10 Most Improved Wrestlers Of 2023

9. Masha Slamovich

Julia Hart most improved
IMPACT Wrestling

2023 started off hot for Masha Slamovich, becoming the number one contender for both the GCW World Championship and the IMPACT Knockouts Title; the former of which she'd successfully win by defeating Nick Gage in March. As for the Knockouts Championship, she'd be less successful in that quest, coming up short against the legendary Mickie James at the No Surrender PPV in February.

Still, it's a testament to how strong a start to the year Masha had, that people thought she genuinely could be the one to bring Mickie's 'Last Rodeo' and career to an end at No Surrender. Slamovich still had a hell of a 2023 in IMPACT, though, being part of Rebellion's ten-person Hardcore War, having a belter of a match against Jordynne Grace, and embarking on a memorable feud with Killer Kelly; a rivalry that eventually saw the pair team up to win the Knockouts Tag Team Championships.

While that Kelly feud saw the two at one point have a brutal Dog Collar bout, Masha likewise delivered plenty of brutality outside of IMPACT, notably for GCW. On top of beating Nick Gage for the GCW World Title, Russian Dynamite had standout GCW matches against the likes of 'Speedball' Mike Bailey, Mance Warner, Blake Christian, Tony Deppen, and Rina Yamashita across 2023.

All in all, it's been a magnificent year for Masha Slamovich, as shown by her placing #15 in the PWI 500 and #13 in the PWI Women's 250.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.