The WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

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 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 Raw brand division. It is one of two secondary women's championships on WWE's main roster, along with the

WWE Women's United States Championship The WWE Women's United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two secondary women's championships on WWE's main ros ...

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 ...

. The title was unveiled prior to the November 25, 2024, episode of '' Raw''. The current champion is

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 ...

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

Lyra Valkyria Aoife Cusack (born 23 October 1996) is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Lyra Valkyria. She is a former one-time and the inaugural W ...

in a Last Chance match at Money in the Bank on June 7, 2025.

History

The American

promotion

was founded in April 1963, but it never had a secondary women's championship until April 2024 when the

NXT Women's North American Championship The NXT Women's North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is the secondary women's championship of the company's development brand, NXT. Established on April 6, 20 ...

was introduced for the

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 ...

NXT, followed by the

for the main roster brand

in early November. Later that same month prior to the November 25 episode of '' Raw'', the brand's general manager

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 the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship for the main roster women's division on the Raw brand, countering the men's

WWE Intercontinental Championship The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a men's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster, alo ...

. The inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion was determined by a tournament that began on the December 2 episode of ''Raw''. Prior to that episode's broadcast, WWE Chief Content Officer

Paul "Triple H" Levesque Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wre ...

revealed the tournament bracket, featuring 12 women from the Raw roster in four

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. ...

es for the first round, with the winners of each advancing to the semifinals in

singles matches 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. ...

, with those winners then facing off in the tournament final on ''Raw'' on January 13, 2025. Tournament participants announced were

Dakota Kai Cheree Georgina "Charlie" Crowley (born 6 May 1988) is a New Zealand professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in the WWE, where she performed under the ring name Dakota Kai. Prior to her signing with WWE, Crowley performed under t ...

Shayna Baszler Shayna Andrea Baszler ( ; born August 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she became a former List of NXT Women's Champions, two-time and lon ...

, Katana Chance, Zoey Stark,

Raquel Rodriguez Raquel or Racquel is a variation of the given name Rachel. Notable people with the name include: Raquel *Raquel (wrestler), Brazilian professional wrestler *Raquel Alessi (born 1983), American former actress and model * Raquel Naa Ayorkor Ammah ( ...

, Kayden Carter,

Zelina Vega Thea Megan Trinidad Büdgen (born December 27, 1990) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Zelina Vega and is the current Women's United States Champion in he ...

, Ivy Nile,

Alba Fyre Kayleigh Kerr (Birth name, née Rae; born 11 August 1992) is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Alba Fyre and is a membe ...

Kairi Sane is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress. she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name . From 2012 to 2017, she wrestled for the Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom under the ring name . E ...

, and Natalya. In the tournament final on January 13, Valkyria defeated Kai to become the inaugural champion.

Tournaments

Inaugural tournament

The tournament to determine the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion began on December 2, 2024, and was held across episodes of ''Raw''. The final took place on the January 13, 2025, episode. ;Notes

Belt design

The belt design is identical to the men's version, but like all women's championships in WWE, it is smaller and on a white strap. It also replaced the word "Heavyweight" with "Women's". Like all of WWE's other championship belts, the two side plates feature a removable center section which can be customized with the champion's logos; the default side plates feature a WWE logo over a blue globe.

Reigns

As of , , there have been two reigns. The inaugural champion was Lyra Valkyria. The current champion is

, who defeated Valkyria in a Last Chance match at Money in the Bank on June 7, 2025, in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 107,762. ...

. Had Lynch lost, she would have never been able to challenge for the title again for as long as Valkyria was champion, but since Lynch won, Valkyria had to raise Lynch's hand and acknowledge her as the better woman.

References

External links

Official WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship Title History
{{WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship WWE Raw WWE women's championships United States professional wrestling championships