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 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 ...

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, p ...

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 (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. It was defended on the

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' was 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 ...

brand division, a sister brand of WWE's

developmental territory Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitos ...

NXT 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. As of July 2017, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Rhea Ripley. She is a List of Women ...

. 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 NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champion is Jacy Jayne, who is in her fi ...

, officially retiring the title in the process, with

Meiko Satomura is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. She is known for her time in American promotion WWE and in Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling. She is the former two-time Sendai Girls World Champion and a former one-time NXT UK Wom ...

recognized as the final champion.

History

In a press conference at

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...

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. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

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 goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

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 WW ...

(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 NXT. 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 a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

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 concen ...

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 signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the epithet "Timeless" Toni Storm and is the reigning AEW Women' ...

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), a sculpture by Aristide Maillol * ''Air'' (painting), a painting by Jan van Kessel the Elder Films * ''Air'' ...

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 at a later time. 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 career in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Mandy Rose, and was ...

defeated

Blair Davenport Beatrice St. Claire Terry (née Priestley, born 22 March 1996) is an English-New Zealander professional wrestler. She is a freelancer, performing for various promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). She previously performed in WWE und ...

and reigning NXT UK Women's Champion

in a

triple threat match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " 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 storyline. ...

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

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 ...

. 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 Crown jewels are the objects of metalwork and jewellery in the regalia of a current or former monarchy. They are often used for the coronation of a monarch and a few other ceremonial occasions. A monarch may often be shown wearing them in portra ...

. 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 Raw and

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

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

Reigns

Over the championship's four-year, 9 day 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 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 sys ...

WWE women's championships