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Andy Murray reacts to the official PWI Women's 250, featuring Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone, Rhea Ripley, Saya Kamitani, and more!
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00:00Hello there, my very good friends. What are we doing at this time? Making a video in this studio?
00:04I have no idea. Well, it just so happens to be one of the best days in the calendar for
00:10arguing about wrestling.
00:11The PWI Women's 250 has just dropped as I'm recording this right now.
00:18And that means we're all going to be fighting about it for at least the next 12 hours or so.
00:23This is Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual ranking of the top 250 women's wrestlers in the world.
00:30Based on the judging period which runs from the first of, for this year, the first of August to the
00:3831st of July.
00:39So that's August 2024 to July 2025.
00:43And it includes a number of different criteria.
00:46Always gets people into it, shall we say.
00:49And it always gets people a little bit confused as well when it comes to the category, the criteria for
00:56this stuff.
00:57So, a lot of people assume it's just pure match quality or just pure ability or anything like that, star
01:04ratings, whatever, whatever.
01:06It is not.
01:07But, on your screen right now, you see the criteria, but I'm going to go through them one by one
01:11as well.
01:13In-ring achievements, so win-loss records, championship tournaments, kayfabe stuff, push stuff, right?
01:18Who's the most pushed?
01:19Who's winning the most?
01:20Who's got the most belts?
01:22Influence, meaning visibility and prestige within a promotion and or industry.
01:26So, yeah, again, push related, kayfabe related.
01:28Technical ability, quality of moves, matches and in-ring storytelling, that's very self-explanatory.
01:34Competition, success against the most varied and highest quality opponents.
01:37Yeah, if you win 20 matches against a dustbin, that's not as good as beating Tony Storm 20 times in
01:43a row an activity.
01:45So, you need to have a minimum of 10 singles matches throughout the year and a bunch of other stuff
01:50listed there as well.
01:51So, now we know the criteria, how about we go through the top 10?
01:55Um, I would do this in reverse order, but I think we'll just do it, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll go
02:00from one.
02:01Solid, we're going from one, because I think this is the name that's going to get the most people talking.
02:05That being the number one ranked wrestler in the PWI Women's Top 250 is Mercedes Money.
02:12And I think when you add all those criteria together, this is very hard to argue with.
02:17I think that the other person, honestly, the only other person I would make a strong case for to be
02:23number one is the person who's ranked two.
02:24But yes, in terms of Mercedes, look, she's lost once in, in, in singles competition to Tony Storm, right, for
02:32the AW Women's World Championship.
02:34She has won the millions of titles, what are we on, 10, 11, 12 at this stage, right?
02:40These are all things that factor into the judging.
02:42She's continually gone into territories and beaten the best wrestlers there,
02:46be it working in AEW, be it, you know, Tony's the, the exception there in terms of wins,
02:52but going to, to CMLL and wrestling Catalina and Persephone, going to, like, wrestling various other bits and pieces here
02:59and there as well.
03:00Uh, the match quality's high, that's the most subjective element of this, but I think her match quality's been very
03:05high throughout the year.
03:06Particularly the Athena match, I think that was her finest hour, Mercedes.
03:09But I thought the, the Tony match was tremendous as well, and there's plenty of other ones littered in there
03:14too.
03:14Uh, she fits all the criteria, she's been extremely active, she wrestles every other week.
03:20It's not just for AEW, she goes out to these indies and wins their title, uh, which gets a lot
03:25of people going.
03:26And I look, I know it's Mercedes, she, she, she attracts a lot of hate from people on the internet
03:31quite often.
03:33I think the majority of it is unwarranted, I think the majority of it is way overblown.
03:38And really, if you consider that, that, that a lot of this ranking is a kayfabe thing,
03:43I think it's very difficult to argue that, that she's number one on this list, honestly.
03:48I mean, look, if she beat Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World title, it would be a total no
03:54-brainer,
03:54not just a mostly no-brainer, which is what I currently think it is.
04:01The achievements just speak for themselves.
04:03She's got four million titles, man. Like, nobody else has that, nobody else has done that.
04:07Nobody else has worked a variety of places, while also staying active in a major league promotion,
04:12either, in, in, in the women's field of wrestling.
