The 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 The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

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 ...

owned by the

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

(NJPW)

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 creation of the championship was announced by NJPW on April 27, 2023. The title is exclusively featured on NJPW's

Strong Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United ...

brand and is usually defended at NJPW Strong branded shows in America. The inaugural champion was

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 ...

. The current champion is AZM, who is in her first reign.

History

In 2022,

(NJPW) established a women's division. On July 29 of that year, the promotion created the

IWGP Women's Championship The is a women's professional wrestling world championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion. The title is defended on shows promoted by NJPW in Japan, with talent from NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom featuring as i ...

, the first women's title in the company's history, which was first held by Kairi. The championship was created to be the top title of NJPW's women's division and was intended to be defended on NJPW events in Japan and on events promoted by NJPW's Japanese sister company

World Wonder Ring Stardom , is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan. Stardom was founded in September 2010 by former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) co-producer Ross ...

(Stardom), a ''

joshi puroresu is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in and outside of Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” ( - “pro”) & “resu” ( - an abbreviation of “wrestling”). ...

'' promotion. On April 27, 2023, NJPW announced the creation of the Strong Women's Championship, the top women's championship of the promotion's American subsidiary '' Strong Live''. The promotion additionally announced a four-woman

single-elimination tournament 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, ...

to determine the inaugural champion to be held at Resurgence on May 21, 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 ...

. The tournament featured representatives from NJPW's partners

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

(AEW),

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as (EMLL) (''Mexican Wrestling Enterprise''). Founded in 1933, it is the oldest profe ...

(CMLL), and Stardom. The tournament participants were former IWGP Women's Champion

Mercedes Moné Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado (born January 26, 1992) is an American professional wrestler and actress. , she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performs under the ring name Mercedes Moné () and is the current AEW TBS Champio ...

(NJPW),

Momo Kohgo better known by her ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler. She works for World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is a member of Stars. A former model and actress, Kohgo is also known for her time in P's Party and Actwres girl'Z. Profess ...

(Stardom),

Stephanie Vaquer Ana Stephanie Vaquer González (born March 29, 1993), is a Chilean Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand. She is a former one-time NXT Women' ...

(CMLL), and

(AEW). At Resurgence, Nightingale became the inaugural champion by defeating Moné in the finals.

Inaugural championship tournament (2023)

The first defense of the title was Nightingale's successful defense against

Emi Sakura , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler performing for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), ChocoPro and on the independent circuit. After starting her career in International Wrestling Association of Japan in August 1995, Sa ...

on the June 2, 2023 episode of ''

AEW Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from August 13, 2021, to Dece ...

'' (taped on May 31, 2023).

Reigns

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

was the inaugural champion.

is the oldest champion at 32 years old, while AZM the youngest at 22 years old.

's reign is the longest at 313 days, while Nightingale's reign is the shortest at 45 days. AZM is the reigning champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating previous champion

and

Mina Shirakawa is a Japanese professional wrestler and Television personalities in Japan, ''tarento''. , she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She also makes appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH). Shirakawa first gained ...

in a

three-way 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. ...

at Resurgence on May 9, 2025, in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

References

External links

* * {{Navboxes , list1= {{New Japan Pro Wrestling {{World Wonder Ring Stardom New Japan Pro-Wrestling championships World professional wrestling championships Women's professional wrestling championships