I see you’ve made it back for the 4th installment of our Joshi Top 100 reveal. This entire project was a lot of fun to put together, and hopefully next year it will be back even better than it was this year. We’re now going to be counting down from 25 to number one, which means you’re about to see who was the best of the best over the past year. A big congratulations needs to be given to these awesome talents for their hard work and dedication to the craft, and this is our little way of doing it. So without further ado, let’s start with number 25!
25. RIKA TATSUMI – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING
Low-key, the best wrestler in TJPW may well be “The White Dragon” Rika Tatsumi, as she is an extremely intelligent performer and a master in-ring psychologist. She will trick you into going after her, only to trap you in her “Dragon Whip”, followed by her famous “Iron Hip” attack. She became the first Grand Slam champion in TJPW after winning the International Championship from her tag team partner Miu Watanabe, having arguably the best reign in the combined belt’s history. Even when she failed to win her second Max Heart Tag Team tournament, she reached the finals and had the best performances.
- Written By: Fernando Ibarra
24. MIKA IWATA – SENDAI GIRLS
If you’re not someone who watches Sendai Girls often, Mika Iwata might have been a bit out of sight, out of mind for you, but this year she made quite a splash in the biggest joshi promotion in the world STARDOM when she shockingly defeated Saori Anou for the Wonder of Stardom Championship. That of course happened at the end of our grading period, but for most of this past year she was also the Sendai Girls World Champion, which happens to be a pretty prestigious title considering who some of the past champions have been. She won just over 60 percent of her matches this year, but every performance she’d put on in the ring was top tier. It would have been great if she wrestled a bit more than the 41 times that she stepped into the ring this year, but hopefully with the extra success in her short stint in STARDOM and her popularity growing in Japan, she’ll have a lot more promotions wanting to use her services in the ring.
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
23. MEI SEIRA – STARDOM
For the majority of this grading period, there’s an argument that Mei Seira has been the MVP of STARDOM. Whether it be through singles, tag team, or trios action, Seira was able to shine in all scenarios. She only had one level in her work and it didn’t matter if she was wrestling in the Sendai PIT or Ryogoku Sumo Hall — she was always going to bring it. Her accolades speak for themselves, as she won the High-Speed Championship for the first time in her career. Beyond the singles success, so much of her impressive efforts came alongside Suzu Suzuki in the impromptu duo that became CRAZY STAR. Their success in the ring eventually brought them to the Goddesses of Stardom Championship, defeating AphroditE to win the gold. The championship reign only lasted 36 days, but they managed two successful defenses before losing the belts to FWC in one of the best tag team matches in STARDOM history. Seira’s ability to standout without being in the main events is what sets her apart and lands her so high on this list. She’s only going to keep getting better now that she’s back in the swing of wrestling after a few years off, too.
- Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)
22. RYO MIZUNAMI – FREELANCER
Ryo “Aniki” Mizunami should be everyone’s favorite hard-hitting colorful personality in joshi, but if she isn’t your favorite, then shame on you! Ryo is one of the more active freelancers out there on the scene and that can be seen by her output of ninety-four matches over the past year. In those ninety-four matches she won exactly 60 percent of them, which is pretty good, but not amazing. Most of those losses of course were in tag team matches, but in singles matches she’s always booked quite strong. This year, Ryo held three different tag team titles in three different companies: TJPW, OZ Academy, and Sendai Girls respectively which shows just how active she is in many different promotions, and how strong of a competitor those companies see her as. Aniki is the proverbial “life of the party” anytime she steps through that curtain, but don’t let the smiles and high energy fool you. She’s also a huge test for any wrestler who steps foot in the ring against her. She’ll get the best out of anyone, and she’ll make it endlessly entertaining while she’s at it! It will be interesting to see what this next year has in store for the nineteen-year veteran, hopefully she’s trusted to be the top champion in a few promotions rather than only being seen as a top tag team act, especially for a young roster. After all, there’s very few better wrestlers to put a young talent in the ring with than Ryo Mizunami!
