1985:
- Chigusa Nagayo vs. Devil Masami - AJW 8/22/1985 - 5* - Credit to /u/SanSale
- Jaguar Yokota vs Lioness Asuka - 22/08/1985 - 5*
1986:
- Crush Girls vs. Jumping Bomb Angels - AJW 3/20/86 - 5* - Credit to /u/SanSale
1987:
1990:
1991:
1992:
1993:
- Akira Hokuto Vs Shinobu Kandori - AJW Dreamslam - 5* - Credit: /u/dawson41
1994:
- Alundra Blayze Vs Bull Nakano - Summerslam 1994 - 3 ¼* - I mean honestly it might seem harsh me not including many WWF Women Matches pre-1994 but nothing really stands out except for The Fabulous Moolah retaining the Womens Championship for “over 10,000” days, the championship was eventually vacated/defunct until late 1993 when Alundra Blayze won against Heidi Lee Morgan in a tournament to win the newly made WWF Championship.
1995:
1996:
- Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo - FMW 1996 - 3 ½* - This would be Toyoda's retirement match and it would be contested in a No-Rope Electrified Barbwire Deathmatch. - Credit u/MRN9
1999:
2000:
2001:
2002:
2003:
- Lita Vs Victoria - Raw 24/11/2003 – This was the first ever female steel cage match on Raw.
2004:
- Lita Vs Trish Stratus - Raw 06/12/2004 – Lita became the first women to three times main event a show, this match was really praised when it first happened, and really it still his praised by fans, and WWE. This match can also be remembered by Litas vicious suicide dive outside the ring. I’d like to include WWE make it seem like Lita & Trish were every girls idols growing up, and whether or not that’s true – it’s easy to see that these two had great chemistry together.
2005:
2006:
- Trish Stratus Vs Lita - Unforgiven 2006 - 3 ¼* - This would be Trish’s final match in WWE before retiring, two best friends and long time rivals in a retirement match – very fun, very nice.
- Lita Vs Mickie James - Survivor Series 2006 - 1 ½* - This would be Lita’s final match in WWE before retiring, and unlike Trish’s retirement a few months prior – this match seems rushed, and careless and straight up rude. In an interview post Survivor Series, she went on to admit that the crowd reaction to her had taken a toll onto her mentally.
2007:
- Jacqueline vs Gail Kim - Lockdown 2007 - 2 1/4 - Credit /u/shadowrangerfs
2008:
- Trish Stratus & John Cena Vs Beth Phoenix & Santino Marella – Raw 22/12/2008 – Trish Stratus would make a once off appearance, to be a surprise partner for John Cena to team up with against the WWE Women Champion and Intercontinental Champion group ‘Glamorella’. Very fun match, and also memorable known for ‘Cena’s Boner’.
2009:
2011:
- Beth Phoenix Vs Kelly Kelly - Night of Champions 2011 - 2 ¼* - This match took place in Phoenix hometown of Buffalo – and I really wish she had won this match. Yes, she was a heel and heels usually lose, but she is one of the saving graces of female competitors in the dark ages in the ‘Diva’s Era’.
2013:
- AJ Lee Vs Kaitlyn - Payback 2013 – 3* - It seems for a long time, there was no real characters in the ‘Divas division’ for WWE. That was until AJ Lee became the focal point of the product – her gimmick was that she was a little bit crazy but a very good wrestler, and she would go onto compete day in and day night for the Diva’s Championship. This was a feud between real life friends invested in a long time rivalry, and probably my favourite AJ Lee match in her championship reign. I feel like out of most women in WWE these two will be forgotten as true pioneers of a ‘Diva’s Revolution’.
- Paige Vs Emma - NXT 24/07/2013 - This is the final match in a tournament to determine the first ever NXT women’s championship. Which was big at the time because female wrestlers were mainly only called ‘Divas’. However, Triple H wanted to change that and make sure that the females were treated as actual competitors and superstars. I know people will complain and argue that there aren’t many matches pre-2013 but to be brutually honest many female wrestlers weren’t THAT good, and not only that the WWE and multiple other companies didn’t really give attention to the female wrestlers. It took the world to see how big female competition got in everyday sport such as soccer, basketball and especially in the UFC to help people in WWE understand that the fans wanted to see more of the female wrestlers.
