There’s a lot of talk right now about ‘how far women’s wrestling has come’ in the past few years. On every episode of RAW, we’re reminded of this ‘Women’s Revolution’ that’s going on in WWE. We’re meant to believe that now, for the first time, the women of WWE are just as important as the men are, in terms of athleticism and drawing power.
Basically, WWE is treating this new period as some kind of golden age of women’s wrestling…even though the first true golden age happened over two decades ago.
WWE’s track record for treating its female talent is spotty, at best. They spent many years treating their women as eye candy and putting on questionable gimmick matches that were meant to give off sex appeal. It was a dark time to be a Diva in WWE, especially since few were given the opportunity to, you know, wrestle.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific Ocean, women’s wrestling was experiencing a spectacular golden age that changed how people viewed the sport. The female Japanese wrestlers, or Joshis, were light years ahead of their American counterparts in terms of match quality and presentation as top stars.
Many of these women were revered by the Japanese and have been emulated in one way or another by wrestlers around the world.
With WWE now determined to really push the women as equals to the male wrestlers, it’s time that we look at the five best Joshi wrestlers of all time. These women have been immortalised as some of the best wrestlers on the planet, male or female, and have had a tremendous impact on how pro wrestling is viewed around the world.
#5 Aja Kong
When it comes to ‘monster women’, the first image that comes to mind is either Nia Jax or Awesome Kong. Either of these images would make sense, as both of these women were/are dangerous ‘plus-sized’ athletes that don’t fit into the traditional mould of a women’s wrestler. Of course, neither of them can hold a candle to the original monster, Aja Kong.
Trained by the legendary Jaguar Yokota and debuting as a member of the equally-fierce Dump Matsumoto, Kong was a force to be feared. She was a stiff, no-nonsense destruction machine that made both her opponents and her fans fear her. Every move she executed, was tinged with a genuine belief that she was out there to end her opponent’s careers.
She was that good at ring psychology and telling a story.
She was so good, in fact, that she made an appearance for WWE at Survivor Series 1995, in a traditional elimination match. In that match, she eliminated all four of her opponents, much like Reigns did a few years ago. That’s how badass she was.
#4 Kyoko Inoue
Looking at her, some might dismiss Kyoko Inoue as some kind of low-card comedy wrestler. After all, what kind of wrestler would wear such garish ring attire and face a star painted in the middle of their face?
The answer is, a very good one.
Beneath that smile is a dangerous force, the likes of which may never be seen again in women’s pro wrestling. Inoue made up for her unusual appearance by becoming the very definition of vicious power in women’s wrestling.
She used a lot of impressive power moves on her smaller opponents, which made her look far fiercer than it would’ve been if someone else was using those moves.
Like many women on this list, Inoue reached her peak during the first half of the 1990s. During that period, she had 8 5-Star matches and took part in 1995’s Match of the Year (her opponent in that match will be discussed later). As if that wasn’t enough, she is credited as the inventor of two impressive manoeuvres that have had a lasting impact on pro wrestling.
The first was the Niagara Driver, a crazy version of the Cross Powerbomb. Watch Roman Reigns pull of something similar:
The second move, what she called the Victoria Driver, is known around the world by a different name, the Burning Hammer:
Kyoko Inoue invented and used both of these moves to win matches. Enough said.
#3 The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lionness Asuka)
Most fans of Joshi wrestling, view the 1990s as the golden age of the sport’s match quality. But the golden age of Joshi wrestling’s popularity was the 1980s, thanks to the unprecedented popularity of two women: The Crush Gals, Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka.
These two women experienced the kind of pop culture popularity that could only be compared to Hulkamania in North America. Thanks to their amazing chemistry, excellent matches, and boundary-pushing attitudes, the Crush Gals became Superstars not just to wrestling fans, but also to young girls across Japan.
Joshi wrestling was suddenly something cool, and everyone wanted to see the Crush Gals perform. This led to record-breaking ratings for All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, the likes of which they’d never replicate again, even with their second golden age in the 1990s.
It wasn’t uncommon for the stations broadcasting AJW’s programs to reach a 12.0 rating, which means that 12% of all TVs in Japan were watching them. That’s a monumental number regardless of decade.
Like Hulk Hogan, the Crush Gals crossed into pop culture in many ways, from television to magazines, to even releasing two albums. They would stay on top of the entire women’s wrestling world until 1990 when they turned on each other and engaged in a bitter, yet masterfully-crafted feud between them.
In WWE, it’s rare for any singles wrestler to cross into pop culture these days, much less a tag team. The Crush Gals did this at the same time as Hulk Hogan became “ the pro wrestler” to many people, and probably made more money while doing so.
#2 Megumi Kudo
Hardcore wrestling is probably the only subgenre of wrestling that’s pretty much male exclusive. The only time you’re likely to see a woman in this area is either, as a valet or as a hapless victim getting smashed through a table. Seeing a woman as the centrepiece of a hardcore wrestling match is something of an anomaly.
Unless your name is Megumi Kudo.
Known as ‘the Evil Princess’, Megumi ‘Kudome’ Kudo was the female version of Cactus Jack; an unrelenting, fearless and borderline-sadistic hardcore wrestler that wasn’t afraid of putting her body through incredible pain and suffering.
She wrestled primarily for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and became known for her penchant for wrestling in deathmatches. In doing so, she set a new standard for women’s wrestling, proving that not even the ultra-vicious sphere of hardcore deathmatches could be limited solely to men.
Kudo’s reputation for hardcore matches made her a major draw in FMW, and many women in that promotion and elsewhere became genuinely afraid of her due to the crazy things she did in the ring.
If it wasn’t her patented Kudo Driver (a.k.a. the Vertebreaker, made popular by The Hurricane and Homicide) that was terrifying people, it was her match stipulations. Her retirement match was a "No ropes 200V double hell double barbed wire barricade double landmine glass crush death match".
Yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like.
#1 Manami Toyota
In 2009, the Wrestling Observer held a poll to determine who was the single greatest female wrestler of all time. The winner wasn’t Trish Stratus, or Lita, or even the Fabulous Moolah, who had held the WWF Women’s Championship for (allegedly) 28 years. The winner of that poll was Manami Toyota, and rightfully so.
From 1987 to 1997, she was the single greatest women’s wrestler in the world, bar none. She was the perfect wrestler, capable of doing anything and everything in the ring. Whether it was stiff strikes, fantastic technical mat wrestling, painful submission holds, breath-taking aerial manoeuvres, or a wide array of crazy Suplex variations, Toyota could do it all.
By the time she reached her peak in 1995, most people were comparing her favourably to her male counterparts around the world. In a time when most women elsewhere in the world, were performing short, insignificant matches or acting as eye candy, Toyota performed in 60-minute matches for women’s world titles, while suplexing her opponents in a way that Tazz only wished he could.
Her match with rival Kyoko Inoue was named Match of the Year in 1995, a prestigious honour, held by only a handful of select athletes in pro wrestling.
Toyota hasn’t yet announced a formal retirement, but her career accomplishments speak for themselves. Not only has she won numerous singles and tag team championships across multiple promotions, but she has also taken part in an astounding 14 5-Star matches in a span of four years.
She was also named the WON’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1995, the only woman to ever hold that honour.
But the best part of all of this? She accomplished all of this by the ripe old age of 24. That’s right, the best women’s wrestler of all time had won so many accolades at the age that Randy Orton won his first World Championship.
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