Last week, Pro Wrestling Illustrated released it’s second annual Female 50, a list of the ‘top’ women wrestlers of today. Similar to last year’s list, this year’s Female 50 was met with praise by some but criticism by most. The Female 50 is ranked by popularity, skill, and merit, yet there’s still a few girls on there that has us fans scratching our heads. Is Rosa Mendes really more skilled than say, Alicia Fox? Is Madison Rayne more popular than Natalya? Is Mickie James really the ‘Queen of the Hill’?
As Stew Allen accurately points out on the Women of Wrestling Podcast, “Women’s wrestling is a niche within a niche.” While this is true, I have noticed that women’s wrestling fans tend to be a lot more outspoken and hard to please than your run-of-the-mill wrestling fan. That being the case, how can you put together a list such as this one and still please everyone?
In order to expose and possibly repair the flaws in the Female 50, we really need to look at the actual structure of said list. According to Dan Murphy, one of the men behind this year’s list, several factors went into compiling the 50 names that made the list: “Work rate, promotional push, talent, marketability and other criteria.” Murphy also notes that the list received input from some ‘respected women in the industry’.
One of these women that he’s referring to is Missy Hyatt. Not to take anything away from Missy, but she wasn’t really a wrestler, was she? Maybe someone with more of a hand in the wrestling aspect of the industry would have been a better choice to give feedback on the list. Women like Jazz, Jacqueline and Molly Holly are seasoned veterans, who have a firm grasp of all aspects of the industry and are, quite frankly altogether more credible than Missy Hyatt. I really think that someone of their experience could have helped PWI trim some of the fat off of that list and add some substance.