- Paige Vs Sasha Banks - NXT 11/09/2013 - Sasha Banks, one of the ‘Four Horsewomen’ in NXT would become one of the major players in NXT, but before that she was a preppy, good girl who didn’t make much impact. This match would reveal the birth of ‘The Boss’ gimmick, and would help change the landscape of NXT for years to come.
2014:
- AJ Lee Vs Natalya - Main Event 11/03/2014 - 3 ½* - A super underrated match that doesn’t get the attention it deserves – I hope people check out this match.
- Charlotte Vs Natalya - NXT Takeover - 4* - I feel like this match is ignored or forgotten for some strange reason, I mean it’s pretty significant. It’s the first ever 4 star rating women’s match under the WWE/NXT banner. These two have great chemistry with each other as well, I know people are down on a possible face-turn for Charlotte on Smackdown, but I hope it happens so we can get another good match with each other. Charlotte was still somewhat green in her wrestling ability, and Natalya really helped train her and carry her throughout this match and her time in NXT.
- AJ Lee Vs Paige - Summerslam 2014 - 2 ¼* - I feel as if these two never got the full potential they deserved in WWE, or maybe they just didn’t mesh well together. But people saw ‘dream match’ vibes from these two years ago, I really wish they could’ve feuded after the WWE started promoting the whole ‘Womens Revolution’ – but AJ Lee would retire from wrestling, and Paige would continute to wrestle up until her neck injury which has her currently sidelined.
2015:
- Sasha Banks Vs Charlotte Vs Bayley Vs Becky Lynch - NXT Takeover: Rival - 4* - The Four Horsewomen of NXT would face off with each other in a really fun fatal four way between each other, these four women helped change and revolutionise the womens division within WWE, and I’m glad they got their moment to show off their talents. I personally can’t wait for the rematch of this match to take place on a main-roster PPV, preferably Wrestlemania. As I said earlier, people in the back started to see that women’s competition in sport was becoming very, very important and getting backed by supporters, and these women exemplified showing how great female wrestlers can be.
- Sasha Banks Vs Becky Lynch - NXT Takeover: Unstoppable - 4* - Women’s wrestling became really big in NXT, and this is one of the best examples. Sasha Banks was an already loved wrestler, but Becky Lynch.. Not so much. But after this match she was a made star. I still believe this may be the most underrated big time match for NXT, it’s commonly overshadowed by the Banks/Bayley match at the following Takeover, but I love this match.
- Bayley Vs Sasha Banks - NXT Takeover: Brooklyn - 4 ½* - Man, this match right here. It’s hard to not say this wasn’t the best match of 2015 in WWE. I love when there’s a big pay off for a wrestler and Bayley is just such a loveable character, I recommend this match to every wrestling fan. This match truly kickstarted the womens revolution, I don’t care what kind of revisionist history WWE tries and sprouts – this match is hands down is the match that got people to be more engaged in Women’s Wrestling. It’s a shame that here we are two years after this match and we’ve got crowds completely turning on both Sasha and Bayley.
- Bayley Vs Sasha Banks - NXT Takeover: Respect - 4 ¼* - The significance of this – simply put; two female wrestlers main evented a WWE/NXT show. They started a revolution in NXT that women are meant to be treated like wrestlers not ‘toilet breaks’. After this match Sasha was fully transitioned onto the main roster and that following year at Wrestlemania she would be involved in the first bout for the WWE Women’s Championship, and Bayley would have a fun reign as champion on NXT.
- Asuka Vs Emma - NXT Takeover: London – 4* - This is the first time you’ll see Asuka on this list, but I can’t understate how great she is. She’s fun, she’s booked as strong and it’s just really fun to see how far she’s grown as a competitor. This match is really fun and put a lot of the WWE roster to shame.
