There were plenty of great matches and moments in independent women’s wrestling all across the US in 2024. We had the birth of two new women’s companies, Uprising, which came out of the Dreamwave promotion in Illinois. Then there’s Belle 2 Bell, which came out of The World Famous Monster Factory in New Jersey.

Uprising has brought together the top women’s wrestlers from across the country, while B2B has focused on having a safe space for young wrestlers, mostly from the northeast area, to hone their skill in front of a crowd, while having good matches and telling stories.

We also saw the rise of such wrestlers as Gabby Forza, Megan Bayne, Zayda Steel, Maggie Lee, and many more. Here are my top 10 matches of 2024, some are here because they tell a great story, they signify an important moment, and some are just incredible matches.

1. Uprising Championship: Maggie Lee (c) vs. Megan Bayne – Uprising Women Athletes 3 8/2/2024

This match was the main event for the third Uprising show and is for the Uprising Championship. Megan comes to the ring with an eyepatch, due to being stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver in GCW by Mance Warner.

Bayne shows off her power early by catching Maggie in mid-air and throwing her overhead with a suplex. They fight out to the apron and Maggie suplex’s Megan on the apron. Maggie hits a handspring elbow, then drapes Megan across the ropes in the corner and hits a double stomp on her. Megan comes back with a big boot, followed by two exploder suplexes. Maggie hits a pump kick in the corner, followed by a blockbuster. Megan goes to the top rope, but Maggie follows her and hits a suplex out of the corner.

They appear to just have distain for each other, as they exchange strikes. Bayne hits a tombstone and looks to have the match won, but someone in a hoodie grabs the ref and pulls him out of the ring. Maggie then rolls up a distracted Megan for the win. The person in the hood, who turns out to be Missa Kate attacks Megan with a chair until Rebecca J Scott makes the save. This rivalry was far from over after this match, as Bayne and RJS teamed up to defeat Maggie and Missa the next night at Dreamwave. Maggie then went on to defeat Bayne again at the DREAMWAVE Trick Or Treat show.

2. Hyan vs. Masha Slamovich – West Coast Pro “Queen Of Indies” 8/17/2024

This is the finals of the Queen of Indies tournament. Hyan defeated Maya World and Masha defeated Kylie Rae in the first round, then Masha and Hyan had to team up to defeat Promise Braxton and Amazona in the semifinals. 

Masha won the 2023 Queen of Indies and was looking to make it two years in a row. They trade pinfall attempts early, as each are trying to end the match early, since they have already been through two matches.

There is no feeling out process in this match, Masha gets the early advantage but Hyan answers with a big boot. Hyan puts Masha in a bodyscissors, and tries a few different pinning attempts, but Masha escapes and hits a Copa Kick. Masha locks in an armbar, but Hyan lifts Masha up and slams her to the mat. Masha locks in a choke hold and hits Hyan with a suplex while it is still locked in, but Hyan keeps fighting back.

Hyan hits a spear out of no where, to turn the tide of the match. They exchange near falls and neither one is giving up or staying down. The strikes are just as hard from each combatant as they were in the beginning of the match. Hyan is able to plant Masha face first on the mat and get a three count to become the new Queen of the Indies. This was an incredibly hard fought match up, especially considering they had both already wrestled two matches that day.

3. OVW Women’s Championship: Leila Grey (c) vs. Tiffany Nieves – OVW “Independence Rage” 6/29/2024

This was the culmination of a feud over The Bad Girls Club between former best friends. The BGC, Tiffany, Gema, Dream Girl Ellie, and Leila had been putting up a united front for a while, but everyone knew that it wouldn’t be long until Tiffany couldn’t take not being the center of attention and attacked her teammate Leyla and splintered the Bad Girls Club forever. 

These two women spent a lot of time together, as partners and as friends, so they are able to predict what the other is doing. Tiffany distracts the referee by pulling off the turnbuckle pad and hit Leila in the knee with a pipe. Tiffany focuses on her former friend’s knee. Leyla’s knee is obviously hurting her, but she was able to get Tiffany up for an AA for a near fall.