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
21. NATSUPOI – STARDOM
She may team with the woman who asks everyone to “believe” in her, but there may not be a wrestler in joshi that has more fans universally believing in her than Natsupoi. Since joining STARDOM at the end of 2020, Natsupoi has only improved to the level that she is seen as one of the top stars in the promotion. Natsupoi’s ability to connect with the audience has become her most important, and it’s why she was on the brink of winning the Wonder of Stardom Championship when the grading period had just ended. She thrives as both a singles and tag competitor, having won her second Goddesses of Stardom titles with Saori Anou at the end of 2023 before an injury left her removed from the reign. When she returned to the ring at the opening of the Cinderella Tournament, she showed why she’s such a special wrestler when she competed against both Sareee and Chihiro Hashimoto. That match felt like the restart for Natsupoi as a competitor, and it’s ended up in such a strong final few months of the grading period. In an era of STARDOM that carries uncertainty, Natsupoi remains one of the true shining lights for the promotion each and every show.
- Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)
20. ASUKA – WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
I can admit that I am biased, but in my opinion Asuka is the greatest joshi wrestler of all time. She is my G.O.A.T. I’m sure it will not match the opinion of many but that’s part of what makes the G.O.A.T. discussion fun. It is no secret that Asuka has slowed down just a bit from the kind of matches she had during the earlier parts of her career, especially in her time in Japan, but she still can be counted on to not only put on great performances against sometimes much less talented opponents in the WWE, but also make it so that you can’t look away when she’s on your television screen with her incredible charisma. Last year in WWE, she had a bit of a quiet year at least to her standards with her holding the WWE Women’s Championship for 37 days of the scoring period and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship for ninety-nine days of the scoring period. While it is quite good anytime you can win a championship in the biggest professional wrestling company in the world, the shortness of the reigns at least when it comes to the scoring period is really what put her so low on the list. Top 20 is great, but for Asuka it’s a bit lower than expected for the future WWE Hall of Famer. There’s a good chance that she may end up lower on next year’s list because of being injured for most of the scoring period, but my hope is that when she does get back in the ring, she’ll be used in a very useful way as a world champion once again!
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
19. HAZUKI – STARDOM
Popular, smiling babyface that knows how to turn up the heat in the ring. Every now and then, Hazuki taps into her dark side, which originates from her times in Io Shirai’s Queen’s Quest and Kagetsu’s Oedo Tai. Hazuki’s biggest success this year came alongside tag team partner Koguma, with whom she won a historic third Goddesses of Stardom Championship. Most of Hazuki’s other victories also came alongside Koguma or other STARS members. In singles action, The Wild Heart fought Mei Seira to a time-limit draw for the High Speed title. Pound for pound one of the best wrestlers in Stardom, Hazuki can take anyone to the limit. Maybe the upcoming year will be the year she finally wins that major singles title that has eluded her so far.
- Written By: Dave Coumans
18. SAYA KAMITANI – STARDOM
Saya Kamitani is quite an interesting wrestler. She’s one of the best babyface wrestlers that STARDOM has ever had, because her smile, sunny personality and flashy moves draw you in to want to cheer for her. She’s the type of person you want to see succeed, and for the most part, in STARDOM she has succeeded quite a bit. Over the past year, she’s won the High Speed Championship and held the Goddesses Of Stardom Championship, while only winning 46 percent of her matches overall. Obviously if you watch STARDOM you know how much of their cards involve tag team matches, but in singles matches, Kamitani has been quite strong. Even though she was taken out by an injury during last year’s 5 Star Grand Prix at the start of the scoring period, ever since she’s come back, she’s put on the same quality of matches that you’d expect from the longest reigning Wonder Of Stardom Champion in history which is what has helped her get so high on this year’s list. With her current day turn to the dark side with H.A.T.E. It will be interesting to see where she places on next year’s list.
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
17. STARLIGHT KID – STARDOM
Stardom’s Sky Tiger started the grading period as a member of heel unit Oedo Tai and New Blood Tag Team champion alongside KARMA. She also found singles success, winning the Spark Joshi World Title from Sumie Sakai in the U.S. Despite being one of the most successful members, she was unceremoniously dumped from Oedo Tai at All Star Dream Queendom in April. She did not let this ejection get her down, as she quickly started looking for new team members. Now a fan favorite once again, she seems to have found new friends in AZM, Miyu Amasaki, Suzu Suzuki and Mei Seira. The popular high flyer seems at a critical point in her career, where she looks ready to take a step up the card towards the Wonder of Stardom championship, which could well be around her waist this time next year.
