Daily DDT Awards: Rhea Ripley voted 2023 WWE Women's Wrestler of the Year
From the beginning of 2023, it was clear that WWE had huge plans for Rhea Ripley. Before the 2023 Royal Rumble, it was clear she would be the winner and earn her spot to headline WrestleMania for a Women's title match. Doing so, Ripley made history by being the first woman to do so as the first entrant in the match. Just like that, we entered the year of "Mami'"
At one time, Charlotte Flair was Ripley's kryptonite, but once Ripley defeated her in Night 1 of WrestleMania (our 2023 Show of The Year), she became a whole new monster. In addition to becoming the Women's World Champion, she has led the most dominant faction in the entire WWE for the past year.
Under her guidance, The Judgement Day has claimed the Undisputed Tag Team titles, Money in the Bank briefcase for Damian Priest, and Dirty Dominik Mysterio's first singles title as the NXT North American Champion. Ripley had the busiest year of all the women of WWE. When The Eradicator wasn't leading the boys in JD, she was defending her territory as champion. Throughout 2023, she defended her title against the likes of Zelina Vega, Natalya, Raquel Rodriguez, in a five-way match, Zoey Stark, and against Ivy Nile.
While being the most dominant woman in all of WWE, she has also elevated other superstars around her and not only The JD. Besides Natalya, she made all of her opponents look like quality competitors and elevated main roster newcomers Stark and Nile.
Over the past year, the phenomenon of Mami has grown so much, that the top heel in the women's division has unprecedently become a babyface and receives Mami chants from the crowd everywhere she goes. She has the most followers of all WWE superstars on TikTok, and she was the leader in merchandise sold for quite some time. She is as over as she will ever get.
The best part about it all is that Ripley is only 27 years old. She is only scratching the surface of what she will accomplish in WWE. She has been so dominant in the women's division that she is now displaying interest in challenging for men's singles titles. It was a great year for Mami and she deserves the Daily DDT WWE Women's Wrestler of the Year.