GLOW'd Up: The Best Female Wrestlers of All Time

On Friday, June 23, Netflix debuts an interesting new series, GLOW, which is a fictional depiction of a very-real all-women professional wrestling organization from the 1980s, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The IRL show was shot on the Las Vegas strip, and was just as campy (and not-PC) as the madcap 1980s were, and while some of the names and locations have changed, it appears that the Allison Brie-led series maintains some of that reckless abandon.

It's an interesting time to be producing a show of this caliber, considering that about two years ago, the WWE's "Divas Revolution" was dead in the water. Of course, out of that sprung talented women like Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair, who are paving the way for the next crop of women to come through the WWE (and a major part of the reason the WWE ditched calling their female superstars "divas"), and hopefully the work of these two and many others will turn into even more women going from being fans of the sport to getting into the ring and mashing people out, too.

That's not to say that quality women's wrestling started with Banks or Flair. Women have been doing the damn thing regardless of how they've been treated in the professional wrestling business, long before GLOW was a thing. On the eve of the release of Netflix's look at the insane world of women in pro wrestling in the 1980s, we took a look back at the 10 greatest women to strap on some boots and kick all of the ass. Get familiar with these IRL baddies before diving into the world of GLOW

Accomplishments: WWE Raw Women's Championship (3x), NXT Women's Championship

While it'd be easy to say that Sasha Banks has prospered in the WWE because her cousin is recent Hall of Fame inductee Snoop Dogg, but you'd also be dead wrong. The superstar who calls herself The Boss made a name for herself on the indies, taking influence from WWE greats like Eddie Guererro and a determination to be taken seriously as a woman who can compete at an equally high caliber as the men do. She's since heled the WWE Raw Women's title three times, had a dynamic run as NXT Women's champ, and competed Charlotte Flair in the first main event match to be headlined by a women's match, ever. When you add up her personality and her potential, you have a performer who can run the women's division in the WWE for as long as she wants.

Accomplishments: NWA United States Women's Championship, NWA Florida Women's Championship

For WWE fans of today, Mae Young is more of a punchline; during the WWE's very profitable (and very problematic) Attitude Era, Mae ended up giving birth to a hand. A fucking hand. Those shenanigans aside, Mae is considered to be a pioneer of women's wrestling, particularly in the 1940s during World War II, on some real pro wrestling A League of Their Own shit. Mae helped break women's wrestling in Canada, and was not only the NWA's first Florida Women's Champion, but was the NWA's first United States Women's Champion. Oh, and she also trained The Fabulous Moolah, who we'll get to later. Young passed away on November 15, 2014 at the age of 90, almost a year and a half after her last appearance on WWE TV in March of 2013.

Accomplishments: Shimmer Championship, JAPW Women's Championship

When it came time for the WWE to start taking women's wrestling more seriously, they needed a highly-skilled woman to do the job. Look no further than Sara Del Rey, who was hired five years ago as the first female trainer EVER In the WWE's Performance Center, although less than three years later, she was moved up to assistant head coach. She's held a number of championships on her own, but she has three women's champions in the WWE (Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and current Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss) among the women she's trained, which shows how well she's doing.

Accomplishments: NWA World Women's Championship, WWWA World Heavyweight Championship

While her government name is Kia Stevens, wrestling fans will know her as Awesome Kong, or Kharma, depending on which federation she was seen in. This Five-time Women's Champion was not only ranked as No. 1 in the inaugural Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 50 Females list, but was the third woman to EVER enter the WWE's Royal Rumble event. She's a huge star in Japan, and has transitioned her wrestling stardom to a role in Netflix's GLOW.

Accomplishments: WWF Women's Championship, WWF Intercontinental Championship (2x)

Women wrestling in the squared circle didn't start or end with Chyna, but her entry into the WWE was marked with a major shift. Before her, the women's matches weren't nearly as competitive as they are now, and for long stretches, the WWE would all but forget about their women's division. Chyna entered as a rough and tough individual, and in no time started mixing it up with the guys (holding wins over everyone from Triple H to Kurt Angle), not only holding the Intercontinental title on two occasions, but becoming the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble. A documentary about Chyna's life was being filmed when she was found dead at her home in April of 2016; she was 46. There's currently no release date on the documentary, which is titled Wrestling With Chyna.

Accomplishments: WWF/E Women's Championship (4x)

In the six years that Lita spent as an active competitor in the WWE, she made the most of her time. The WWE Hall of Famer held the Women's Championship four times, and was the only woman to be involved in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, which is an amazing feat considering that the first women's Money In The Bank ladder match took place in June 2017. She had a high-flying, insane style that fit in perfect with her squad, the Hardy Boyz, but as a solo star, she put in work with women like Trish Stratus.

Accomplishments: WWF Women's Championship (4x), NWA World Women's Championship (5x)

With five reigns, The Fabulous Moolah held the NWA World Women's Championship title more than any other woman. Those five reigns happened over the course of 30 years, including two runs that spanned 10 years apiece. After selling her NWA Women's title to the WWF (which is a badass move) in 1983, she went on to hold the newly-christened WWF Women's Championship four times. Moolah's also the first woman to enter the WWE Hall of Fame, and at 76, became the WWE's oldest champion, winning the WWF Women's Championship in 1999. Moolah's final WWE appearance was at SummerSlam in August of 2007; she passed away at the age of 84 the following November.

Accomplishments: WCW Women's Championship, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2000)

When it comes to insight into the pro wrestling business, you need to listen to Dave Meltzer, so when he says that Akira Hokuto is the greatest female in-ring performer, you should listen. Hokuto has earned four five-star matches on Meltzer's scale, aka she's been involved in four practically perfect wrestling performances during her time in the business. The now-retired Hokuto not only held the WCW Women's Championship on one occasion, but also held top women's gold in Mexico's CMLL organization, among other championships across the world.

Accomplishments: WWF/E Women's Championship (7x), PWI Woman of the Year (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)

If Chyna was seen as a dominant pioneer in women's wrestling going into the WWE's boom period, Trish Stratus took the baton from Chyna and ran with it through the 2000s. The seven-time WWE Women's champion is seen by many as the pinnacle of what a women's champion in the organization is. She is the most-winningest woman in the WWE, with eight championship reigns on her record (her seven Women's titles as well as one reign as the Hardcore champion), and when it comes down to it, a number of women consider Trish an inspiration, from Kia Stevens and Sasha Banks to Bayley and Alexa Bliss. Trish was able to mix her natural beauty with the ability to put her body through tough matches that was never seen before, and continues to be the blueprint for what makes a stellar woman in the WWE today.

Accomplishments: AJW Championship, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (class of 2002)

Of the four aforementioned five-star matches that Akira Hokuto has under her belt, two of them are with Manami Toyota. Toyota has wrestled a whopping 17 five-star matches during the 1991-1995 era. She's been one to watch since the late 1980s, with a mixture of epic near-falls, flashy moves, and more that put her in a class by herself early on. She's not only held a number of major world championships in Japan, but in 2009, she was voted as the greatest female wrestler of all time. Shockingly, Toyota has performed for decades, and only recently announced that she'd be retiring in November 2017. She's a class-act, and surely will go down in history as one of the archetypes of what excellence for anyone in the sport of professional wrestling looks like.