However, Tiffany quickly takes back over control of the match. Tiffany hits an Eat Da Feet, which knocks Leyla into the ref. Tiffany then throws salt in Layla’s eyes and locked in an inverted Texas Cloverleaf, but Layla escapes by throwing Tiffany into the exposed turnbuckle and is able to pin Tiffany for the win.

Leila would eventually lose the championship to J-Rod and can currently be seen on AEW on a regular basis. Tiffany is currently the NWA Exodus Pro Midwest Women’s Champion and is one of the top female stars in the NWA.

4. Lena Kross vs. Notorious Mimi – Belle to Bell “Saved by the Belle” 9/14/2024

This was an incredible match between two of the tallest wrestlers that will step in the Belle 2 Bell ring. One of the few times that Mimi will not have the height advantage.

Lena plays a little loose with the roles, but Mimi uses her athletic ability and hits a perfect dive to the outside onto Lena. Lena uses her height and picks Mimi onto her shoulders and drops her neck first, onto the ropes. Lena powerbombed Mimi onto the floor. Lena gets the advantage for a while, but Mimi comes back with an impressive spinning DDT.

Mimi hits a powerbomb out of the corner followed by a big kick, but is not able to put Lena away. Lena then hits Mimi with a big boot in the corner, picks her up on her shoulders and drops her on her knee for the win at the 19 minute mark. A match that has to go down as the best match in B2B’s short history.

5. West Coast Pro Women’s Championship: Zara Zakher vs. Takumi Iroha (c) – West Coast Pro “The Thing That Should Not Be” 10/11/2024

Irona won the championship by defeating Masha Slamovich and has defended it against Johnnie Robbie, Sandra Moone and Masha.

They open the match pretty even, exchanging pin and submission attempts. The crowd is behind Zara, but Iroha keeps laying hard strikes into her. “The Petite Powerhouse” Zara answers with a suplex. Iroha answers with a suplex of her own and a flurry of offense. Zara hits a big spinebuster, followed by a short clothesline. They exchange pinfall attempts and each wrestler has taken quite a beating, but keeps coming back. Iroha goes for a Running Three, but Zara escapes and hits a running knee.

Iroha fires back, but Zara avoids a kick and hits a Cutter for the Ages for the win. Zara looked as surprised as anyone that she was able to defeat Iroha. Zara shows respect to Iroha and Iroha returns the sentiment by putting the belt on Zara. Zara has quite a future ahead of her, since this match she has challenged for the Princess of Princess Championship in TJPW and has entered the WWE’s ID program.

6. Mission Pro Championship: Izzy Moreno (c)  vs. Thunder Rosa – Mission Pro “Midsummer Blast” 8/17/2024

This match could be the final match in Mission Pro history, as they are on an indefinite hiatus. The owner of the company, Thunder Rosa, who has tried to keep Izzy from getting the championship, faces off against the young champion.

Thunder Rosa controls the match early with very hard-hitting strikes. Izzy is a lot tougher than she looks and never backs down. Rosa takes the fight to the outside, but Izzy keeps coming back. After trading blows, Rosa hits a spinning death valley driver. Izzy will not stay down.

Izzy answers with a backcracker, hooks in an armbar and rolls Rosa up for the pin. After the match Rosa gets on the mic and tells everyone what an amazing young wrestler Izzy is and thanks everyone who has made Mission Pro possible. Izzy is still defending the Mission Pro championship, which leaves the door open for the company to return.

7. Megan Bayne vs. Gabby Forza – Wrestling Open Episode 117 3/28/2024

This match was the main event of Wrestling Open episode 117. This was a first-time match-up and no one knew what to expect when these two powerhouses met.

Gabby had only been wrestling for about a year at this point, while Megan had recently returned from Japan, where she had been working for Stardom, and had been looking as good as ever.

The crowd is very into this match before the two combatants even lock up. They test each other’s power with chops and shoulder block attempts and are very even, until Bayne finally gets the advantage and goes into attack mode. Gabby is able to take Megan down with a shoulder block and Megan is shocked.

