The is a women's world professional wrestling

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 ...

owned by the

World Wonder Ring Stardom World Wonder Ring Stardom (スターダム女子プロレス), often referred to simply as Stardom (stylized as ST★RDOM), is a Japanese '' joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded i ...

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 ...

. The title, which is situated at the top of Stardom's championship hierarchy, was introduced on June 26, 2011, and the inaugural champion was crowned on July 24, 2011, when

Nanae Takahashi (born December 23, 1978) is a Japanese professional wrestler and the founder of Seadlinnng. She has wrestled for prominent Japanese promotions All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Sun, and is a two-time women's world champion in m ...

defeated

Yoko Bito is a Japanese retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name . Bito initially made her in-ring debut in December 2010 for World Wonder Ring Stardom and quickly became one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion, until announ ...

in the finals of a four-woman tournament.

History

On July 24, 2011,

defeated

in the finals of a four-woman tournament to become the inaugural champion. On February 22, 2015, during a title match between the current champion Yoshiko and

Act Yasukawa , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Making her pro wrestling debut in 2012, she wrestled exclusively for the joshi puroresu promotion Stardom. Yasukawa's career ultimately ended in December 2015, 10 mon ...

, the two began

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

on each other with Yoshiko getting the advantage, legitimately injuring Yasukawa, as the match had to be ended prematurely. Yasukawa was diagnosed with fractured cheek, nasal and orbital bones, which would require surgery. Three days later, Yoshiko was stripped of the title. On March 29,

Kairi Hojo is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Wonder Ring Stardom under the ring name Kairi (stylized in all caps). Housako is also known for her work with WWE as . She is the c ...

defeated

Io Shirai is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Iyo Sky (stylized in all caps). She is a member of Damage CTRL and one-half of the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champions ...

in the finals of a four-woman tournament to win the vacant championship. On September 24, 2017, during a match between the current champion

Mayu Iwatani (born February 19, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom. Since making her debut in January 2011, she became a two-time World of Stardom Champion, two-time Wonder of Stardom Champion, one-tim ...

against

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 ...

, the title changed hands which was unplanned, as Iwatani legitimately dislocated her elbow, prompting the referee to stop the match and award the championship to Storm.

Origin and belt design

The title is often referred to simply as the "Red Belt", a name famously used by

All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held th ...

(AJW) to refer to its

WWWA World Single Championship The was the top singles women's professional wrestling championship in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) from 1970 until it closed in 2005. It was also known in ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' and other London Publishing wrestling magazines as ...

(of which Takahashi had been the last titleholder back in 2006). The title belt was crafted by

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 ...

company Top Rope Belts, with a conscious decision to imitate the AJW title belt in terms of its color, with Stardom president Rossy Ogawa referring to the promotion's heyday as the "Golden Age of ''

Joshi Puroresu is the predominant style of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which is shortened to puroresu. The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe's ac ...

''". The title has also been defended in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Reigns

As of , , there have been 15 reigns between 13 champions and one vacancy. Nanae Takahashi was the inaugural champion, as well as the longest reign at 602 days. Alpha Female has the shortest reign at 43 days. Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani has the most reigns at two. Meiko Satomura is the oldest champion at 35 years old, while Yoshiko is the youngest at 21 years old. Giulia is the current champion in her first reign. She defeated Syuri on December 29, 2022 at Dream Queendom 2.

Combined reigns

As of , . STARDOM WORLD CLIMAX 2022 IMG 6926

Footnotes

References

External links

World Wonder Ring Stardom's official website

{{World Wonder Ring Stardom World Wonder Ring Stardom championships Women's professional wrestling championships

History

Origin and belt design

Reigns

Combined reigns

Footnotes

See also

References

External links