04:16Uh, kind of had to be Mercedes.
04:19And, uh, number two on the list was the closest champion.
04:23I think this is a good top, I think the top ten's pretty good, honestly.
04:26Toni Storm's in here. Okay, here we go.
04:28AEW Women's World Champion for ages, ages and ages and ages.
04:33She had a tremendous run opposite Mariah May, excellent feud, right near the top of the card.
04:39She's one of AEW's franchise players. She's one of the most important people on that show.
04:43She's not the champion anymore, but that, most of that would fall out with the judging window.
04:48She, uh, constantly delivers in the ring. The character work is some of the best in the promotion.
04:53She's really over. Hard to argue against Toni Storm as well.
04:57I mean, again, like the subjective elements are always going to be up for debate, right?
05:02You can, you can talk about match quality and enjoyment of the character and all that's fine.
05:06All that's fine.
05:07But when so much of this is based on achievement and accomplishments and push,
05:11Toni Storm being number two makes a lot of sense, especially in a year where if you look at WWE's
05:19candidates and we'll, we'll get through those as we go along, um, there's not really a standout WWE
05:26candidate to knock these two off the top. Uh, the main reason being the person I consider one of
05:31the strongest WWE candidates, Stephanie Vaquer, half of her stuff was in developmental and, uh, you know,
05:38NXT is a weekly TV show, right? It's got about the same audience as AEW. Um, but you're talking about
05:45Mercedes Monday winning 11, 12 belts here and Toni Storm like running the show for long periods.
05:52It's, it's crazy. Number three was Saya Kamatani of Stardom. She's had a very successful year
05:57establishing herself as the top dog of that company. Look, it's the leading Joshi group. Uh,
06:03it is the leading women's wrestling promotion in the world, as in promotions that do exclusively women's
06:09matches. She's going to have the opportunity to wrestle at the Tokyo Dome because the New Japan
06:14partnership and all that stuff, she has been the shining light of that promotion this year and it is
06:20absolutely earned that she would be high on the list. She's been pushed extremely well. The match
06:26quality is higher than anyone on this list. Uh, in terms of volume in particular, uh, very hard to,
06:33I mean, look, it's a more in-ring focused product even than AEW, definitely more so than WWE
06:39stardom. But the, the, the, the catalog is absolutely insane. And I think, look, this is a
06:45really good top three. I think they've nailed it personally. The first WWE person here is Tiffany
06:51Stratton. She's number four. She was SmackDown Women's Champion for ages. She was undefeated for ages,
06:58uh, until she lost, of course, uh, like a couple of weeks ago, not so long ago, but she was
07:04consistently
07:05pushed atop SmackDown. Um, yes, she's had some wonky moments like the, uh, Charlotte Flair feud,
07:11uh, and the ensuing match, but the strength of the push is right there. She is the strongest
07:15candidate from SmackDown. And, uh, uh, number five is the strongest candidate. I think
07:21naturally, I'm going to argue with myself a little bit. Stephanie Vaqueror is number five
07:25and she's a really interesting case. Uh, she's double champion in NXT. She's now a main roster champion as
07:31well. She's been pushed really strongly from day one. She came into the company and it felt like
07:35she won the belt five minutes later in NXT and it was richly deserved because she's absolutely
07:39sensational. I think that the only thing that stops her charging into the top three here
07:44is that her main roster push is relatively new, uh, and that there are simply not enough months
07:50on the board for her to reasonably be considered like a number one contender for this list. Number
07:56six was EO Sky. And look, if we're talking cat quality, if, if we're weighing that highly,
08:01I think that she beats, uh, Tiffany and Stephanie, uh, in particular, I think she's been WWE's, uh,
08:07best wrestler this year in the ring. And I think that look, uh, the, the catalog, I mean,
08:13the WrestleMania triple threat match is the best PWG match I've seen in years with Bianca Belia and
08:18Rhea Ripley. And yeah, she was a woman's champion for your period as well. Uh, so she's had that period
08:23on top, but other people have had it a bit longer. Other people reigned a bit longer than EO. So
08:28that's why I
08:29think that she's below them even though Stephanie's pushes, you know, quite new as well. Number seven
08:33is Athena. She's been the ring of honor champion forever. That she's the forever champion that tells
08:38you everything you need to know. Uh, she, uh, has, uh, been more and more involved in the mainline
08:44AEW product working with Mercedes in particular. She's eaten a couple of losses here and there.