Gabby is able to throw the Megasus to the outside. They then fight on the outside and Gabby throws Bayne into the post and bodyslams her on the floor. Back in the ring Bayne takes over, giving Gabby a release belly to belly suplex. They keep reversing each other and Gabby is able to hit a brainbuster. Gabby hits a suplex followed by a powerslam. She gets a two count. She then gets Megan up for an AA, and only gets two again.

Gabby tries a spear through the ropes, but Megan slams her to the floor. Bayne hits a sitdown powerbomb, but Gabby kicks out. Megan climbs the turnbuckle, but Gabby catches her and throws her across the ring. Gabby goes for a spear, but is met by a big boot and F5, everyone thought that was it, including the timekeeper, but Gabby kicked out at two.

However, that just prolonged the match a little, as Megan hit a Tombstone for the win. After the match, Megan picks Gabby up and shakes her hand.

There was a lot of hype for this match, but it certainly exceeded any expectation. It really solidified Gabby as a true star that can stand toe-to-toe with anyone, and showed us all how much Megan has improved from her time with Stardom.

8. Street Fight: Valerie Verman vs. Journey Burke – CZW “Limelight 27” 7/7/2024

This match was the first ever all women’s main event in CZW history.

Journey is a lawyer by day, who has been making her mark in Pro Wrestling Magic, Intergender Bonanza and many other promotions in the northeast. “The Princess Primadona” Valerie Verman is the veteran of the match and has worked in places like OVW, Monster Factory, and held the women’s title at WDWA. These two women have a long history with each other, which is easy to tell, as they start off with some very hard strikes and the wrestlers quickly get out the weapons.

They exchange strikes with kendo sticks and Valerie takes Journey down with some chair shots. They fight out into the crowd and Journey hits a running knee with Valerie’s head inside a trash can. Journey throws Valerie into a door, then chases Valerie’s friend Samwell up on top of the entrance and throws him off and through a door.

Journey gets back to the ring, but gets met by a chair that is thrown at her by Valerie. Journey answers with a drop kick to Valerie’s face, with a chair on top of it. Journey sets up a door table, but it backfires when Valerie hits her with a pedigree off the middle rope, through the door, for the win.

9. Sonny Kiss vs. Zayda Steel – Intergender Bonanza 19 “Cream Mania” 4/3/2024

This match was on the Wednesday of Wrestlemania week and it was Zayda’s week so far, as she had already had an incredible match with Marcus Mathers that Monday. Sonny had just returned to the independent scene and was looking to prove that she is as good as ever.

Zayda is very entertaining early on, attempting to do a kip up and running from Sonny. Sonny catches Zayda, but Zayda gets the advantage and hits a very impressive suicide dive into a DDT on the outside of the ring. Really fun sequence where Sonny military presses Zayda above her head, but Zayda counters into Code Breaker and a Code Red.

Sonny hits a violent spinning kick for the win. Both wrestlers went on to have impressive 2024s. Sonny went on to capture the Enjoy Championship, while Zayda spent time in Japan with the Marigold promotion and was later entered into the WWE ID program.

10. Liiza Hall vs. Abigail Warren – DOA “Queen of Thorns 2024” 8/3/2024

I could have picked multiple matches from this show, but really thought this one stood out. This was a first-round match. Abigail jumped Hall from behind as she was making her way to the ring. Abigail is a striker and Hall is more of a technical wrestler, which gave us contrasting styles for this match. Abagail reminds me of the former ROH champion, Morishima, in her wrestling style.

Abagail controls a lot of the match, using her power advantage, but Hall wins by submission with the Rain City Stretch. Liiza went on to win the Queen of Thorns tournament by defeating Jordan Blade, then Mylo in equally as great matches.

As we go into 2025 look for more amazing matches, moments and stories from these and others. Some of the other young wrestlers to keep an eye on in 2025 are Stevie Brooks, Kelsey Heather, Sammie Chaos, Nixi XS, and the tag team Shake and Bake.