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Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Final IV”. This is a weekly series where I countdown a list of wrestlers, matches, events, stables and so on from wrestling’s past and present. This week, I will be covering the Top IV Women in the WWE. Keep in mind, this list does not include the women of NXT. So, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?
IV Nia Jax
We start off our list with Nia Jax. This has been an interesting year for Nia Jax and thus far, this one may end on a very controversial note. Safe to say that Nia is the most hated woman in WWE today given the recent events between her and Becky Lynch just few days before the Survivor Series.
Nia Jax competed in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, eliminating Jacqueline, Kelly Kelly, Ruby Riott and Naomi before being eliminated by six other women. She began a feud with Asuka, resulting in Nia losing a match to her at Elimination Chamber in February.
Nia turned babyface the following month when she and Alexa Bliss began feuding after Alexa poked fun at her body weight. The two women had a match at WrestleMania 34 resulting in Nia Jax defeating Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women’s Championship. The two had a rematch in May for WWE Backlash, resulting in Nia defeating Bliss once again to retain.
Nia returned to her villainous ways in June when she challenged “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey to a match for Money in the Bank. She lost to Ronda Rousey by disqualification after Alexa Bliss, who had just won the Women’s Money in the Bank briefcase, interfered and attacked Rousey. Afterward, she cashed in the briefcase and pinned Nia Jax to win the RAW Women’s Championship. Nia issued a rematch challenge to Alexa Bliss for an Extreme Rules match at the Extreme Rules event, in July but failed to regain her title.
Nia took some time off to recover from numerous injuries and made her return in September as Ember Moon’s mystery tag partner to defeat Alicia Fox and Mickie James on Monday Night RAW. The following month, at WWE Evolution, Nia Jax won the Women’s Evolution Battle Royal to earn herself a future RAW Women’s Championship match by last eliminating Ember Moon.
The following week, Nia turned heel once again as she aligned herself with the returning Tamina Snuka after defeating Ember Moon in singles competition. Nia garnered some serious heat on the go-home show for Survivor Series, as she delivered a stiff punch to Becky Lynch during a SmackDown Live Women’s Invasion angle, resulting in Becky Lynch suffering a bloody and broken nose, along with a severe concussion.
This resulted in a severe backlash against Nia Jax, which her and WWE took full advantage of and ran with it. Nia Jax became the sole survivor for Team RAW in a women’s traditional Survivor Series Match-up between RAW and SmackDown Live. She and Ronda Rousey are currently scheduled to face each other at WWE TLC on December 16th for the RAW Women’s Championship.
III "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey
The baddest woman on the planet
“Rowdy” Ronda Rousey has had an incredible rookie year for the WWE coming off the heels of a successful MMA career in the UFC. She officially began her run for the WWE at the conclusion of the Royal Rumble, in January. She confronted Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and Asuka, pointing at the WrestleMania 34 sign insinuating she may be challenging one of the three women to a match for the biggest WWE event of the year.
Heading into February, Rousey began a feud with The Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon), picking up where the trio had left off from Ronda’s one-off appearance at WrestleMania 31 a few years ago, where she and The Rock humiliated both of them. In the storyline, she officially signed her RAW contract after an in-ring altercation that led to her slamming Triple H through a table at the Elimination Chamber event.
In the weeks to come, it was confirmed that Ronda would be making her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 in a Mixed Tag Team Match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, with WWE Hall of Famer and RAW Commissioner Kurt Angle as her tag team partner. Their match at WrestleMania 34 went exceedingly well, as Ronda forced Stephanie McMahon to tap out to the armbar.
In May, Ronda Rousey would answer the challenge of Nia Jax for Money in the Bank for the RAW Women’s Championship. Ronda would win the match by disqualification following interference by Alexa Bliss. The following night after Money in the Bank, an angry Ronda Rousey attacked Alexa Bliss, Kurt Angle and multiple WWE officials. Kurt suspended Ronda for 30 days. Rousey would make her return in July at Extreme Rules, attacking Alexa Bliss following her title defense over Nia Jax.
