The Women's World Championship was the first
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 ...
in the world.
History
Cora Livingston
Cora B. Bowser (1887/1889 – April 22, 1957), better known by the ring name Cora Livingston (also spelled as Livingstone) was an American professional wrestler. She is the first women's world champion in professional wrestling history.
Earl ...
defeated
Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she billed herself as the first women's champion of the world. She then went to face women's champion Laura Bennett in a champion vs. champion title unification match in 1910. The match saw
Cora Livingston
Cora B. Bowser (1887/1889 – April 22, 1957), better known by the ring name Cora Livingston (also spelled as Livingstone) was an American professional wrestler. She is the first women's world champion in professional wrestling history.
Earl ...
victorious and it was at that time she was officially recognized as the first women's world champion.
Mildred Burke won a woman's world championship title in 1937 and held it for close to two decades. Mildred Burke won the women's wrestling world championship title defeating Clara Mortenson the inaugural champion.
Clara had competed for the vacant championship against Barbara Ware, with Clara coming out victorious, following her victory, she was billed as the first women's world champion.
On June 14, 1953,
June Byers won a 13-woman tournament in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
to claim the belt. She quickly became a popular
fan favorite champion.
[June Byers at imdb.com]
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. Byers and Burke wrestled a
two out of three falls match
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...
in 1954 it went to a no contest. Subsequently, Byers was recognized as the
NWA World Women's Champion, and Burke went on to create the
WWWA World Championship and was recognized as its first champion.
Reigns
See also
*
World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version)
In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...
*
Women's World Tag Team Championship
*
NWA World Women's Champion
*
WWWA World Championship
*
World Women's Championship (disambiguation)
References
{{Women's professional wrestling
National Wrestling Alliance championships
World professional wrestling championships
Women's professional wrestling championships