20 Absolute Best Wrestlers In The World Right Now
13. Mayu Iwatani
The best working women's wrestler to not yet sign with WWE (particularly now that Meiko Satomura) is in NXT), Mayu Iwatani is the ace of the biggest Joshi promotion on the planet and peaks higher than anybody not named Io Shirai.
Even then, Iwatani's best moments are at least on par with her former STARDOM rival's. Elite matches with Takumi Iroha and Utami Hayashishita reaffirmed that in late 2020. Mayu was unquestionably one of the best in the world, and while she is yet to hit the same highs in 2021, singles clashes opposite Tam Nakano, Saki Kashima, and Unagi Sayaka have delivered. She is a special wrestler putting on some of the best work of her career and will have no doubt put together another incredible collection of matches by 2021's end.
A ragdoll bumper and seller, few wrestlers are as adept at generating sympathy through taking an ass-kicking. Iwantani is one of the purest babyfaces around, too, and has long since mastered wrestling's most important skill: crowd control. This admittedly isn't as meaningful in the COVID era, though her ability to generate genuine emotional responses from Japan's clap crowds is impressive.