Women’s wrestling has achieved yet another milestone this year with the release of the 2021 PWI 500 list, know the names of all the 29 female wrestlers who were ranked
America’s internationally sold magazine Pro-wrestling Illustrated has released a list of the top 500 professional wrestlers, every year since 1991. While PWI also releases a separate list for women called PWI Women’s 100, some female wrestlers do make occasional appearances on the former. In this year’s edition, over twenty-nine women were ranked in the PWI 500. This number is higher than that of last year which was nineteen.
List Of All The Female Wrestlers Ranked On PWI Top 500 2021
Among these women, independent wrestler and woman of color Trish Adora was placed the highest at number forty-four, the only one to have grabbed a spot in the top hundred. Apart from this, six women were ranked in the top half of the list.
- Trish Adora (44)
- Allie Katch (111)
- Jordynne Grace (179)
- Edith Surreal (192)
- Laynie Luck (230)
- Erica Leigh (245)
- Charli Evans (291)
- Delmi Exo (314)
- Ashley Vox (318)
- Davienne (324)
- Mei Suruga (382)
- Kylie Rae (388)
- Mickie Knuckles (390)
- Jordan Blade (398)
- DARK Sheik (399)
- Ziggy Haim (403)
- Willow Nightingale (409)
- Jessica Troy (411)
- Masha Slamovich (420)
- Kasey Catal (425)
- Emi Sakura (429)
- Billie Starkz (441)
- Saki Akai (445)
- Killer Kelly (453)
- Jamie Senegal (461)
- Janai Kai (468)
- Alice Crowley (471)
- Kaia McKenna (499)
- Lulu Pencil (500)
2020 Announcement To Integrate Women Wrestlers Into The PWI 500 List
Last year in July, Editor-in-Chief Kevin McElvaney had posted a statement on Twitter announcing PWI’s plans to integrate women into the annual PWI 500 list. While they did not want to get rid of the PWI Women’s 100 list entirely, they wanted to honor the indie stars who were winning traditionally “male” championships in major promotions, outside WWE, including those who identified as gender-fluid and non-binary.
This challenge is by no means exclusive to WWE. In AEW, Ring of Honor, the NWA, or even in top promotions in Japan and Mexico, women are unable to challenge men for top heavyweight titles. Women competing in those places deserve recognition. And yet …
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) July 7, 2020
Ignoring the achievements of those wrestlers is wrong. But it also seems premature to get rid of the Women's 100 list entirely, since not everyone is competing for the same proverbial prizes in the ring. So, what do we do?
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) July 7, 2020
In order to tackle this issue mentioned in the above Twitter thread, Pro-Wrestling Illustrated decided that from 2020, the PWI 500 list will include wrestlers who fit their criteria, regardless of their gender. These criteria included the following factors: win-loss record, technical ability, influence on the sport, success against the highest grade of competition, success against the most diverse competition and activity.
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