I see you’ve made it back for another 25 reveals of our big Top 100 list. Hopefully last week you enjoyed our write ups about some of your favorite wrestlers, and hopefully this week you’ll see even more of your favorites pop up. If you do have any feedback, please feel free to tag us on X and we’ll do our best to make this even better next time. Anyway, let’s get back to the list!

Joshi Top 100 76-100

75. MOMOKA HANAZONO – EVOLUTION JOSHI 

Behind the seemingly innocent smile of this wrestler from Osaka is all kinds of chaotic energy. Momoka Hanazono is the type of wrestler who will use literally any tactic imaginable to try to score the victory, which includes foot stomps, the use of the ref, or her bubble wand, just to name a few. This year, she joined Evolution Joshi as a full time member, but still works in many other promotions, as well all around Japan as shown by the four different titles she’s held in four different companies. While her winning percentage wasn’t great at thirty-nine percent, her work rate and titles propelled her up to the seventy-fifth spot on our list. With her now being what I would consider the “Ace” of Evolution Joshi, it will be interesting to see what all she can accomplish in the coming year.

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

74. IBUKI HOSHI – ICE RIBBON 

One can’t help but wonder how this 21-year-old girl has one of the nastiest chops in professional wrestling, but when you cite Tsukasa Fujimoto and Hikaru Shida as inspirations, you clearly have serious ambitions. As a second-generation wrestler, Ibuki Hoshi has shown passion and patience to reach the top of Ice Ribbon and hopefully, the wrestling world. After being trained by her mother Hamuko, and with seven years of experience, Ibuki has put on excellent performances, while chopping the soul out of her opponents. She finally consolidated herself as the present and future of the company when she won the ICExInfinity championship. Ibuki recently announced her pregnancy and vacated the title, so here’s to everything going well for her family, because fans surely will be waiting for her return.

• Written By: Fernando Ibarra

73. HIROYO MATSUMOTO – FREELANCER 

As consistent of a wrestler as you will see on the scene, Hiroyo Matsumoto has been great for nearly 20 years. The powerhouse has been the mainstay for a number of promotions, being a standout in singles but even more so tag team wrestling. Her work in Sendai Girls, SEAdLINNNG, OZ Academy, Sukeban, and other spots may not have her on the map for every joshi fan, but anyone who watches her knows that she hasn’t missed a step. The accolades may not pile up as much these days, but the quality of work absolutely does.

• Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)

72. NATSUKO TORA – STARDOM 

There are very few wrestlers in Stardom who are more divisive than Natsuko Tora. The former leader of Oedo Tai and now the current leader of H.A.T.E. is someone that many fans are either tired of, or they actually enjoy the heel work of. One thing is for certain, Tora will get a reaction, especially when she wins. Last year, she actually didn’t win as much as you’d think as Oedo Tai as a whole was booked pretty weakly by the brass at Bushiroad, and that is shown by Tora’s 46% win rate. The lack of titles was rather surprising as well, even though that was remedied shortly after the cut off of this year’s grading period. All in all, it was the competition and place in Stardom as well as the joshi landscape that got her this high, and one would think that next year she may even be higher with what’s already transpired. The biggest heel in Stardom is poised to have a possible reign of terror over the next 12 months.

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

71. MIYUKI TAKASE – FREELANCER 

Lots and lots of freelancers will give a solid match in the ring, but very few will perform at such a high level to make you think she’s the Ace of the promotion; Miyuki Takase is easily one of those freelancers. With only seven years in the business, she has gathered quite a few accomplishments in both tag team and singles action, highlighting her current reign with the DPW Women’s World Championship in the USA. It would be easy to talk about her work in Pro Wrestling Wave, where she’s been Tag Team champion, but we would also need to talk about PURE-J, Marvelous, Sendai Girls, SEAdLINNNG, EVE, Gatoh Move and even NOAH, where she’s wrestling up to eight matches in one month in three different countries. Do you need a great performer at your show? Do you want a credible top champion? The “Phoenix of Osaka” is your answer.

