WWE: Five candidates for women’s MVP at midyear
2021 is flying by and the halfway point of the year has already come and gone. Much has occurred in professional wrestling. Some big names have jumped ship to new promotions, injuries, title changes, great matches, and more. At the end of the year, it is customary to honor the top men and women across sports for their contributions to their team as the most valuable player. Professional wrestling may not be a sport, but more sports entertainment, but that does not take away from the need of recognizing the men and women that go above and beyond with their contributions to their promotions.
Saksham Karakasia recognized the male midyear MVP candidates and it is time to do the same for the women on the WWE roster.
Most valuable players are often recognized as the best individual contributor on the team. In many ways, they elevate the team to a point that would be far out of reach if they were not on the roster. In wrestling, things are different as there is more that goes into the idea of an MVP for a promotion. It is not always an individual who holds a title, but more someone that is present week-in-and-week-out, the workhorse for the company, the person that is called on when more is needed. Not only are they putting on great matches and having big moments, but the fans are fully engaged in their presence whenever their name is mentioned.
With those parameters in mind, this is a look at five women that could be considered the WWE MVP at the midpoint of 2021.
Number 5: Dakota Kai
There is something to be said about being an effective second. Raquel Gonzalez has been in firm control of the NXT women’s division since taking the title from Io Shirai in April. But one of the key components of her act is Dakota Kai. Kai’s presence as the snarky heel has worked well, even after she initially struggled when she first turned at War Games in 2019. Since that point, she has been one of the better characters on the NXT brand and has served well in her role as the second to the featured Gonzalez.
Much of Kai’s success in 2021 has come in the tag team division where she and Gonzalez won the Women’s Tag Team Dusty Classic and eventually became the first NXT women’s tag team champions, only to lose the belts that same night. As a single competitor, she had strong matches against the likes of Zoey Stark, Mercedes Martinez, and Ember Moon – although those resulted in more defeats.
Throughout this story, the seeds of a split between Kai and Gonzalez continue to creep in subtly. While that split may come at some point in 2021, it will be interesting to see if Kai is tapped as the person to eventually defeat Gonzalez for the title. At this point, her early 2021 run has placed her on the list as MVP candidate at this point in the year.
Number 4: Asuka
Anytime Asuka is on camera her presence elicits a smile from wrestling fans. She is easily one of the best performers in the ring and her character leaps from the screen every time. Even though she was the WWE Raw Women’s Champion for much of the early portion of the year, she was not given the opportunity to elevate the title as everyone knows Asuka can. She was also one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions with Charlotte Flair before losing the belts at the end of January. She would drop the title to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 37, but that would not stop her from remaining one of the top women on the red brand each week.
Asuka is practically a made woman on the WWE roster. It is tough to watch what seems to be a situation where WWE leadership refuses to give her a run like what she achieved in NXT, but that does not stop fans from cheering her on to such a degree.
At this point in 2021, she is picked up singles wins against Peyton Royce, Shayna Baszler, Charlotte Flair, while also taking part in many tags team matches along the way. Her inclusion on this list is since she has been a part of weekly television consistently throughout the entire year, even appearing on SmackDown along the way.