The following night, Kurt Angle granted Rousey a match against Alexa Bliss for Summer Slam for the RAW Women’s Championship. She would go on to dominate and defeat Alexa Bliss, winning by submission with the Armbar, to win the RAW Women’s Championship. The following month, Rousey defeated Alexa in a rematch at Hell in a Cell to retain the title.
Weeks later, Ronda would team up with The Bella Twins to defeat The Riot Squad in tag action. Shortly thereafter, The Bella Twins would turn heel by attacking Ronda Rousey on RAW following their rematch against The Riott Squad. This would setup a RAW Women’s Title match between Ronda Rousey and Nikki Bella for WWE Evolution, where Rousey would successfully retain the title.
After WWE Evolution, the announcement was made that Ronda Rousey would face Becky Lynch in a Champion vs Champion match for the Survivor Series. After weeks of building and personal shots taken on Twitter, the match was suddenly changed due to Becky Lynch’s injuries suffered by Nia Jax on Monday Night RAW leading into Survivor Series. Therefore, Becky Lynch chose her rival and former friend Charlotte Flair to be her replacement the following night on SmackDown Live.
Ronda Rousey would defeat Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series following a disqualification after Charlotte snapped, brutally assaulting Rousey with a Kendo Stick. This left Rousey battered and beaten convincingly for the first time in her WWE career. The following night on RAW, she would successfully defend her RAW Women’s Championship against Mickie James.
A match between Rousey and Nia Jax is set for December 16th at WWE TLC. Through mere speculation, a possible rematch may take place at the Royal Rumble between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, but this has yet to be confirmed at this time.
II Charlotte Flair
Charlotte Flair began the year on a good note as the SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. After successfully retaining the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship at the Royal Rumble in January, she went on to defeat Ruby Riott at WWE Fastlane following a brief feud between her and The Riott Squad.
In the meantime, Asuka had won the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, earning herself a Women’s title match of her choosing. Asuka chose to face Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 for the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship. In a shocking conclusion, Charlotte defeated Asuka by submission with the Figure 8-Leglock to not only retain the Women’s title, but also ending Asuka’s 914 day winning streak.
After WrestleMania, Charlotte went on to have feuds with The Iconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay) and Carmella. On the April 10th episode of SmackDown Live, The Iconics attacked Charlotte Flair during a promo segment. A weakened Charlotte was then defeated by Carmella, who was finally cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new SmackDown Live Women’s Champion.
Charlotte Flair would challenge Carmella in a rematch for the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship at WWE Backlash in May, only to lose the match and fail to regain the title. Charlotte went on to compete in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match in June but failed to win the match. Charlotte would thentake a break from in-ring action to recover from a ruptured breast implant surgery.
Charlotte made her return on July 31st on SmackDown Live to save her best friend Becky Lynch from an attack by SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Carmella. Charlotte defeated Carmella in a non-title match later that night to earn herself a spot in the Women’s Title match for SummerSlam along with Becky Lynch.
At SummerSlam, the triple threat match was set between Charlotte, Becky and Carmella. Charlotte would win the match and the championship after pinning Becky Lynch to win the match and the championship. Following the match, Becky Lynch turned heel and attacked Charlotte, turning heel in the process.
This would reignite the feud between Becky and Charlotte Flair, as the two would challenge each other to a title match for Hell in a Cell. Charlotte would lose the match to Becky Lynch, as Becky would become the new SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. The two women would go on to face each other in a series of rematches between SmackDown Live and WWE Super Show-Down respectively, with each match Becky Lynch squeaking by and retaining the title.
The two would have their final match at WWE Evolution in a Last Woman Standing match, which arguably could be regarded as a Match of the Year candidate for the WWE. Becky Lynch would defeat Charlotte Flair after she delivered a Powerbomb from the top turnbuckle through a table on the arena floor, resulting in Charlotte being unable to get up before the count of ten to win the match and retain the title.
