Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up: Syuri Tops PWI Women’s 150, Emma Returns To WWE, Viva Van Interview

Syuri tops the 2022 PWI Women’s 150 list. Emma returns to WWE, new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions are crowned and more, including a new exclusive interview with Viva Van!

Let’s break it down in this week’s edition of Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up!

PWI REVEALS TOP 150 WOMEN’S WRESTLERS 

Pro Wrestling Illustrated unveiled its annual Women’s List last week in historical fashion. For the first time ever, a Stardom talent ranked number one. Atop the list stood the current World Of Stardom Champion, Syuri.

Syuri unseated Utami Hayashishita to win the gold at Stardom’s Dream Queendom show in Tokyo last December. Since then, she went on a series of successful title defenses, including Momo Watanabe, Tam Nakano, Mayu Iwatani, and former tag team partner (and 2022 5-Star Grand Prix winner) Giulia. Although slightly outside of the evaluation period, Syuri also won Stardom’s 2021 5-Star Grand Prix tournament. As a result of her undeniable achievements, Syuri solidified her spot at number one on this year’s PWI Women’s 150 list. 

Rounding out the top five, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair fell from #1 to #2 this year. AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa clocked in at number three this year, jumping up two spots from last year. “Big Time Bex” Becky Lynch rejoined the top ten this year, ranking in at number four. Lastly, All Elite Wrestling featured another talent in the top five, as TBS Champion Jade Cargill climbed up 45 spots to land at #5 this year

For reference, the criteria for the “Women’s 150” list included:

• In-Ring Achievement (championships, tournaments, win-loss record)
• Influence (in one’s home promotion and the industry at large)
• Technical Ability
• Breadth and Quality of Competition
• Activity (minimum of 10 matches, or active in 6 different months)

The entire PWI Women’s 150 issue is available now digitally, before hitting newsstands on November 15th. 

Emma Returns To WWE, Answers Ronda Rousey’s Open Challenge

Last week on SmackDown, Tenille Dashwood shocked the WWE Universe with her return to the company. Reprising her former ring name of Emma, she accepted an open challenge from Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

There, the Australian veteran battled “The Baddest Woman On The Planet” in pursuit of the title. Though mostly a back-and-forth matchup, Rousey unleashed an eye rake on Emma, before applying her signature armbar submission for the win. 

Over the weekend, F4WOnline.com confirmed that Emma will officially report to the blue brand, under a newly signed contract with WWE. Over on the red brand though, a couple more returns resulted in new champions being crowned.

RELATED: WWE SmackDown Results (October 28, 2022)

New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Crowned

After the surprising return of “unhinged” Nikki Cross last week, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair battled the former champion to kick off RAW this week. The contest would fairly ensue until the arrival of DAMAGE CTRL. While Bayley launched Belair into the steel ring post, Cross fended off Dakota Kai and IYO SKY before returning to the ring. There, Belair regained her composure to land her signature KOD to secure the win.

After the match, however, DAMAGE CTRL surrounded Belair. Before they could unleash a post-match brawl, Alexa Bliss and Asuka made a return to RAW, evening the odds on behalf of “The EST.” Soon after, Bliss and Asuka challenged Kai and SKY to a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match, which officially headlined the show.

To close out RAW, DAMAGE CTRL defended their titles against Bliss and Asuka with Bayley and Bianca Belair at ringside. Ultimately, IYO SKY would eat a Twisted Bliss from “The Goddess,” securing the titles for Alexa Bliss and Asuka.

A full recap of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match can be read below, courtesy of our live coverage page.

WWE WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: DAMAGE CTRL VS. ASUKA AND ALEXA BLISS W/BIANCA BELAIR

Bliss is a house of fire as soon as the bell rings, but she is quickly overwhelmed by a barrage of tag team offense by Kai and Sky. Bliss fires back and drops Kai with an STO. Asuka tags in and beats Kai down. After the break, Sky and Kai are working over Asuka. Asuka manages to tag in Bliss. Bliss hit a sunset bomb for a near fall. Bliss boots Kai into a Russian leg sweep into an octopus hold. Sky breaks up the pin.

Springboard dropkick by Sky. Asuka kicks out. Sky leaps off the top into a codebreaker by Asuka. Asuka traps Sky in an armbar. Asuka turns that into the Asuka lock. Bayley distracts the referee while Sky taps out. Kai breaks up the pin. Belair attacks Bayley. Bailey and Belair fight into the crowd. Bayley sends Belair flying through a table with a Bayley-to-Belly off a road case. Back in the ring, Bliss hits Twisted Bliss for the win.

Winners and New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Asuka and Alexa Bliss!

INTERVIEWS:

WrestleZone’s own Ella Jay spoke with “The Hellbent Vixen” Viva Van about making the PWI Women’s 150 list, working with Sumie Sakai and wishing she got more credit, what she’s learned from being a champion, East Coast vs. West Coast coverage, her Vietnamese background and helping put a spotlight on the Southeast Asian presence in wrestling, and much more.

Former RAW Women’s Champion Bayley chatted with Sportskeeda about potentially aligning with AJ Styles, Nikki Cross’ character change, her 2023 Royal Rumble winner picks, and more.

CCW Champion KiLynn King NWA joined Love Wrestling to discuss her upcoming NWA Women’s Championship title shot, thoughts on Chelsea Green’s inclusion in the match, “Daddy Ass” Billy Gunn,  her impending dream match with Mayu Iwatani, and more.

Irish wrestling star Anita Vaughan spoke with WrestleSlam aboutThe Saviours of Destiny, her future goals, her early days and more. 

Former OVW Women’s Champion Dani Mo appeared on Talkin’ Sass to discuss the Neon Blondes, appearing on WWE RAW recently, learning from seminars, and more.