• Written By: Fernando Ibarra

70. YUKI AINO – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING 

Hard work and devastating suplexes helped Yuki Aino battle her way up the TJPW hierarchy. The bruiser showed herself to be a formidable foe as both a singles star and tag team wrestler. Aino capped off 2023 with a stretch of seven-straight wins in one-on-one competition. That included a victory over Yuki Arai at Arai’s own homecoming event at KBS Hall. She then began 2024 by winning the vacant TJPW Princess Tag Team Championships with Ryo Mizunami. At Summer Sun Princess 2023, she pushed Rika Tatsumi to her limits in an unsuccessful challenge for the TJPW International Princess Championship. While Aino couldn’t get the W there, she got plenty of them throughout the Joshi Top 100 grading period, finishing with an impressive sixty-nine percent win rate.

• Written By: Ryan Dilbert (X: @ryandilbert)

69. RIKO KAWAHATA (GREAT SAKUYA) – MARVELOUS 

Riko Kawahata’s decision to join Marvelous on a full-time basis was what brought her from hopeful prospect to one of the best young talents on the joshi scene. Working with Yumiko Hotta’s T-HEARTS and now training with Chigusa Nagayo is about as great of teaching you’ll get, and it’s perfect for someone like Kawahata who has the ability to seemingly do anything in the ring. From a top rope moonsault to trading kicks with the best of them, we’re only now seeing what Kawahata has in her full skill set. Add in that she has taken on the character of the Great Sakuya to add to her impressive year. Forming Magenta with Maria brought them to becoming one of the best tag teams in joshi and ultimately saw them win the AAAW Tag Team Championships. She’s only going to climb the ranks as time goes on.

• Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)

68. MARIA – MARVELOUS 

One of Marvelous’ most promising stars reigned supreme over the promotion’s tag division alongside Riko Kawahata. The duo dubbed “Magenta” held the AAAW Tag Team Championship for over 200 days. During that span, they notched victories over the likes of Unagi Sayaka, Mio Momono, and Mika Iwata, in addition to successfully defending the AAAW tag belts at Marvelous’ 8th Anniversary event. Magenta took their act on the road, as well, performing in the United States for both West Coast Pro and Kitsune Women’s Wrestling. Maria’s hard-hitting style and palpable presence made her one to watch either as a solo act or as one half of joshi’s top teams.

• Written By: Ryan Dilbert (X: @ryandilbert)

67. KAORI YONEYAMA (FUKIGEN DEATH) – YMZ

A lot of people write off Kaori Yoneyama as just a comedic wrestler, and while they are right about her being comedic, she’s also one hell of a worker who has put in a lot of time in the ring. Most of the people reading this list probably only knows Kaori as “Fukigen Death” or one of the many other face painted characters she’s played over the past few years in Stardom, but they may not realize that she keeps herself quite busy in other companies as well, like the one she owns—YMZ. Last year, she worked 133 matches in total and finished with a 68% win rate which is pretty great for “just a comedy wrestler” huh? She held two titles last year, but only held both of them for a combined total of 42 days, which isn’t the most impressive, but a win is a win. Ultimately, Kaori is a trusted veteran of the ring who you can put in there with a rookie or veteran and still get a good match out of it. She’s a great person to learn from, and someone who will be greatly missed whenever she decides to retire. Recently she went out with a bad knee injury, so we wish her the best in her recovery, and we look forward to her hopeful return to the squared circle.

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

66. KONAMI – STARDOM

The “Submission Sniper” made a full-time return to Stardom in March of this year, immediately aligning herself with Syuri’s “God’s Eye” unit. Besides making appearances for SPARK, Sukeban and Hana Kimura’s memorial show, Konami was mainly featured in (often multi-person) tag matches in Stardom. Teaming with her God’s Eye partners, she scored victories over most other units. She ultimately teamed with Syuri to end FWC’s historic third Goddesses of Stardom title reign, only a few days before our grading period ended. Konami has seemingly found her spot in God’s Eye and could be in place for a lengthy reign alongside her former mentor. A fierce competitor with lethal strikes and some painful submission holds, you can bet Konami will make sure her legacy in Stardom will Never End.

• Written By: Dave Coumans

65. YUKI KAMIFUKU – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING

Towering over all the girls on the TJPW roster, Yuki Kamifuku balances (casual) beauty and power, using those long legs as deadly weapons. Always glamorous, Kamiyu makes sure the spotlight is on her every time she steps in the ring, combining kicks, chops and her trademark poke to the eyes, before finishing things up with the “Fameasser.” Even when she failed to win the finals of the Princess Cup tournament or the International Princess Championship, she found success outside TJPW, outside of Japan, actually, as she won both the VPW Women’s championship and SPW Queen of Asia championship, in Vietnam and Singapore, respectively. Professional wrestling may not be her priority, as she is also a model, but she’s made an impact in the joshi and Asian wrestling scene.