08:49That does hurt her a little bit, I think. And I think that the fact that her push is taking
08:52place
08:53primarily on ring of honor hurts her a little bit as well, because it's like what the sixth or seventh
08:58most
08:58popular wrestling product that does matter when it comes to the influence, uh, uh, category of the
09:05PWI 250. So look, Athena's great. We all love Athena and we're all hoping that she gets a bigger role
09:11somewhere in AEW in the future. Number eight is Sari. She is one of the best freelance wrestlers in the
09:18world. She's, I mean, every single time I've sat down and watched Sari this year, I've been blown away
09:23by what she's been, by what she's delivered. Shouldn't be a huge surprise. She was considered
09:28a massive prospect before she went to WWE. That run got a little bit weird with the school girl
09:34outfit and stuff. Uh, but she's now back doing what she does best, kicking ass, putting on her own shows.
09:39The Sari-ism shows are always a good time. Really loved her Meiko Satomura match this year in
09:43particular, but the Shuri matches have a lot of buzz too. She, she's tremendous. Like she, I'm very thankful for
09:50because we don't have as many non-contracted wrestlers out there beating ass these days.
09:58Sari is doing it for the love of the game. She's tremendous. One of the best in the world.
10:01Not even 30 yet, I don't think. Good. Glad to see her on the rankings. Number nine is Naomi,
10:06who has won a lot of things this year. Uh, Money in the Bank. Woman's title. Uh, she had a
10:13Wrestlemania
10:13program with Jake Hargill. Okay. She lost, but it was spotlighted. She had the big spotlighted heel turn.
10:18She had the consistent push on WWE programming. I think that if it had lasted a little bit longer,
10:23she would probably be higher. And look, starting a family with your beloved husband
10:28is much more important than finishing higher on the PWI 250. So there are priorities here,
10:34but I think it's an earned spot in the top 10 based on how consistently she's been pushed.
10:38And, uh, I cannot argue with her spot at all. Number 10 is Rhea Ripley. And we're going to wrap
10:43this one up on number 10. We're not going to do the whole 250. We haven't got five hours here.
10:47Come
10:47on. Uh, Rhea Ripley is, look, she's a star. She's an absolute star. I get, uh, when, whenever I tell
10:53people I work in wrestling, uh, they're like, uh, Oh, Rhea Ripley is one of the first people they
10:58recognize. Uh, that's anecdotal. So, you know, it's not much use. Um, but she, she's a centerpiece
11:04of this division. She hasn't, it's not a case for her of holding a title for like five months,
11:10six months, seven months this year, which hurts her consideration in the top 10, but she will,
11:16I mean, it's Rhea Ripley for as long as she's active, she's probably going to be in the top
11:1910 because she will always be strongly pushed. She will always be having good matches and she
11:24will always be working with the biggest names in her division. She's a star. That's how it works.
11:28I imagine next year, if she has a more prolonged title reign, she will finish even higher. So there's
11:33your number 10 and there's your top 10 PWI women's 250. Um, look, just remember the category when we're
11:39debating stuff like this. It's not just in ring quality. It's not just my favorite is better
11:42than your favorite or anything like that. They are trying to be a little bit objective,
11:46right? When they're, they're trying to apply pushes and they're trying to look to look at
11:50accomplishments and statistics and positionings and things like that. I think, um, there's room
11:55for that. There's, there is room for that, uh, in 2025. Uh, cause a lot of these awards, like, uh,
12:02the wrestling observer will do, they'll do rest of the year, which is different,
12:05but their most outstanding will be purely in ring. And then the, the Flair of Bez will
12:09encompass drawing ability and stuff. This is a slightly different beast, right? This, this is, uh,
12:15highly kayfabe focused compared to some of these awards. I think there's room for everything. I think
12:20there is room for who had the most good matches. And I think there's room for who had the best
12:24push
12:24and the most good matches as well. I'll leave that with you folks. You can, you can chat away on
12:29this
12:29one till your heart's content. Let me know what you think down below and I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.
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