Photo Credit: Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm (Instagram)
Australian wrestling is flourishing at the moment, particularly from the past decade. With WWE’s expanding popularity on a global scale, the Down Under has become a central region for the Stamford-based promotion, hosting two big PLEs in Australia.
The second biggest Cricket stadium in the world, Melbourne Cricket Ground, hosted Super Show-Down in 2018 in front of an enormous Australian crowd. Six years later, in February 2024, WWE returned to Down Under, hosting the Elimination Chamber in Perth.
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In addition, the company has been actively recruiting talents from the country, with several stars attaining peak success in WWE. The number of successful female WWE wrestlers from Australia have outnumbered their male counterparts in the past decade, Take a look at such accomplished women Superstars from the Down Under.
5) Emma
Emma was the first female major star of Australian wrestling to be signed by WWE, arriving first in 2011. She honed her skills in the developmental brand for a few years before debuting in 2014. Playing a carefree character, she had an average three-year run without accomplishing any honor.
However, she became a well-known face in the wrestling fraternity, starring in Total Divas. Once she parted away from the company, Emma wrestled in the indies and Impact Wrestling before returning for a brief one-year WWR run from 2022 to 2023.
Emma was born in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and grew up there. Even though she never won any title, she paved the way for aspiring Aussie female wrestlers from the down under in the 2010s.
4) Billie Kay
Jessica McKay, who was renowned as Billie Kay in WWE, was one of the most successful recruits from Australia. Becoming a fan of the business at a young age, she yearned to become a professional wrestler during her teenage years. While she excelled in basketball, she eventually chose to pursue a career in wrestling.
Initially, she wrestled in her home country before getting the opportunity to perform for various Canadian and United States promotions. The eight years of hard work paid off in 2015 when she received a breakthrough in WWE after successfully clearing the tryout the previous year.
Referred to as Billie Kay, she shined as a tag team competitor as part of The IIconics, winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35.
3) Peyton Royce
Peyton Royce had a similar career roadmap to Billie Kay in her professional wrestling journey. Going to the same school as Billie, the Sydney native fell in love with professional wrestling as a child.
Once she began her wrestling journey in 2009 at seventeen years old, she flourished in the indies before getting selected during the WWE tryout along with Billie.
The IIconics had a parallel journey in WWE’s squared circle, knowing they remained tag teams for the majority of their careers and seldom competed as singles stars. In 2021, Peyton was let go of her WWE contract alongside Billie, but she added the honor of WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion to her accomplishment record.
2) Toni Storm
Toni Storm, one of the brightest female talents of the current generation, isn’t from North America. She is a Kiwi and Aussie. While Storm was born in Auckland, New Zealand, she relocated to Australia after her parents’ divorce at the age of four. Therefore, she is part of both countries from down under.
Timeless Toni’s wrestling obsession began at the age of ten when I started watching WWE in Australia. Deciding to make professional wrestling a serious career, she competed in her maiden wrestling match at only 13. Subsequently, she earned fame outside of WWE, wrestling in different promotions, particularly the Japanese company Stardom.
Toni caught WWE’s eyes in 2017 through the Mae Young Classic. She won the NXT UK Women’s Championship, but her main roster career was cut short in 2021, the year she debuted with a lot of promise. Now, she has gained recognition in AEW, playing the unique Timeless Toni Storm persona. She is a three-time AEW Women’s Champion.
1) Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley is Australian wrestling’s greatest glory, achieving great heights that no male or female WWE wrestlers from Australia accomplished. The 28-year-old is originally from Adelaide, Australia. Growing up in the suburb of the South Australian city, she gradually developed a love for the art of professional wrestling.
Ripley’s first break in wrestling was through Riot City Wrestling, an Australian promotion located in Adelaide. She predominantly wrestled in her home country before coming to the radar of WWE. Following participation in the Mae Young Classic tournament in 2017, she became a part of the WWE roster and never looked back.
Remaining a major star in the developmental brand, The Mami became the NXT Champion in the US as well as the now-defunct UK version. As a two-time Women’s Champion and the Women’s Tag Team Champion, she is already a Grand Slam Champion and probably the biggest draw among female talents today.
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Avik Das is an English Literature graduate with an experience of over six years as a professional writer. He has written for renowned publications such as The Sportster, Sportskeeda, Pinkvilla, and The Things
