The MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship is 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 Professional wrestling promotion, promotions. Some prom ...

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 sys ...

created and promoted by the American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW). The current champion is Shoko Nakajima, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Delmi Exo at Battle Riot VII in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

on April 5, 2025.

History

MLW previously teased the formation of a women's division on August 18, 2019, later announcing its official launch on October 18, 2019. The division's first official match was held at MLW Blood and Thunder of 2019 between Zeda Zhang and The Spider Lady which Zhang was successful at winning via disqualification. Following MLW coming back from a lengthy hiatus due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, on July 7, 2021, it was announced that

Shimmer Women Athletes Shimmer Women Athletes (often referred to and stylized as SHIMMER) was an American, Chicago-based independent women's professional wrestling promotion which held its first event on November 6, 2005. Established by Dave Prazak and run by both ...

co-founder

Dave Prazak Dave Prazak is an American professional wrestling promoter and commentator. He was the co-founder of Shimmer Women Athletes, one of the few women-only wrestling promotions in the United States in the 2000s and 2010s. Career Prazak entered the pro ...

had joined MLW to help relaunch its women's division. On the September 22, 2021, episode of '' Fusion: Alpha'', MLW officially announced the launch of its MLW women's featherweight division and introduced the first wrestlers on the roster, including Brittany Blake,

Holidead Camille Ligon (born July 21, 1986), known by her ring name Holidead, is an American professional wrestler. She is mostly known for her stints in Ring of Honor (ROH) and Major League Wrestling (MLW). Professional wrestling career World Wonde ...

, Nicole Savoy, The Sea Stars ( Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo),

Willow Nightingale Danielle Paultre (born January 25, 1994), better known by the ring name Willow Nightingale, is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a current member of The Conglomeration and a former AEW T ...

and Zoey Skye. On April 21, 2022, it was announced that on May 13, 2022, at Kings of Colosseum that there will be a match between

Taya Valkyrie Kira Renée Magnin-Forster (born October 22, 1983), better known by her ring name Taya Valkyrie, is a Canadian professional wrestler, fitness competitor, and Model (people), model. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where she is one-half ...

and

to determine who the first ever MLW Women's Featherweight Championship title holder is. During the match, Taya defeated Holidead via

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

to become the inaugural championship holder. Sometime during Taya Valkyrie's reign, the title's name was changed from the MLW Women's Featherweight Championship to the MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship according to MLW's official website. On May 19, 2025 it was announced that the MLW Women's title will be defended in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for the first time ever in history at a Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling event on June 7, 2025 as current champion Shoko Nakajima faces Kaya Toribami. During the event Shoko was successful at retaining the title.

Reigns

As of , , there have been five reigns between four champions

was the inaugural champion. She is also the oldest champion at 38 years old, while Delmi Exo is the youngest at 28 years old. Janai Kai's reign is the longest at 455 days, while Exo's second reign is the shortest at 84 days. The current champion is Shoko Nakajima, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Delmi Exo at Battle Riot VII in

on April 5, 2025.

Names

Combined reigns

As of , .

References

External links