4 Great US Female Wrestlers From the 2010s

Women’s wrestling has continued to grow in recent years. Men’s wrestling has been watched a lot more, historically, but women still play a really big role in the sport and the viewership and televised content continue to become more mainstream.

Wrestling is such a big industry and a huge source of entertainment. You can even take advantage of certain betting offers on the sport if you think you can call what is going to happen next or who is going to be the next big champion.

The wrestling scene is split up into many different disciplines and regional competitions in the US. Local rankings also explore who might be the next big name in all forms of wrestling and competitive fighting.

For now, let’s look at some of the previous champions and influential US wrestlers who have helped grow the women’s wrestling scene.

BAYLEY
Is there anyone better to start our list with than Bayley?

The California native Bayley is one of the biggest names in WWE - she came through the ranks on both the independent wrestling circuits and through NXT where she would win titles.

Known for her fashion sense and a character that came across as a fangirl of the sport, she started to grate on some when she seemed to be a little bit over the top in fawning over the other stars. Eventually, though, she went on to make a real name for herself and has an incredible list of honors to back that up, winning every title she’s competed for at some stage in her career.

Bayley’s honors include:

  • WE Raw Women’s Champion

  • WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion

  • NXT Women’s Champion

  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion


SASHA BANKS
Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado, better known to you and I as Sasha Banks, made headlines in 2022 when she announced she wouldn’t be involved in WWE for some time-she moved over to Japan to wrestle professionally there.

She also had a leave of absence back in 2019, but it is fair to say that many of her glory years came before this. She was signed in 2012 after entering a tryout camp for WWE, and she was known as “The Boss” as she took on a villain role in NXT before moving into WWE and growing her reputation further..

Whether we’ll see her back in US wrestling is hard to say, but she’s been involved in some truly great matchups and her honors speak for themselves, including:

  • WE Raw Women’s Champion

  • NXT Women’s Champion

  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion


CHARLOTTE FLAIR
Flair had it tough. She didn’t want to just be labeled as Ric Flair’s daughter and not be able to create her own identity in the ring, of course. She also had to deal with this huge pressure, with her father being one of the all-time greats in the male wrestling circuit.

Charlotte started out in NXT too and followed a similar career path to Sasha Banks, she progressed into the big leagues and featured in Raw, Smackdown, and other matchups.

She was a great source of drama and many of the big championship matches saw her performing at her very best.

WWE’s site explains some of the highlights of Flair’s career highlighting the fact that she was unbeaten over an incredible 16 pay-per-views and also that Flair was one of the first women to be the main attraction in a PPV event when she went up against Sasha Banks.

This is one of many memorable moments that Flair has been responsible for, and she’s won a fair amount in her time, too, including:

  • WWE Raw Women’s Champion

  • WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion

  • WWE Divas Champion

  • NXT Women’s Champion

RONDA ROUSEY
Ronda deserves a mention, in spite of not wrestling a great deal in this decade. She had amazing input into the world of women’s wrestling. If Ronda hadn’t had such a universal appeal and paved the way for other women wrestlers.

Rousey is also proof that the idea of moving from one type of wrestling or combat sport to another is possible, a lot of people know her from her days in UFC. Rousey is a huge name in the world of fighting sports.

SUMMARY & NON-U.S. CONTENDERS
Of course, we can’t include a few names on this list as some of the biggest stars of the WWE have come from outside the US. As well as Becky Lynch - the Irish star, we have also had to leave out Paige and Asuka.

In this time period - we really saw a huge revolution in the world of wrestling. The women’s side of the sport became so much more popular, and it was thanks to some of the awesome names on this list that female wrestling became more mainstream.

Derek Levendusky