- Written By: Dave Coumans
16. SUZU SUZUKI – STARDOM
Suzu not only etched her names amongst the elite in STARDOM by winning the coveted 5 Star Grand Prix, but she did so at a younger age than anyone else in history having turned 21 just a fortnight prior. Although she couldn’t convert that into a World of Stardom Title win, her main event match at Dream Queendom with Maika turned heads, as well as a successful Crazy Star pairing with Mei Seira that resulted in Goddess of Stardom Tag Title gold. Her first full year in the company was a statement that she was to immediately be considered as one of the elite on the roster.
- Written By: Trent Breward
15. MIZUKI – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING
The most experienced wrestler in TJPW demonstrates why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, as Mizuki is one of the most skilled (and meanest) wrestlers in Japan. Her foot-stomp-based offense complements her high flying moves, especially the “Whirling Candy”, which goes viral almost every time she hits it. Being part of the “Magical Sugar Rabbits”, the best tag team in TJPW, made her Princess of Princess title win over her partner, Yuka Sakazaki, even bigger. Once Yuka graduated from TJPW, Mizuki took rookie Shino Suzuki under her wing, falling short at the Max Heart Tag Team tournament, but showing how much she cares about shaping the future of the promotion.
- Written By: Fernando Ibarra
14. MIU WATANABE – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING
You see Miu Watanabe and you think you are watching another Japanese Idol manufactured to attract her fanbase to wrestling shows, but once she finishes her opening song, she is ready to square off in the ring. As the best in-ring performer of the UP UP Girls group, Miu has been in what many consider the best singles and tag team matches in TJPW history alongside Rika Tatsumi. A laser beam chop and giant swing that rivals Claudio Castagnoli’s, established herself as one of the strongest girls in the roster. Grand Princess 2024 marked a turning point in her career, as she won the Princess of Princess Championship for the first time, defeating none other than the “ace” of the promotion, Miyu Yamashita. There’s no doubt that she is ready to lead the next generation of stars in TJPW.
- Written By: Fernando Ibarra
13. CHIHIRO HASHIMOTO – SENDAI GIRLS
When the “best in the world” conversation is had, many of the wrestlers at the top of the list are discussed. That’s all well and good, but someone who deserves to be in that same convo is Chihiro Hashimoto — who continues to be the wrestler putting Sendai Girls on the map. Hashimoto is SENJO’s most dominant wrestler, and maybe the most dominant wrestler in joshi. She rarely loses and wins tons of gold. It’s actually shocking that she doesn’t have any part of a Sendai Girls World Championship reign within this grading period considering how long she has held the championship throughout her career. But she has had the tag team gold alongside Yuu as part of Team 200kg, the best and most consistent tag team in joshi throughout the past five years. Her fourth reign with the tag belts lasted a strong 233 days of the scoring period. If you move away from Team 200kg, there’s still countless top-of-the-line tag matches alongside Mika Iwata and Sareee. But nothing jumps off the page more in her past year than the rivalry against Sareee, that included one of the best matches of 2024 at Sareee-ISM Chapter Chapter III. That match highlighted how truly special of a competitor Hashimoto is, presented as the final boss of the scene who must be tackled. “Big Hash” should be considered among the best in the world and her place at No. 13 proves truly how great she’s been — even if she is a “big fish in a small pond” within Sendai Girls.
- Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)
12. MIO MOMONO – MARVELOUS
The explosive babyface in a small package Mio had to prove herself again after returning from injury. Mio Momono finally won the AAAW championship in May 2023, defeating Chihiro Hashimoto, and even though she scored strong victories over Miyuki Takase and Ai Houzan, she quickly dropped the belt to veteran Mayumi Ozaki. The final months of 2023 saw Momono trying to regain her main event status, ultimately reaching the finals of a number 1 contender tournament in December. The popular Marvelous wrestler started 2024 strong, by defeating AKINO for the OZ Academy Openweight title. Even though she would eventually drop the belt to Takumi Iroha, and lost challenges for the Sendai Girls Tag Team title, Mio Momono continued to have a strong year. She racked up wins against Hyan in Kitsune, YuuRI in Ganbare and Millie McKenzie in RCW, while taking Sareee to the limit in ZERO1. There’s no doubt the popular high speed athlete will continue to turn heads wherever she goes.
