Peacockery Pick: WWE 50 Greatest Women Superstars (Episode 4: 10-6)

We’re back with the next episode of WWE’s 2021 50 Great Women Superstars countdown show. This week, we dive into the top ten.

Apologies for the delay since last time. Migraines suck.

For previous episodes, check out 50-36, 35-21, and 20-11.

Remember this aired in early 2021 and encompasses from 1993 onward.

Our host, as always, is Sarah Schreiber. Let’s jump in!

10 – Bayley: Ding dong, hello! We start with Bayley’s roots in NXT in 2013. She brought the lovable hugger persona with her as well as a good in ring style, which quickly brought her into the NXT Women’s Title area.

Enter Sasha Banks. At TakeOver Brooklyn, the two put on a masterpiece and what many consider WWE’s greatest women’s match. Bayley wins the title to a standing ovation. They followed it up with the first women’s Iron Woman match, which she also won.

It was only a matter of time before she debuted on Raw and she did. She won a shot at the Raw Women’s Title which she won from Charlotte, going on to defend it at WrestleMania 33. She and her buddy Sasha teamed up for a chance to be the first Women’s Tag Titles (of this era) in the first women’s Elimination Chamber, setting a few more firsts with their win.

Bayley won Money in the Bank and cashed in immediately, winning the SmackDown Women’s Title. Charlotte would win it from her and we’d see some attitude from Bayley. Bayley slashed the Bayley Buddies and won the title back with a rollup, starting a new era a lot of us weren’t sure would work.

Bayley says she outgrew the fans and found herself, becoming the longest reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion and reclaiming the tag gold with Sasha, largely being the MVPs of the Thunderdome era.

Since this aired, Bayley has continued to be a force in the women’s divisions. Most notably, she formed Damage Ctrl with Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky and they have held multiple titles across SmackDown.

9 – Ronda Rousey: I can see the comments section already! Ronda arrived at Royal Rumble 2018, furiously pointing at the WrestleMania sign. She made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania, teaming with Kurt Angle to defeat Triple H & Stephanie McMahon in what was probably the best match of both women’s careers.

She set her sights on the Raw Women’s Title, defeating Alexa Bliss and became the first woman to hold UFC and WWE titles. She defeated numerous challengers and main evented Evolution against Nikki Bella.

The Becky Lynch upswing happened, giving Ronda a reason to turn against the fans. This lead to a lot of things including the backstage brawl with the police cars. It led to the first women’s main event of Mania, with Becky defeating Ronda and Charlotte. I feel like we’re going to discuss this topic at least two more times.

In a year, she’s had one of the most dominant runs in WWE history.

What happened after this aired? Ronda lost a lot of her luster, really. Ronda came and went away a few times, winning another Women’s Title as well as the Tag Titles with Shayna Baszler. After losing a MMA Rules match to Shayna, she left the company. She announced her retirement, then shortly after announced she’s doing a tag match with Marina Shafir against Athena and Billie Starkz for Wrestling REVOLVER.

8 – Lita: Skipping her ECW roots, we jump to Lita making her debut along Essa Rios. She started doing moonsaults to his opponents and we all IMMEDIATELY paid her attention. She was different!!

She would be drawn to a team similar to her, the Hardy Boyz, and formed Team Xtreme. She would almost immediately be seen as equals to them. She would get a Women’s Title match against Stephanie McMahon, winning her first title. She and Trish Stratus would then start their iconic rivalry, putting on the caliber of women’s matches we weren’t usually getting in mainstream wrestling.

It led to the two women main evening Raw and they killed it, with Lita winning the title again from Trish. She competed in the first women’s steel cage match, facing Victoria in another match I high recommend.

She would be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014. She returns occasionally to make her presence felt including entering the Rumble and teaming with Trish at Evolution.

Since this aired, she has continued appearing occasionally, most notably teaming at this year’s WrestleMania with Trish and Becky Lynch to face Damage Ctrl. Surprisingly, no mention of her time with Edge in this special.

We take a break from the countdown to look at women who brought it to the shows without being known for their wrestling (in WWE).

First we have Elizabeth, who quickly became an iconic figure with Randy Savage. We see highlights from the debut to the wedding.

Stacy Keibler is next, though she did a good bit of wrestling. We focus on her time as in Dudleyville.

Queen Sharmell assisted Booker T with some heelishness, said “All hail King Booker” a lot and was queenly.

Hey, it’s Jillian Hall. She sang. We skip the JBL mole part thankfully.

Excuse me! Vickie Guerrero gets her spot in this, focusing on her abuse of power as SmackDown General Manager.

Dusty Rhodes introduces his new manager, Sapphire. We see her in mixed tag action and slapping Macho.

Nidia wins Tough Enough and we see highlights of her time with Jamie Noble (a very underrated duo).

Debra appears to distract Jeff Jarrett’s opponents and later slap a bunch of people.

Terri Runnels is shown with the assorted men she managed, including as Marlena.

And then there’s Sunny. Terrible life choices to say the least, but man was she my favorite growing up. We see her leading teams to tag gold and generally being Sunny.

Torrie Wilson gets a spot, though she was as much a wrestler as anything else in WWE. The highlights are generally of her in-ring time.

7 – Alundra Blayze: Sarah reminds of us 1993 being the start of the modern era for this countdown and presents us with Alundra, the woman who brought it back. We kick back to her time in AWA which is a good use of these libraries we don’t use for much else. She joins WCW and is vital in the Dangerous Alliance before breaking away from Paul E.

Now we join the modern era as she appears in 1993 as Alundra Blayze in the tournament for the vacant Women’s Title. She wins the tournament, holding it three times and defeating women like Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye.

We follow this with the “belt in the trash” Nitro moment and say she was a shot in the arm for WCW’s women’s division, which didn’t really exist before or after honestly. She also won the Cruiserweight Title before returning in 2015 to join the WWE Hall of Fame. We’d see her again at Evolution as she joined the battle royal as well as a Raw appearance to win the 24/7 Title before selling it to Ted DiBiase.

Since this, she’s written a book and attempted (unsuccessfully) to tweet herself into a WWE angle or two.

6 – Sasha Banks: It’s Boss time! Man, I miss “Sky’s the Limit.” Debuting on NXT in 2012, she quickly transitions into the Boss. With this came a shot at NXT gold, with Sasha winning the gold in a four-way match against the other three Horsewomen.

Sasha would run with that title and that Boss confidence, holding it all the way to TakeOver Brooklyn and the classic against Bayley. She would be brought into the main roster by Stephanie McMahon, joining Team B.A.D. and competed for the Women’s Title in her first WrestleMania.

She would find that gold eventually, becoming one of the most decorated women in the company. She’s one of only four women (at the time of this airing) to be a Grand Slam champion. She’s also been a part of many firsts, from Royal Rumbles to Elimination Chamber to Hell in a Cell.

She continues to blaze her trail, helping rejuvenate an entire generation of women’s wrestling.

Her story after this aired has been an adventure. She and Naomi won the Women’s Tag Titles and soon would both walk out of the company. She became Mercedes Mone, signing with New Japan and winning the IWGP Women’s Title from Kairi Sane. She also faced Willow Nightingale for the inaugural Strong Women’s Title. Oh, and she has had a recurring role in STAR WARS.

And with that, we await the top five in the next and final episode. What do you think, Doomers?