Who is Giulia? Meet the wrestling star who ranked number 2 in PWI's Women's 250 list

PWI Women's 250 recently crowned Rhea Ripley as the top female wrestler of the year, with Giulia ranking second. While many know the WWE star, some might not be familiar with the talented 29-year-old.

Giulia is an English-born Italian-Japanese wrestler currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom in Japan. She is one of the current Artist of Stardom Champion alongside Mai Sakurai and Thekla of Donna Del Mondo, a group she founded. She is also NJPW's current Strong Women's Champion.

Giulia made her wrestling debut at 23 by joining Ice Ribbon in October 2017. During her time in the company, she became the International Ribbon Tag team Champion with Tequila Saya and won the Rookie Award in 2018. She left the promotion in 2019.

She has wrestled in Japan's independent circuit since 2018 and signed with Stardom in 2019. The following year, she began appearing in NJPW. In July this year, she defeated Willow Nightingale to become the second Strong Women's Champion.

Giulia wrestled for the first time in the United States in August 2023 at Multiverse United 2. She successfully defended the Strong Women's title against Deonna Purrazzo, Gisele Shaw, and Momo Kohgo.

This year's PWI Women's 250 ranking is the highest Guilia has landed in her career so far. She ranked 54 in 2020, 16 in 2021, and 57 in 2022. She also landed at the number 5 spot of the Top 50 Tag teams in 2021 with Syuri.

What was Giulia's original plan before professional wrestling?

Giulia accomplished a lot at the age of 29

It's hard to imagine the 29-year-old not performing in the ring. Although it seems like she was born to be a wrestler, that wasn't always her initial plan.

While talking with Fightful, Giulia revealed her original plan was to be a makeup specialist in Hollywood. She even worked as a club hostess to earn money for hair and makeup school, as tuition was expensive.

One of her customers brought her to a pro wrestling show, where she eventually fell in love with the sport. She still went to hair and makeup school but was also training. After graduating, she debuted under Ice Ribbon.

Who are the top 10 women in PWI's Women's 250 list?

As mentioned, Rhea and the Stardom star got the top two spots in this year's PWI Women's 250. They are followed by Bianca Belair, Jamie Hayter, Tam Nakano, Athena, Deonna Purrazzo, Willow Nightingale, Kamille, and Jordynne Grace.

Fortunately, after years of dedication to the sport, the Strong Women's Champion is slowly but surely getting the recognition she deserves.