- Written By: Dave Coumans
11. SAORI ANOU – STARDOM
Saori Anou’s arrival in STARDOM led to her most successful year in pro wrestling. While she wasn’t officially signed to the company until early 2024, Anou was given the keys throughout 2023 to win more and more gold — leading STARDOM and being the ideal fix for Cosmic Angels after Mina Shirakawa and Waka Tsukiyama left the group. Her two major accolades was winning the Goddesses of Stardom Championship with Natsupoi (which had to be relinquished) and then shocking everyone at Stardom Dream Queendom 2023 by defeating MIRAI to become the Wonder of Stardom Champion for the first time in her career. She’d hold the title for 176 days of the grading period, successfully defending the championship against Starlight Kid, Hanan, and Ami Sourei. Going outside of her work in STARDOM, Anou has also competed in OZ Academy, Sendai Girls, Sukeban, and even TJPW as part of Nao Kakuta’s retirement match. Anou’s quiet demeanor but great ability in the ring is why she has landed so high on the list to go along with the many accolades.
- Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)
10. SYURI – STARDOM
Syuri is one of the most legit pro wrestlers out there because of her MMA background that lead her all the way to the UFC, and because of the way she can send fear straight to your heart if she gives you that look of anger that she does so well. The best part is that Syuri actually seems like a really nice person who is not only friendly but welcoming to people in need, at least from what she portrays in the ring. The leader of “God’s Eye” is a tough match-up for anyone in the ring, and she showed that by winning about half of her matches, and mostly only losing one on one battles against the very top of the promotion. She held the Artist of Stardom Championship for 87 days and even won the Triangle Derby tournament last year, but for someone of her talent, you’d expect a bit more. She also picked up the Goddess of Stardom Championship right before the grading period ended, but since we could only grade two days of that reign, it doesn’t hold quite as much weight as it normally would. The big thing for Syuri is that she will always give you main event level performances in the ring, no matter if she’s in the first match of the night or the main event, and STARDOM is lucky to have such a talent under their proverbial umbrella. My hope is that over this next year Syuri ends up being even higher on the list, because that would mean that STARDOM has pushed her to the level that she deserves as a top champion in the promotion once again!
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
9. UTAMI HAYASHISHITA – MARIGOLD
When you’ve been at the mountaintop and have been looking around for your next challenge, what do you do? Well for Utami Hayashishita, it was leave STARDOM to help create Marigold from the ground up. It can be overlooked how important of a decision Hayashishita made to kick off 2024, but it’s one that will be felt for years to come. In her time with STARDOM, Hayashishita won nearly everything there was to win from the Red Belt to the 5STAR Grand Prix, and reached the level of top star and has sat in that role for years now. Right before the grading period started, she had her crowning moment without a championship involved when she defended Queen’s Quest in a Steel Cage match, delivering the best performance of her career. Fast forward to a year after that moment and the group she fought so hard for was now gone, as was she from the promotion she helped lead to new heights over the last five years. Making the decision to join Marigold is no easy one, but it’s one she’s clearly taken in stride and has taken the honor to be the company’s ace at the same time. Still just 26 years old, she’s far from slowing down and, ultimately, feels like she has just figured it all out. The accolades don’t pile up in this grading period with just a Goddesses of Stardom title run to her name, but it sets the precedent for how great she truly is inside the squared circle and why No. 9 might be the lowest she is for years to come. As Marigold grows, so will the legacy of Hayashishita as she is the ace who will push the golden gardens to new heights.
- Written By: Scott (X: @ScottEWrestling)
8. ARISA NAKAJIMA – SEADLINNNG
Arisa Nakajima started the grading period as Beyond the Sea champion, a title she held for the third time. The ace of SEAdLINNNG lost the belt on her first defense to Sareee. An outstanding technician, Arisa Nakajima collected her fair share of championship belts during her 18-year career, which is about to end in August. A series of unfortunate injuries she suffered during the past few years led her to the decision to hang up her boots. As Commander Nakajima, she added one more title to her impressive resume in the form of the Sukeban World championship. Following her announcement, Arisa went on a farewell tour of all the promotions she frequented, often teaming with former friends and rivals. Her final match will be on August 23 in SEAdLINNNG where she will once more team with Best Friend Tatsumi Fujinami. An amazing technician and a true legend of the business.