Charlotte was originally announced to be the lead captain for Team SmackDown for the Survivor Series Women’s Tag Match, but this was changed after Becky Lynch suffered an injury and was forced out of her Champion vs Champion match against Ronda Rousey. Therefore, Becky chose Charlotte to be her replacement to face Rousey.
At the Survivor Series, she snapped and viciously attacked Ronda Rousey with a kendo stick causing a disqualification. She justified her attack out of a promise she made to Becky that she would fight for her and defend her honor at the Survivor Series. Charlotte debuted a darker, more gothic look to her ring attire, to go along with her new-found attitude and demeanor.
The following episode of SmackDown Live after the Survivor Series, Charlotte would defeat The Iconics in separate singles matches. SmackDown Live Commissioner Paige fined Charlotte 100k for her actions at Survivor Series. Charlotte made the promise that she would go after and finish what she started with Ronda Rousey in the near future. This led to speculation the two women could be having a match at the Royal Rumble, in January 2019.
I Becky Lynch
The year started off on a quiet start for Becky Lynch, but sure as hell ended in one of the biggest runs of any WWE Women’s Superstar to date!
Becky Lynch competed in the 2018 Women’s Royal Rumble match entering at number two, lasting well over thirty minutes before being eliminated by Ruby Riott. Becky would go on to compete in a WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal Match at WrestleMania 34 in April but was eliminated by Mickie James.
Later on, in May, she would defeat Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose in a Triple Threat Match to qualify for the Women’s Money in the Bank match. However, she failed to win the Money in the Bank Ladder match, as the briefcase was retrieved by RAW Superstar Alexa Bliss.
A bound and determined Becky Lynch went on a very successful winning streak between the aftermath of Money in the Bank through Summer Slam, as she racked up victories over Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Sonya Deville, Mandy Rose and a non-title victory over Carmella.
Due to her winning streak, Becky was granted a SmackDown Live Women’s Championship opportunity at SummerSlam against Carmella. This would later change to a Triple Threat match, as her friend Charlotte Flair would qualify for a title shot as well.
Her winning streak would come to an end as she and Carmella were defeated at SummerSlam by Charlotte Flair, as Charlotte would become the new SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. A frustrated Becky Lynch reached a boiling point, as she took out her built-up frustrations on Charlotte and attacked her after the match, turning her back on her best friend. This was meant to be a heel turn but was seen by the WWE Universe as an anti-heel/face moment for Becky Lynch (i.e. – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin).
In spite of berating the WWE Universe for not having her back and supporting her, she was still cheered and loved by the fans for her new attitude and no-nonsense approach. Becky took on more of a “tweener” approach, moving forward with the angle against Charlotte Flair.
This would lead to a match between Charlotte and Becky for Hell in a Cell, as Becky would defeat Charlotte to become the new SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. Becky would go on to retain her championship over Charlotte Flair in a series of rematches on SmackDown Live, Super Show-Down and Evolution, respectively.
Their final match together at WWE Evolution would go down as one of the best matches (arguably) of 2018, as it was highly praised for the performances of both Becky and Charlotte.
Immediately following the concluding chapter of feud against Charlotte, Becky would embark on a Survivor Series “Champion vs Champion” match against RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. The angle was taken a whole personal level, following pot shots and personal remarks made between the two women on Twitter leading up to the final week before Survivor Series.
Becky would lead an invasion of SmackDown Live Women’s wrestler on the go-home show for Monday Night RAW, days before the big event. She suffered a bloody and broken nose, along with a severe concussion at the hands of Nia Jax following a stiff punch.
Due to the injury, Becky Lynch was forced out of her match against Ronda Rousey. Reluctantly, she chose Charlotte Flair on the following episode of SmackDown Live to be her replacement. They gave each other a hug, as Becky encouraged Charlotte to take her out and make her pay the same way she would have done.
Since this time, Becky has been off WWE television and is currently recovering from her injuries. No timetable has been set for her return, but it’s likely she may return for the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble match!
Do you agree with my list? Who would you have chosen for your Top IV? Let us know in the comments below. Until then, I will see you next time!
