The WWE Speed Championship is a men's

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

internet championship Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Zack R ...

created and promoted by the American promotion

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 ...

, available to wrestlers from all three of the company's brand divisions. Revealed on March 27, 2024, it has a stipulation in which matches have a five-minute time limit and stream exclusively on WWE's online program ''

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

'', from which the title takes its name. The inaugural champion was

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

, who was a member of the

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

roster at the time of his reign. The current champion is Andrade from SmackDown, who is in his first reign, which is the longest reign for the title. He defeated Ricochet during the ''Speed'' tapings on June 7, 2024 (aired June 14).

History

On February 9, 2024, the American

promotion

announced a partnership with X to introduce ''

WWE Speed ''WWE Speed'' is an American professional wrestling streaming television, streaming television program produced by WWE. It airs on the social media platform X (social network), X and premiered with two episodes on April 3, 2024. ''Speed'' features ...

'', a weekly video series to stream exclusively on the social media platform where wrestlers would perform in matches with a five-minute time limit. The following month on March 27, WWE commentator

Corey Graves Matthew Polinsky (born February 24, 1984) is an American wrestling color commentator and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE as a commentator and analyst for ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown'' under the ring name Corey Graves. He is a ...

announced that ''Speed'' would premiere on April 3, 2024, but regular matches would instead be three minutes in length. An eight-man tournament was also announced to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion that would take place over the first few episodes of the program. It was also revealed that male wrestlers from all three of WWE's brand divisions—

, SmackDown, and the

developmental brand 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 spi ...

—were eligible to challenge for the title. The inaugural Speed Championship tournament final, which was taped on April 26, 2024, and aired on tape delay on May 3, saw

defeating Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural champion. This tournament final also confirmed that the championship matches would have a duration of five minutes instead of ''Speed''s regular three-minute length. On the July 17 episode, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes fought to ''Speed''s first time-limit draw in their semifinal match. It was decided that both men were eliminated from the tournament with the winner of the other semifinal, Baron Corbin, receiving a bye to the tournament final to face Andrade for the title.

Inaugural tournament

Reigns

As of , , there have been two reigns between two champions. The inaugural champion was Ricochet. Andrade has the longest reign at + days (+ days as recognized by WWE), while Ricochet has the shortest at 42 days. Ricochet is also the oldest champion at 35 while Andrade is the youngest at 34. The current champion is Andrade from SmackDown, who is in his first reign. He defeated Ricochet during the June 7, 2024, tapings of ''Speed'', which aired on June 14, 2024, and is when WWE officially began his reign.

References

Notes

External links