 before her death in 2016.
#5 Mickie James
After wrestling for TNA during their first active year, Mickie James would sign with WWE in 2003 and debut on TV on the October 10, 2005, episode of RAW, where she claimed to be Trish Stratus's biggest fan.
Mickie would defeat Trish for her first Women's Championship at WrestleMania 22. Following Trish's retirement in September 2006, Mickie became the face of WWE's Women's division and over the course of the next 4 years, would wrestle the majority of best women's matches on TV and become a 5-times WWE Women's Champion and also a WWE Diva's Champion.
Mickie was surprisingly released by WWE in 2010 and would go on to become a 3-times TNA Knockout's Champion before returning to WWE in 2017 and is once again creating more great matches and moments on RAW.
#4 Charlotte Flair
After a dominant three year run on NXT, Charlotte Flair debuted on RAW during the beginning of the Women's Revolution on the WWE main roster when she, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch emerged on the July 13 episode of RAW in 2015.
It would be on her third straight successful WWE pay-per-view in a row at Night of Champions that Charlotte would defeat Nikki Bella for the Diva's Championship and would reign over RAW for the next six months as Champion before winning the newly debuted WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania 32. Charlotte would trade the Championship Sasha Banks three times in four very well received matches on RAW that many consider being some of the best matches of that year and ever on RAW.
#3 Sasha Banks
'The BOSS' Sasha Banks was the queen of NXT before her arrival on the main roster. As just mentioned, Sasha debuted on RAW during the beginning of the Women's Revolution on the July 13 episode of RAW in 2015, along with Charlotte and Becky Lynch.
Sasha would trade the Women's Championship with Charlotte in four very well received matches on RAW. Today Sasha remains on RAW still competing in top quality performances with all members of the division.
#2 Lita
Lita debuted for WWE in 2000 and quickly aligned herself with the Hardy Boyz. Lita defeated Stephanie McMahon for her first Women's Championship on the August 21, 2000, episode of RAW. After losing and unsuccessfully challenging to reclaim it, Lita spent much time having matches with male superstars, most notably Dean Malenko, and would also attack men by interfering in matches the Hardy Boyz had every week.
Over the next five years, Lita would have a legendary on again/off again feud with Trish Stratus, with the most memorable match between them occurring in the main event of the December 6 episode of RAW. Lita was involved in many memorable angles on RAW in 2005 and 2006 during her real-life relationship with WWE star Edge in feuds with Kane, Matt Hardy and John Cena.
After six years of incredible matches on RAW, including the first ever Women's Steel Cage match in October 2003, Lita retired from WWE at Survivor Series 2006. Lita has since returned to WWE for several cameo appearances, including defeating Heath Slater on the 1000 episode of RAW.
Lita was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
#1 Trish Stratus
Still number #1 in the mind of many. Trish Stratus debuted for WWE in 2000 as a manager. She immediately took on the heat with other women, most notably Chyna, for having no aptitude for wrestling, but Chyna and many others would be proved so wrong.
After a memorable angle with Vince and Stephanie McMahon in 2001, Trish didn't get up to very much until this suddenly incredible improved talent won the revived WWE Women's Championship at Survivor Series 2001. From the WWE Draft the following March in 2002 all the way until September 2006, Trish Stratus would become a record-breaking seven times WWE Women's Champion, as well as a cup of coffee with the WWE Hardcore Championship.
She participated in many memorable feuds, most notably with the aforementioned Lita and wrestled the best women's matches on WWE TV from 2002 - 2006. Even after retiring, Trish has come back several times for once-off matches and continues to make special appearances on WWE RAW now and then.
Trish Stratus was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
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