The WWE Women's 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 ...

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

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, ...

, defended on the

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United ...

brand division. It is one of two women's world titles for WWE's main roster, along with the

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first Women's professional wrestling world championship in the world. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she ...

on Raw. The current champion is

Tiffany Stratton Jessica Lynn Woynilko (born May 1, 1999) is an American professional wrestler and former gymnast. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Tiffany Stratton and is the current WWE Women's Champion in he ...

, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating

Nia Jax Savelina Fanene (born May 29, 1984) is an Australian American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Nia Jax ( ). Fanene signed to WWE in early 2014 and was first assigned to th ...

in her

Money in the Bank cash-in match The Money in the Bank ladder match is a multi-person ladder match held by the professional wrestling promotion WWE. First performed at WWE's annual WrestleMania event beginning in 2005, a separate Money in the Bank event was established in 201 ...

on the January 3, 2025, episode of ''

''. Established on April 3, 2016, at

WrestleMania 32 WrestleMania 32 was a 2016 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by WWE. It was the 32nd annual WrestleMania and took place on April 3, 2016, at the AT&T ...

, it replaced the Divas Championship and has a unique title history, separate from WWE's original Women's Championship and the Divas Championship.

Charlotte Flair Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (born April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair. Flair is a second-generation professional wrestler, being t ...

, then known simply as Charlotte, was the inaugural champion. As a result of the 2016 WWE Draft, the championship became exclusive to Raw and was renamed the Raw Women's Championship while SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as its counterpart. As a result of the

2023 WWE Draft The 2023 WWE Draft was the 17th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began with the April 28 episode of ''Friday Night SmackDown'' (in Cor ...

, the Raw and SmackDown women's championships switched brands, with the Raw Women's Championship reverting to its original name of WWE Women's Championship, while the SmackDown Women's Championship became the Women's World Championship. The title was the first women's championship to headline a WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event, which occurred at Hell in a Cell in 2016. It also headlined WWE's first all-female event, Evolution in 2018. Along with the SmackDown Women's Championship at the time, it was also defended in the main event match of the 35th edition of WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, in 2019.

History

The championship was established on April 3, 2016. During the

pre-show that day,

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...

r Lita appeared: after recapping the history of

, she declared that WWE's women would no longer be referred to as WWE Divas, but as "

WWE Superstars ''WWE Superstars'', or simply ''Superstars'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE that originally aired on WGN America in the United States and later broadcast on the WWE Network. It debuted on and ...

" like their male counterparts. The term "Diva" had been criticized by some commentators, fans, and several past and present female wrestlers, including reigning Divas Champion Charlotte, as diminishing the athletic abilities of female wrestlers and relegating them to "eye candy". Lita also unveiled a new title belt and revealed that the Divas Championship would be retired in favor of a new WWE Women's Championship. The inaugural champion was determined by 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. ...

between Charlotte,

Becky Lynch Rebecca Quin (born 30 January 1987), better known by the ring name Becky Lynch, is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion in her ...

, and

Sasha Banks Sacha, Sasha, or Sascha may refer to: People * Sasha (name), includes list of people with the name and the variants Sascha or Sacha Musicians * Sacha (singer), born Sacha Visagie, Canadian singer and songwriter * Sasha (DJ) (born 1969), born Alex ...

later that night, which was originally scheduled for the Divas Championship. Charlotte, the final Divas Champion, became the first WWE Women's Champion by winning that match. The title shares its name with the original WWE Women's Championship. However, the newer title does not share the same title history as the original, which was unified with the Divas Championship in 2010 and subsequently retired. WWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor, and notes that the lineage of female champions dates back to

The Fabulous Moolah Mary Lillian Ellison (July 22, 1923 – November 2, 2007) was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah. She began her career working with promoter Billy ...

's reign in 1956. Following the reintroduction of the

brand split The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers (and, at various times, creative staff) into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's ...

in July 2016, reigning champion Charlotte was drafted to the Raw brand, making the championship exclusive to Raw. It was subsequently renamed the Raw Women's Championship after

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind th ...

in August, when

created the

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 ...

as a counterpart title. 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 ...

would become WWE's third main women's title when NXT, the promotion's

developmental brand In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, 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 pl ...

, became recognized as WWE's third major brand in September 2019 when it was moved to the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

. However, this recognition was reversed when NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand in September 2021. The championship was the first women's title to be defended in the main event of a WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event, which was at

Hell in a Cell Hell in a Cell is a professional wrestling steel cage-based match which originated in 1997 in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It features a large cell structure, a four-sided cuboid made from open-weave steel mesh chain-link f ...

in October 2016; this was also the first-ever women's

match and the first women's match to main event a WWE

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

and

livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...

event. At the event, Charlotte (whose ring name was lengthened to Charlotte Flair) defeated Sasha Banks to become a three-time champion. After two years, it was again featured in the main event match of a pay-per-view and livestreaming event, which was the first-ever all-women's event

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

in October 2018, where

Ronda Rousey Ronda Jean Rousey ( ; born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, and former judoka and mixed martial artist. She is best known for her tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and WWE. She was the first Am ...

retained the title against

Nikki Bella Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace (born November 21, 1983), also known by the stage names Nikki Bella and Nikki Garcia, is an American television personality and professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE. She is the host of the game show, '' B ...

. Rousey then defended the title in a winner takes all triple threat match against SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in the main event of

WrestleMania 35 WrestleMania 35 was a 2019 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by WWE. It was the 35th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 7, 2019, at MetLife ...

in April 2019, which Lynch won. This was the first women's match to main event a WrestleMania – WWE's flagship event. On May 10, 2020, the championship became the first in history to be directly rewarded as a result of winning the

Money in the Bank ladder match The Money in the Bank ladder match is a multi-person ladder match held by the professional wrestling promotion WWE. First performed at WWE's annual WrestleMania event beginning in 2005, a separate WWE Money in the Bank, Money in the Bank event w ...

(taped April 15, 2020), which was revealed when the briefcase was opened by Becky Lynch the following night on '' Raw''. Lynch announced that she was forfeiting the title due to pregnancy and announced the Money in the Bank match winner, Asuka, as the new champion. As a result of the

, the Raw and SmackDown women's championships switched brands and there were no title changes for either championship before draft results went into effect on May 8. The issue of the Raw Women's Championship being on SmackDown was then resolved on the June 9, 2023, episode of ''

''. That night, WWE official

Adam Pearce Adam John Pearce (born June 24, 1978) is an American retired professional wrestler and executive employed by WWE as Director of Live Events, producer, trainer, and on-screen general manager of the Raw brand. Pearce is a former five-time NW ...

unveiled a new championship belt to reigning champion Asuka, with the title subsequently reverting to its original name WWE Women's Championship as to when Lita first introduced it at WrestleMania 32. The SmackDown Women's Championship subsequently became the Women's World Championship on June 12.

Brand designation history

When the championship was unveiled, the

brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this ...

was not in effect as that had ended in August 2011. From its inception until the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, reigning champion Charlotte defended the title on both ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown''.

Championship belt designs

The WWE Women's Championship belt uses the "Network Logo" design that was first used by the

WWE Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown bran ...

when it was introduced in August 2014 with a few notable differences. When it was originally unveiled, the die-cut WWE logo in the center plate sat on a red background, as opposed to black, while the small print below the logo read "Women's Champion", and the strap was smaller and white as opposed to black. The belt featured the same side plates, divided from the center plate by gold divider bars. In what has become a prominent feature on all of WWE's championship belts, the side plates feature a removable center section, which can be customized with the reigning champion's logo; the default side plates feature the WWE logo on a red globe. This was the first women's title in WWE with customizable side plates. The title retained this design when it was renamed as Raw Women's Championship in September 2016. On the June 9, 2023, episode of ''SmackDown'', WWE official Adam Pearce unveiled a new design for the title which reverted to being called the WWE Women's Championship. It uses the same "Network Logo" design, but with similarities to the men's

that was unveiled on the previous week's episode of ''SmackDown''. It retains the smaller white strap and the side plates of the previous design, but in matching the men's title, the WWE logo is now encrusted with black diamonds on a gold nugget-textured background while the small print below the logo now reads "Women's Undisputed Champion" (although it was never contested in a

unification match Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title. History In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a give ...

to bear the name "Undisputed", it simply appears on the belt to match its male counterpart). In what has become a tradition since fall 2014, WWE has presented custom WWE Championship belts to winners in both male and female professional sports with the side plates commemorating the achievement. In September 2018, WWE began presenting custom Women's Championship belts to winners in just female sports. The first of these was given to the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

for winning the

2018 WNBA Finals The 2018 WNBA Finals, officially the WNBA Finals 2018 presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2018 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). It featured the top-seede ...

. Custom Women's Championship belts (originally the red design, but then the gold version beginning in 2023) have since been presented to the

United States Women's National Soccer Team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central Ameri ...

for winning the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

, a team that previously received a custom WWE Championship for this feat in 2015, to

Bianca Andreescu Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Andreescu has won two singles titles on the WTA T ...

for winning the 2019 Women's US Open, and to the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

and

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home game ...

for winning the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2023 WNBA Finals The 2023 WNBA Finals, officially the WNBA Finals 2023 presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2023 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The finals featured the f ...

, respectively.

Reigns

As of , , there have been 30 reigns between 13 champions. Charlotte Flair, then known simply as Charlotte, was the inaugural champion. She also has the most reigns at six.

Bianca Belair Bianca Nicole Crawford (née Blair; born April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and fitness and figure competitor. she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under t ...

's first reign is the longest at 420 days (419 days as recognized by WWE), while her second reign is the shortest at 1 minute and 35 seconds. Becky Lynch has the longest combined reign at 535 days (560 days as recognized by WWE). Asuka is the oldest champion, winning the title at the age of 41, while

is the youngest when she won the title at 24 years, 181 days old. Only two women have held the title for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair.

is the current champion in her first reign. She defeated

in her

on the January 3, 2025 episode of ''SmackDown'' in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

Notes

References

External links

Official WWE Women's Title History
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wwe Women's Championship WWE Raw WWE women's championships

History

Brand designation history

Championship belt designs

Reigns

See also

Notes

References

External links