30 Day Wrestling Challenge - Day 2 All-Time Favourite Female Wrestler

Thanks to everyone that took part in day one from the group and also to everyone sending in your selections on Twitter for favourite male wrestler. Day two we are switching genders to female.

Which female wrestlers make our list? Let's find out!

JCH - ARISA HOSHIKI

My favourite female wrestler is Arisa Hoshiki. In 2019 I decided to check out a new promotion and settled on Stardom. Arisa caught my attention on the second show. My fellow wrestling fans know I love a knee to the face and Arisa Hoshiki has the best knee to the face in the game. Period.

I'd argue she is the best striker in wrestling as well. Her kicks are insane. Dream match would be against Tommy End. She also has an unbelievable joy to her. I don't speak Japanese but she conveys emotion with her expression.

Kris Wolf is the wrestler who has given me the most joy just by walking to the ring, when she retired there was a void. I had to make me own merch of her as she didn't have any when she came to Eve. But I did get to see the greatest knee in wrestling live.

Arisa isn't quite Kris, but she's not far away. Her match with Tam Nakano was my match of the year last year. It was outstanding storytelling that transcended a language. Building for 5 or 6 months from Arisa's return to wrestling late 2018. Seated even further in Nakano's history of being kicked out of a stable.

Anyway, I could write about that match for ages and I have, but Arisa's white belt run has been outstanding and I recommend checking out many of the matches from it.

Also her tag league run with Tam in the fall was excellent. So to sum up - best knee in the world. Best kicks in the world. Best match of 2019. Recommended match Vs Tam Nakano 2019 Honorable mention: Kris Wolf.

DOM VAN DAM - SESSION MOTH MARTINA

I fancy Martina. It’s ok though, because my girlfriend does too. In fact, your girlfriend, your brother, your butcher your baker and probably your selfie stick maker all fancy Martina because everyone is weak for The Session Moth.

Why though?

During the height of the Monday Night Wars there were 2 wrestlers who claimed the moniker of “The People’s Champion.” There was The Rock; a third generation wrestler and collegiate athlete who seemed to be carved out of granite and had a smoulder which, allegedly started climate change. Sure he captured the hearts of the people but was he really that relatable in his $500 shirts and designer shades?

On the other channel there was Diamond Dallas Page. A blue collar scrapper who was meant to be everything that The Rock wasn’t. He wore denim and his entrance to the ring was accompanied by the strains of Nirvana. He came from the 1990s nightclub scene and never backed down from a fight. Sure he captured the People’s hearts but he always kind of reminded me of what my dad thought “The People’s Champion” should look like.

Session Moth Martina is a people’s champion who is actually relatable for wrestling fans in 2020. She’s a binge drinking, chain smoking, leopard printed, promiscuous lad. She has flaws. She’s maybe not the most naturally athletic, maybe she sometimes is cautious of her opponent, maybe she is more interested in flirting or having the craic than winning. But my goodness do we understand and relate to these motivations.

There are a couple of things Martina does have in common with “The People’s champions” of yesteryear. First, is untapped charisma. The Moth from the flats fills any room with her personality and it’s impossible to look away, the audience is just drawn to her, like a, well, a moth to a flame.

Second, just like DDP or The Rock, she’s hard as nails. Session Moth Martina is can not be defined as a comedy act. She is entertaining and can make you laugh, but at any moment a death match could break out. She’s both the craic and a maniac. (Yeah, yeah, funky yeah)

If you’ve never seen A Queen of the Sesh Match. Go check out this tag team special

Attraction from Beyond Wrestling. But be prepared, because by the end: you’ll fancy Martina too.

PETE HITCHCOCK - CHARLOTTE FLAIR

I could enumerate on the many ways in which my favourite female wrestler is the best thing going but the wider internet appears to have some incredibly stupid brain worms regarding her so I'll take a different course.

I hope Charlotte Flair continues to wind everyone the fuck up, beat all of their favourites - especially if they are from the indies or joshi, whilst routinely getting everyone's best matches out of them.

If you've got a problem with it, I'm sure there's a website you can find some like-minded weebs to cry about it with. Match rec? Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series 18 in Ronda's self-admitted best match and maybe one of the last matches I enjoyed staying up until 4am for from the Fed for.

Or that match where Asuka tapped out, of course. Or the other one where she tapped out.

Or the other one!

WOOOOO!

ROSS CASEY - BAYLEY

I'm almost embarrassed to admit how little I used to care for the women's divisions of mainstream wrestling companies. Thanks to NXT and PROGRESS, I was opened up to the world of female wrestlers being given time and investment and how things have changed.

It isn't rare that a women's match is the best match on the card now - hello Wrestlemania night two - and so many have become my favourites. As athletes and not just eye candy. Sorry 13 year old Ross with that Sunny poster on your wall.

For me, it was Bayley's amazing character work, in-ring accumen and eventual title win at NXT Brooklyn (which brought this nerd to tears as the Four Horsewomen stood in the ring to rapturous applause) which truly captivated me.

Bayley's feud with Sasha on NXT was epic, her loss to Asuka was excruciating and whilst her WWE has been a bit of rollercoaster, she has thrown herself headlong into everything including her recent heel run.

I was of the impression that she should never turn and how wrong I was. She has excelled again, but we all know that the happy, passionate character is still in there somewhere - ready to return and raise smiles on our faces when she is ready.

NINETIES MIKE - TORRIE WILSON

WWE Divas, Superstars, whatever you want to call them, have always been a different breed. From the Miss Elizabeths and Sensational Sherris of the Rock and Wrestling era to the modern day Superstars like Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley via the Trish Stratus' and Sables of the Divas era, they have always been larger than life and the object of both our desires and respect.

For me, though, one stands out amongst the crowd. She did when I first saw her on TV in the 2001, when I had the fortune to bump into her at a gaming conference in 2006, and she still does today on Instagram with her Fittensity workout and lifestyle program.

More than just an admittedly very pretty face, Torrie Wilson was one of the standout stars of the 00s' much-maligned Divas division. Not all of them would wrestle great matches, but that wasn't why Vince had hired them. He hired them because they looked like supermodels - the workrate could (possibly) come later.

After winning Miss Galaxy in 1998, Torrie started in WCW as Samantha and was involved in the Flair family saga. Her stay was fairly short, though, coming over to WWF as part of the Invasion angle as Vince's latest love interest. A plethora of bra and panties matches, wet and wild matches and the like followed.

Wilson rebelling against Tajiri after he forced her to dress as a Geisha, a feud with Dawn Marie, who had started dating and eventually married Torrie's dad, and her Playboy cover shoots were highlights.

Among her feuds with Stacy Keibler, Candice Michelle, Victoria and Miss Jackie, Torrie stood out to me as someone who could go when needed, though she never held WWE gold. Maybe she didn't need it, maybe she was over on her own, maybe she had everything any Diva ever really wanted.

Torrie was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 by Stacy Keibler, and she still looks as attractive, fit, and healthy as she did in her prime. And yes, I can confirm she is as stunning in real life as she is on the telly!

If I was to recommend any match she had, it would be the one-time most-watched wwe.com video ever, the Bra and Panties match with Sable at Judgment Day 2003. Five million views can't be wrong, eh?

30 DAY CHALLENGE

DAY 1 - FAVOURITE MALE WRESTLER

DAY 2 - FAVOURITE FEMALE WRESTLER

DAY 3 - FAVOURITE MOMENT YOU'VE SEEN LIVE

DAY 4 - FAVOURITE TAG TEAM

DAY 5 - YOUR FIRST WRESTLING MEMORY

DAY 6 - FAVOURITE FACTION

DAY 7 - FAVOURITE PROMOTION

DAY 8 - FAVOURITE MANAGER

DAY 9 - FAVOURITE COMMENTARY TEAM

DAY 10 - FAVOURITE ENTRANCE THEME

DAY 11 - FAVOURITE MATCH

DAY 12 - FAVOURITE DEFUCNT TERRITORY

DAY 13 - FAVOURITE GIMMICK

DAY 14 - MOST MISSED WRESTLER

DAY 15 - FAVOURITE FACE

DAY 16 - FAVOURITE HEEL

DAY 17 - FAVOURITE FINISHER

DAY 18 - FAVOURITE WRESTLING GAME

DAY 19 - FAVOURITE STORYLINE

DAY 20 - FAVOURITE SUBMISSION

DAY 21 - MOST UNDERRATED

DAY 22 - FUTURE STAR

DAY 23 - FAVOURITE FEUD

DAY 24 - DREAM MATCH

DAY 25 - FAVOURITE HIGH FLYER

DAY 26 - FAVOURITE TOURNAMENT

DAY 27 - FAVOURITE TURN

DAY 28 - FAVOURITE PPV

DAY 29 - FAVOURITE REINVENTION

DAY 30 - FAVOURITE COMEDY WRESTLER