• Written By: Fernando Ibarra

64. NANAE TAKAHASHI – MARIGOLD

Passion is a way of life, at least for Nanae Takahashi. When she stepped away from SEAdLINNNG at the end of 2021, it felt like we were nearing the end of joshi’s “Living Legend” being an active competitor. Instead, she found another groove when she returned to STARDOM and freelance around the scene—whether it was teaming with Yuu as 7Upp or introducing Passion Injection matches. The move to regroup with Rossy Ogawa and help form Marigold wasn’t among the guesses for what Takahashi would do post-SEAdLINNNG, but it’s proven to be exactly what she needs to have the ideal final stretch of her great career. 2024 will go down as one of her finest in-ring years in her long career, and her impact will be felt for years to come as she trains the next generation in Marigold.

• Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)

63. NAGISA NOZAKI – FREELANCER

Former two-time Regina di WAVE champion Nagisa Nozaki made a successful return to wrestling in November 2023, after over a year of nursing a severe knee injury. The 17-year veteran shocked everyone by leaving her home promotion of six years, Pro-Wrestling WAVE, and going freelance. The “New Age Goddess” immediately resurfaced in NOAH and SEAdLINNNG, before seemingly settling in the new Marigold brand. As a new member of “Las Fresas de Egoistas”, Nozaki grabbed the SEAdLINNNG Tag Team championship with Makoto, but fell short alongside VENY when trying to win the OZ Academy tag straps. Whether as a tag team wrestler or singles star, Nagisa Nozaki has all the tools to become a major player for Marigold. And those who say otherwise may very well end up on the receiving end of perhaps the most lethal kicks in the business.

• Written By: Dave Coumans

62. RISA SERA – PROMINENCE

With her blue hair, her stunning blue robes and magnetic personality, the leader of Prominence turns heads wherever she goes. Whether it’s in Stardom, where she took arch rival Giulia to the limit for the STRONG Women’s title and turned in a very solid performance in the Goddesses Tag League with Prominence partner Hiragi Kurumi. Whether it’s in WAVE, where she grabbed the Tag Team Championship three times with SAKI. Whether it’s going after respected championships like Hanako Nakamori’s Pure-J Openweight title. Whether it’s taking extremely promising young rookie Miran under her wing in Diana. Whether it’s in her own freelance promotion, where she’s turning in brutal blood-soaked deathmatches against the likes of Violento Jack, Chris Brooks or other joshi competitors like SAKI or Nao Ishikawa. Or whether it’s even reinventing herself as Lady Antoinette in the goofy Sukeban promotion. Risa Sera is always able to captivate the audience with her unique looks, her amazing technical kill, and her ability to take punishment and come back even stronger.

• Written By: Dave Coumans

61. NATSUMI SHOWZUKI (SUMIKAWA) – MARIGOLD

The ever-reliable veteran shined in two promotions over the past 12 months. In Actwres girl’Z, Natsumi Sumikawa led The Royal, a powerful and captivating faction. With her at the helm, the group won the AWG Unit Tournament last summer. Sumikawa went on to wrest the AWG Championship from Mari’s grip in March. After one successful defense (against Chika Goto), the new champion vacated the title as Sumikawa and a host of others left the company to join Rossy Ogawa’s newly formed Dream Star Fighting Marigold. Right away, she showed herself to be a major player for the upstart promotion where she returned to the ring name she used during her time with STARDOM “Showzuki”. With Marigold, the fierce fighter started strong with a string of wins alongside Miku Aono and knocking off gaijin talents Myla Grace and Zayda Steel in singles action.

• Written By: Ryan Dilbert (X: @ryandilbert)

60. MEGAN BAYNE – FREELANCER

“The Megasus” Megan Bayne is one of the only foreign talents who made this year’s list because of our rules of having to have over 10 matches for a Japanese based company, but that’s not the only reason she made it. Megan showed up surprisingly in Stardom in July of last year, and right away made a huge statement. Her size and strength made her a huge test for every opponent she had in her time there. While she didn’t win any titles during her run, she did win the Goddess Tag League with Maika which made waves in Japan. Unfortunately, the powerful duo came up short in their attempt at the vacant tag team titles, but it helped show that not only Maika, but Megan was a force to be reckoned with. When you tally in her matches in America on top of her time in Japan, she had a whopping 74% win rate, and with her regularly working GCW now, there’s no doubt that her star will continue to rise as she wrestles in some of the biggest indie shows in America. It will be interesting to see if she makes it back to Japan during the next 12 months, because if she does for a prolonged amount of time, there’s no doubt that she’ll be on this list again next year!