- Written By: Dave Coumans
7. TAM NAKANO – STARDOM
Come on everyone, let’s go for a ride on the “Tam Road,” where number seven on our list takes us on quite a roller coaster of emotions. Tam Nakano is quite a special talent, and one that many people didn’t truly believe in until the past few years of her career. She was always seen as a charismatic talent, who was quite creative when she was given the chance to be, but few saw her as a true main event player. She proved many of those people wrong by elevating her performances up to the standard of being one of the top in not only STARDOM but joshi as a whole, and she doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Last year, she held both the Wonder of Stardom and World of Stardom championships for two and 143 days of the scoring period respectively while also winning the 2023 STARDOM MVP award. Sadly an injury derailed the great 2023 that she was having, and she was forced to drop the “red belt” before defending it against the winner of the 5STAR Suzu Suzuki. After that point, Tam had a bit of a quiet year, but she was always making sure that she was in the middle of some sort of story in the company, which is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Her constant great performances in the ring, and even outside of it with her use of social media as well as interviews is part of what makes Tam number seven in our list this year. There’s only one rule in STARDOM and it’s “Believe In Tam!”
- Written By: Justin Stein (X: @BioHizzle)
6. MIYU YAMASHITA – TOKYO JOSHI PRO WRESTLING
Being the “Ace” of your promotion doesn’t come easy, just ask THE Princess of Princess herself, Miyu Yamashita, the one wrestler who has been since the very first TJPW show, creating her legacy with her feared kicks and elevating even the least experienced rookie with her excellent selling, one of her most underrated skills. With her “Crash Rabbit Heat” finisher, she has won the top championship in TJPW for a record-breaking fourth time, surpassing her frenemy Yuka Sakazaki, but she also finally got to raise the Princess Cup trophy for the first time in her tenth try. Outside Japan, Miyu also held gold in EVE and Spark while touring England and the USA. Having faced the likes of Masha Slamovich, Jordynne Grace, and Mike Bailey, The Pink Striker is looking forward to becoming an even bigger international star.
- Written By: Fernando Ibarra
5. MAIKA – STARDOM
After taking a tough loss against Suzu Suzuki in the final of the 5STAR Grand Prix, Maika came back from it quickly as she claimed the World of Stardom Championship at STARDOM’s annual Dream Queendom show in the Sumo Hall. The Empress reigned over STARDOM for the majority of the grading period as the Red Belt Champion as she established herself as one of the key players of the new era of STARDOM as she defeated the likes of Utami Hayashishita, Momo Watanabe and Saya Kamitani in major singles title matches. Maika’s year in the grading period couldn’t have been much better as she not only had an astonishing 70% win rate in 127 matches, but also claimed the Artist of Stardom Championship with her newly formed stable E-neXus-V together with Mina Shirakawa and Xena. The grading period ended with Maika as the World of Stardom Champion coming off a big win against Xena as she’d prepared for her matches against her rival Tomoka Inaba in JTO and Natsuko Tora at the end of July.
- Written By: Peps (X: @Peps_Wrestling)
4. GIULIA – WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
“The Beautiful Madness” finally made the jump to WWE, which had been hinted at for months. Giulia started the grading period in Stardom where she held the Artist title with Mai Sakurai and Thekla. The leader of Donna Del Mondo quickly grabbed the NJPW STRONG Women’s title as well and held it for 249 days, successfully defending against the likes of YUU, Risa Sera, Hyan, and Trish Adora, among others. She wrestled her last match for the promotion that made her a superstar in April, teaming with Syuri and wrestling Mayu Iwatani and Hanan to a time-limit draw. Giulia then resurfaced in Rossy Ogawa’s new promotion Marigold, where she battled Sareee for the Marigold World title. A woman with the exceptional talent of Giulia has all the makings of a huge star in the global leader in sports entertainment.
- Written By: