#1 Manami Toyota
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In 2009, the Wrestling Observer held a poll to determine who was the single greatest female wrestler of all time. The winner wasn’t Trish Stratus, or Lita, or even the Fabulous Moolah, who had held the WWF Women’s Championship for (allegedly) 28 years. The winner of that poll was Manami Toyota, and rightfully so.
From 1987 to 1997, she was the single greatest women’s wrestler in the world, bar none. She was the perfect wrestler, capable of doing anything and everything in the ring. Whether it was stiff strikes, fantastic technical mat wrestling, painful submission holds, breath-taking aerial manoeuvres, or a wide array of crazy Suplex variations, Toyota could do it all.
By the time she reached her peak in 1995, most people were comparing her favourably to her male counterparts around the world. In a time when most women elsewhere in the world, were performing short, insignificant matches or acting as eye candy, Toyota performed in 60-minute matches for women’s world titles, while suplexing her opponents in a way that Tazz only wished he could.
Her match with rival Kyoko Inoue was named Match of the Year in 1995, a prestigious honour, held by only a handful of select athletes in pro wrestling.
Toyota hasn’t yet announced a formal retirement, but her career accomplishments speak for themselves. Not only has she won numerous singles and tag team championships across multiple promotions, but she has also taken part in an astounding 14 5-Star matches in a span of four years.
She was also named the WON’s Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1995, the only woman to ever hold that honour.
But the best part of all of this? She accomplished all of this by the ripe old age of 24. That’s right, the best women’s wrestler of all time had won so many accolades at the age that Randy Orton won his first World Championship.
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