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

59. MARI – ACTWRES GIRL’Z

With her sword in hand and her steely eyes aimed at her foes, Mari has long been one of the most magnetic personalities on the Actwres girl’Z roster. The company needed that more than ever this spring. Before that, Mari ended Miku Aono’s lengthy AWG Championship reign when she defeated her for the title just before the end of 2023.  As champ, she successfully defended against Misa Matsui in a barnburner before ending her reign at 86 days thanks to a loss to Natsumi Sumikawa (now Showzuki). Soon after, a wave of AWG talent leaving for Marigold left Mari’s home promotion deflated and directionless. In response, Mari reinvented herself, ditching her famous mask and donning a new look. She then joined the Actwres Killer’Z with ACT, MARU, and Great Asako. She and her killers have revitalized Actwres girl’Z, once again leading the charge with her coolness and creativity.

• Written By: Ryan Dilbert (X: @ryandilbert)

58. SAKI KASHIMA – STARDOM

Saki Kashima is the special kind of comedy based wrestler who can literally beat anyone on any roster. Her special pin finisher “Kishikaisei” is known for its upsets in the 5 Star Grand Prix every year, and it has helped propel her to a 52% win percentage over the past year. She also won the High Speed Championship on two occasions, but affectionately called herself the “Low Speed Champion” instead because of how fast the action normally is in high speed championship matches and the fact that it’s too much work for her to try to go so fast. While there are a lot of people who may not take Kashima as seriously as they should as a great in-ring competitor, her longevity and chemistry with everyone she gets into the ring with shows just how good of a talent she is. Will she ever be a main event player again? Maybe not, but Saki Kashima is an important member of Stardom as a little bit of comedy to go with the hard hitting action that everyone expects from the promotion.

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

57. SAYA IIDA – STARDOM

Effort will bring you a long way. And for Saya Iida, it has brought her higher and higher over the last year. The STARS member shifted herself from undercard wrestler to one of the most appreciated wrestlers in all of STARDOM amongst fans. Maybe it’s because of how easily likable she is through sheer will and, as mentioned before, effort. Or it’s just because Iida is that good in the ring. This past year has been highlighted by two things specifically for Iida—an injection of passion and tag team wrestling. When Iida stepped up to Nanae Takahashi at NEW BLOOD 10, it felt like she leveled up in the best Passion Injection match performance. And then there’s her teaming with Hanan as wing*gori, where they’d win the NEW BLOOD Tag Team Championships and have countless great matches as a duo. Not only have they established themselves in STARDOM, but they’ve become one of the best tag teams in the world. A lot of that has to do with the growth of both wrestlers, but especially Iida, who is only getting better and better as time moves forward.

• Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)

56. HARUKA UMESAKI (KARMA) – DIANA

Very few wrestlers have managed to pull off two completely polar opposite characters in the same year as Diana’s top young prospect. On the one hand, she has portrayed a smiling, rule-abiding babyface in Diana, where she’s being groomed to become their biggest star. On the other hand, she appears in Stardom’s NEW BLOOD shows as a scary, face painted rulebreaker named KARMA alongside Starlight Kid, with whom she became the inaugural NEW BLOOD Tag Team Champions. In her home promotion Diana, Haruka finally fulfilled her potential by winning the coveted WWWD World title and holding it throughout the grading period. During her run with her company’s top belt, she turned away challenges from one half of Stardom’s Goddesses champions Mei Seira, Unagi Sayaka (also briefly winning the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight title), Kakeru Sekiguchi, Tae Honma and Ayame Sasamura. 2023 and 2024 have truly been breakout years for the talented 23 year-old and there should be a whole lot more to come for this exciting youngster.