2016:
- Charlotte Vs Becky Lynch Vs Sasha Banks - Wrestlemania 32 - 4* - This is easily the best Womens match in Wrestlemania history, these 3 women really went all out on this match and it is one of the redeeming qualities for a pretty lacking ‘Mania. This match was for the inaugural (new) Women’s Championship and it also meant that WWE would no longer use the term ‘diva’, it would be changed to women’s superstar. The issue people have with this match is that they don’t like the winner of this match, but I think it’s fine and that in the long-run WWE history it’ll be good to see the first champion was the daughter one of the best wrestlers of all time – Ric Flair. The only thing I would’ve loved more is if they had Bayley called up leading into this match and made it a fatal four way match to make it a ‘Four Horsewomen Fatal Four Way’.
- Mariposa VS Sexy Star - Lucha Underground 2.15 - 4* - Credit: /u/FUCKBOY_JIHAD
- Sasha Banks Vs Charlotte - Raw 25/07/2016 - 3 ¾* - This would be the start of their one-on-one rivalry which would go for the whole year – in shockingly fashion this match started the trend of Sasha winning the Women’s Championship on Raw and never a PPV.
- Bayley Vs Asuka - NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II – 4* - This would be Bayley’s swan song in NXT before getting called up to the main roster. She gets her rematch against Asuka in a great match between the two and really made you feel like Bayley could retain her title because of all her defiance and determination. Asuka was just continuing to add ‘W’s to her name, and would continue to remind the fans that no one was ready for her, and no one was taking her NXT Women’s Championship from her.
- Charlotte Vs Sasha Banks Vs Bayley - Clash of Champions 2016 - 3 ¼* - I feel as if this match is superunderrated, and people have completely forgotten about it. This match was really fun and added 3 out of the 4 horsewomen. Soon enough we will be able to get all four in the squared circle competing for a Women’s championship.
- Charlotte Vs Sasha Banks - Hell in a Cell 2016 - 2 ¾* - Not only was this the first ever Women’s Hell in a Cell match, but this was the first ever Women’s match to main event a WWE PPV.
- Sasha Banks Vs Charlotte - Raw 28/11/2016 - 4* - It seems that 2016 was the ‘Sasha Banks Vs Charlotte’ year – people seem to either love it or hate it. The reasoning for this was due to a few factors such as trading championship victories on Raw’s and PPV’s, and the second was due to them two being the central focus for the WWE Women’s Championship on Raw for a majority of the year, instead of showcasing other females. I think if you’re looking back at this feud in my opinion if you just want their ‘best’ matches – stick to the Raw matches and the Roadblock Iron Woman Match’.
2017:
- Becky Lynch Vs Mickie James - Elimination Chamber 2017 - 3 ¼* - Mickie James returned to WWE in NXT in November of 2016 and then in January 2017 it was revealed that James had aligned to herself with Smackdown Women’s Champion – Alexa Bliss. This feud ended abruptly after this match really, and it seems that James has done nothing since, and honestly I wish they would put her in decent feud on Raw or send her to NXT and have her face rising women stars, that way build them up and train them.
- Bayley Vs Charlotte – Raw 13/02/2017 – 4 ¼* - I still don’t understand why they didn’t wait for Bayley to win the Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania instead of a random Raw match. Either way, this was actually a really god match, and possibly better than all the Sasha/Charlotte matches from the previous year- I really hope people don’t forget about this match when talking about the best matches of the year.
- Carmella Vs Becky Lynch Vs Charlotte Vs Natalya Vs Tamina Snuka - Money in the Bank 2017 - 3* - In the twelve years that the Money in the Bank Ladder Match has been around there had never been a female only match… until this year. Overall decent match, however the ending sours a lot of peoples opinions on the match.
- Asuka Vs Nikki Cross – NXT 28/06/2017 - 4* - It cannot be understated how fun this feud between these two have been throughout 2017. There’s a big part of me (and honestly I think most NXT fans) that wishes this was the match that should take place at NXT Brooklyn III.
- Asuka Vs Ember Moon - NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III – 4 ½* - Asuka has broken so many records in WWE/NXT becoming the Longest, Reigning, Defending Champion in the last 30 years, as of NXT TakeOver Brooklyn, she had held the NXT Womens Championship for a record of 504 days. As announced earlier this morning at the recent NXT Tapings Asuka will forfeit the NXT Womens Championship to recover from injuries, she will not be returning to NXT she will be moving to either Raw or Smackdown.
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