The NXT UK Women's Championship was a

women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestling federations called promotions. Some promotions are exclusively for women, ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

that was created and promoted by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

. It was defended on the

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' is a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the s ...

brand division, a sister brand of WWE's

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

based in the United Kingdom. Established on 18 June 2018, the inaugural champion was

Rhea Ripley Demi Bennett (born 11 October 1996) is an Australian professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley and is a member of The Judgment Day. She was also the inaugural N ...

. On 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide, the title was unified into the

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on April 5, 2013, t ...

, officially retiring the title in the process, with

Meiko Satomura Meiko Satomura (里村明衣子, Satomura Meiko, born November 11, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently signed to the American promotion WWE performing on the NXT brand and the Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestlin ...

recognized as the final champion.

History

In a press conference at

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on 15 December 2016, the American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

announced plans to establish a United Kingdom-based

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

on which professional wrestlers from the country would compete. A men's title, the

WWE United Kingdom Championship The NXT United Kingdom Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was primarily defended as the top championship of the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE ...

(later renamed to NXT United Kingdom Championship), was established that same day, however, it was not until mid-2018 when

was formally established as the United Kingdom-based brand, and sister brand of the American-based

. On 18 June during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament, the NXT UK Women's Championship, along with the

NXT UK Tag Team Championship The NXT UK Tag Team Championship was a men's professional wrestling tag team championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was defended on the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE's developmental territory ...

, was announced for the NXT UK brand. Afterwards, a two-day eight-woman

single-elimination A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

was scheduled to crown the inaugural champion during the first tapings of ''

''. During the 26 August tapings,

defeated

Toni Storm Toni Rossall (born 19 October 1995), better known by the ring name Toni Storm, is a New Zealand-Australian professional wrestler. She is currently signed to AEW, where she is a former AEW Women's World Champion. She previously worked for WWE ...

in the tournament final to become the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion (

aired Air is the name given to the atmosphere of Earth. Air or AIR may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art *Air (Maillol), ''Air'' (Maillol), a sculpture by Aristide Maillol *Air (painting), ''Air'' (painting), a painting by Jan van Kess ...

28 November). In January 2020, WWE briefly began referring to the women's championship as the "NXT UK Championship" to bring it on an equal level as the men's title, though reverted to calling it the NXT UK Women's Championship soon after; it remained as NXT UK Women's Championship on the official title history during this time. In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would go on hiatus and would relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. As such, NXT UK's championships were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts. Subsequently, the NXT UK Women's Championship was retired on 4 September 2022 at Worlds Collide. At the event,

Mandy Rose Amanda Rose Saccomanno (born July 18, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, television personality, and fitness and figure competitor. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Mandy Rose. Rose began ...

defeated

Blair Davenport Beatrice St. Clere Priestley (born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealand professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Bea Priestley. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Blair Davenpor ...

and reigning NXT UK Women's Champion

in a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

to unify the NXT UK Women's Championship into Rose's

, with Satomura recognized as the final NXT UK Women's Champion. Rose went forward as the unified NXT Women's Champion.

Inaugural tournament

Championship belt design

Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom

The championship belt was revealed during the 25 August 2018 tapings of ''NXT UK''. It was nearly identical to its male counterpart, the

NXT United Kingdom Championship The NXT United Kingdom Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It was primarily defended as the top championship of the NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of WWE ...

. Like the United Kingdom Championship, the center plate was modeled after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse (instead of the traditional unicorn) on either side of the arms, while at the center of the plate featured a shield with the NXT UK logo; atop the shield were the crown jewels. Above the arms was a banner that read "United Kingdom", directly below the shield was a banner that read "Women's", and below that was a banner that read "Champion". Gold divider bars separated the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what became a prominent feature for WWE's championship belts, the two side plates featured removable center sections that could be replaced with the reigning champion's logo; the default side plates featured the WWE logo on a red globe. Like the

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and

SmackDown Women's Championship The WWE SmackDown Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two women's world titles for WWE's main rost ...

belts, the strap was white and smaller than the men's.

Reigns

Over the championship's four-year history, there were four reigns between four champions. Rhea Ripley was the inaugural champion and was also the youngest champion when she won the title at the age of 21, while Meiko Satomura was the oldest at 41 and is recognized as the final champion.

Kay Lee Ray Kayleigh Rae (born 11 August 1992), better known as Kay Lee Ray, is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Alba Fyre. Rae began her wrestling career in 2009 and c ...

had the longest reign, which WWE recognizes as lasting 649 days (beginning 31 August 2019 and ending 10 June 2021); the actual length of her reign is undeterminable as the real date she lost the title is unknown. Ripley had the shortest reign at 139 days (44 days as recognized by WWE due to tape delay).

Notes

References

External links

NXT UK Women's Title History
{{British wrestling titles WWE NXT championships National professional wrestling championships

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

WWE women's championships