• Written By: Dave Coumans

55. UNAGI SAYAKA – FREELANCER

When watching joshi wrestling this year, it was hard to miss Unagi Sayaka. The woman was quite literally everywhere. After competing in TJPW and Stardom, the former  idol went freelance in 2022 and saw her career take off from there. Early in the grading period, Unagi became the first-ever Kitsune World champion and successfully defended the belt against Janai Kai and YuuRI. In January, the colorful athlete added the JTO Girls title to her resume and turned away challenges by Aoi and Misa Kagura. But her greatest work was probably her creativity with the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight title. She won that version of a 24/7 championship a total of 12 times and held on to it for an accumulated 111 days, trading it with the likes of Haruka Umesaki, Hyan and her trusted dinosaur Stefan. The highly charismatic performer also turned out to be a smart business woman, promoting her own event that drew over 1200 people to Korakuen Hall. She might not have the best win-loss record, but Unagi is living proof you don’t need the most wins to be extremely over with the fans. If she’s able to grab more victories and title belts, there’s no doubt she’ll skyrocket to the top part of this list next year.

• Written By: Dave Coumans

54. MEI SURUGA – CHOCO PRO

When you’re only 4′ 10 ” tall, even as a female wrestler, you will need some great skills to stand out, and Mei Suruga did just that and more. As the “Ace” of Gatoh Move/Choco Pro, she makes sure that a promotion that holds its shows mainly in a little room in Ichigaya, makes a lot of noise all over the world. Watching Mei wrestle can be best described as “fun”, which can be one of the best compliments one can give to a wrestler, as her unique combination of skill, charisma and cuteness often result in the most entertaining match of any card she is in. Aside from being a singles star, her excellent tag team work with Baliyan Akki as “The Best Bros” needs to be brought up, especially their historic reign with the Asia Dream Tag Team championship and the epic feud with CDK. Internationally, she has performed in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the UK, the USA and Mexico, capturing the hearts of the fans in the process.  Opponents as tall as Chris Brookes and as tough as Minoru Suzuki are some of the biggest challenges the “Apple Girl” has faced in her way to become a major star in the joshi scene.

• Written By: Fernando Ibarra

53. XENA – STARDOM

In the past year, not many wrestlers made a bigger jump than Xena did. The “Touch of Thunder” started her second tour in STARDOM this past January as part of the new faction E-neXus-V and made a name for herself quickly with great performances in trios and tag team action, including her capturing the Artist of Stardom Championship together with Maika and Mina Shirakawa. She had her biggest match of her career as she unsuccessfully challenged her EXV partner Maika for the World of Stardom Championship in the best match of her career. With her improvement, she earned herself the highest spot for a foreigner on this list.

• Written By: Peps (X: @Peps_Wrestling)

52. AJA KONG – FREELANCER

The legend Aja Kong is still kicking strong at the age of 53 years old, and she was quite good this past year. She worked 73 matches during the grading period and she won 51 of those, which gave her a winning percentage of 70. Obviously, in joshi wrestling the older you get, the stronger you become, and Aja has been showing just that in the many promotions that she’s appeared in. When it comes to titles, she only held the Blast Queen Championship which has had quite a lineage of great champions in the past, and she did hold it for almost the entire year-long grading period. There’s no doubt that Aja has slowed down over the years, but whether you need her to put the beating on someone, or even work a more comedic style, Aja can do it all, and do it at a pretty high level. It will be interesting to see if she stays just as active over the next year, but as long as she keeps wrestling often, there’s no doubt that she’ll be on this list next year as well.

• Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)

51. TOMOKA INABA – JUST TAP OUT

When looking across the joshi scene and all the incredible talent that will lead it now and for years to come, there are few better than Tomoka Inaba. The JTO product has stayed loyal to TAKA Michinoku’s promotion, and it may be the reason that she’s not higher than 51 on this list. Being Queen of JTO Champion was her top accomplishment along with winning the JTO Girls 2023 Tournament, but it feels we are on the brink of her becoming so much bigger than just the JTO Ace. As we saw dating back to 2022, Inaba’s usage in STARDOM was going to be her path to, well, more. And now that she is seemingly back in the shuffle, Inaba looks to be on the come up and joining the likes of AZM, Suzu Suzuki, and Starlight Kid as the best young stars in the promotion. Her skill set of dangerous strikes and shoot style offense sets her apart from all three of them, and it’s why her ceiling is an unlimited one as we move forward. As long as she keeps getting major opportunities outside of JTO, the scene can be hers to dominate in the future.

• Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)

There you have it! Quite a few more amazing joshi talents who will no doubt make some noise in the upcoming year ahead. Feel free to let us know what you think about our rankings and if you feel that someone should have been much higher up the board. After all, this is all about getting fans to talk about the wrestling that we all love. Tune in next week as we finally break into the Top 50 of our list!

Cover graphic by Hart Editing