The 1956 to 2010 version of the WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The company claims a lineage that dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion . WWE did not exist at that time, but they claim 1956 for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion until she lost it in 1984. Prior to Moolah losing the championship, she sold the rights to the title to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and it became the WWF Women's Championship, which would again be renamed in 2002 to WWE Women's Championship when the WWF was renamed to WWE. With the company claiming a lineage beginning in 1956, it made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in WWE until its retirement in 2010 after it was unified with the WWE Divas Championship , which briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The final champion was Layla .
46-559: The ECCW Women's Championship (formerly the NWA SuperGirls Championship or SuperGirls Championship ) is currently the women's professional wrestling championship of Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling , a wrestling promotion in British Columbia , Canada . The title was first awarded on June 24, 2005 in an attempt to generate interest for SuperGirls Wrestling, a women's wrestling spinoff of ECCW. Rebecca Knox became
92-516: A Winner Takes All triple threat match for the Raw and SmackDown Women's championships in what would be the first time that female superstars would main event WWE's flagship event. Nikki and Brie Bella, twin sisters who were inducted into WWEs Hall of Fame is 2021, came out of retirement for 2022 Women's Royal Rumble. Brie was the first to win a WWE Championship, but Nikki held the championship twice and held that reign longer than Brie. Promotions such as
138-574: A Cell match. At the 2017 Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the first-ever Women's Money in the Bank ladder match was held with the winner receiving a contract for a SmackDown Women's Championship match. The following month, WWE would hold a women's wrestling tournament called the Mae Young Classic , named after the late Mae Young . In 2018, the January Royal Rumble pay-per-view would feature
184-725: A company until 1963, when the Capitol Wrestling Corporation pulled out of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to establish the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Moolah, who bought the rights to the championship in the 1970s, defended the championship as the NWA World Women's Champion up until May 19, 1984; by this time, the WWWF had been renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1983,
230-477: A junior heavyweight version of the NWA World Women's Championship (the predecessor to the original WWE Women's Championship ) in a tournament back in 1958, was recognized by most NWA promoters as champion by default. In WWE, female professional wrestlers are members of one of the promotion's four women's divisions who compete in both singles competition and tag teams . WWE has six active women's championships:
276-407: A men's promotion, had a small women's division that competed with women wrestlers from other promotions. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (est. 1968) was the dominant joshi puro organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda (the "Beauty Pair"). In the early 1980s, Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami became
322-681: A new WWE Women's Championship , which has a separate title history from the original. WWE then reintroduced the brand extension in July 2016 and the Women's Championship (now Raw Women's Championship) became exclusive to Raw. In August 2016, SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. In WWE's NXT brand, women compete for the NXT Women's Championship, which was established in 2013. The NXT UK brand would create its counterpart title,
368-569: A women's division. The top of the division is the CMLL World Women's Championship . Keiko "Bull" Nakano won the first CMLL championship in 1992. That same year, wrestling promoter Antonio Peña left the CMLL to form a new promotion called the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). In addition to the annual Reina de Reinas Championship (Queen of Queens Championship), AAA also organizes
414-475: 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 promotions . Some promotions are exclusively for women, while others have separate divisions for women. Among the nations that have women's professional wrestling are Australia , Bolivia , Canada , Japan , Mexico , the United Kingdom , and
460-468: Is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the Women's Championship between the Raw and SmackDown brands. Over the championship's fifty-six year history, there were 59 recognized reigns between 29 recognized champions and 4 vacancies (there are 6 reigns and 3 people that are not recognized by the promotion). As per WWE's official title history, the inaugural champion was The Fabulous Moolah , who defeated Judy Grable on September 18, 1956. Moolah had
506-470: Is another one of Shimmer's sister promotions and was founded as a developmental program for the latter company. In 2018, they began a partnership with Impact Wrestling, which saw Impact talent compete at Rise events. Women's wrestling has maintained a recognized world champion since 1937, when Mildred Burke won the original World Women's title . She then formed the World Women's Wrestling Association in
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#1732895715714552-405: Is the shortest at less than 1 hour. Only four women held the championship for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: The Fabulous Moolah (who achieved the feat on six separate occasions), Sensational Sherri , Rockin' Robin , and Trish Stratus . Despite the title being contested mainly by female wrestlers, the championship was once held by a male, Harvey Wippleman , who won it under
598-559: The 2019 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view . Impact's women's championship is the Knockouts World Championship , which debuted on October 14, 2007. Its inaugural champion was Gail Kim , who won the title at Bound for Glory 2007 . The promotion's tag team championship is known as the Knockouts World Tag Team Championship . The title was introduced at No Surrender 2009 and its inaugural champions were
644-548: The NXT UK brand. The Fabulous Moolah is recognized as WWE 's first Women's Champion , with her reign beginning in 1956. In 2002, WWE began what was called the WWE brand extension , where wrestlers and championships became exclusive to one of WWE's brands. At first, the Women's Championship could be defended on any brand, but later that year, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. In 2008, WWE created
690-539: The NXT UK Women's Championship , in 2018. The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was announced on the December 24, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw . The inaugural champions were The Boss 'n' Hug Connection (Sasha Banks & Bayley) who defeated The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay), The Riot Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan), Nia Jax & Tamina, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and Naomi & Carmella at
736-597: The Naked Women's Wrestling League showcased nude females "battling" in the ring for titillation. The NWWL broadcast shows around the world, and its wrestlers were featured in magazines such as Penthouse , Playboy , and Maxim . In Japan, women's professional wrestling is called joshi puroresu ( 女子プロレス ) , or joshi puro for short. Women's wrestling is usually handled by promotions that specialize in joshi puroresu , rather than by divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions. Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ,
782-585: The Pro Wrestling Women's Alliance (PWWA) in 2007. This independent promotion is affiliated with Pro Wrestling Alliance Australia , as well as with Shimmer Women Athletes . They also had affiliations with Global Force Wrestling of the United States while the latter was active. It is the only all-female wrestling promotion in Australia. In Bolivia , female wrestlers called Fighting Cholitas dress in
828-513: The SmackDown Women's Championship . Becky Lynch would become the inaugural champion at Backlash after winning a Six-pack elimination challenge . The following month, at Hell in a Cell , Charlotte would face Sasha Banks in a match for the Raw Women's Championship in what would be the first time a women's match was the main event of a WWE pay-per-view, as well as the first-ever women's Hell in
874-569: The United States . In the United States, there are currently four major professional wrestling promotions that have a unified division with a title: WWE , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), in addition to a number of independent promotions with women's wrestling divisions and championships. TNA's female wrestlers are branded as the Knockouts , while ROH's female talent were formally known as
920-728: The WWE Divas Championship as a counterpart title for the SmackDown brand. The two titles were eventually unified in September 2010. The Women's Championship was then retired in favor of keeping the Divas Championship, which became briefly known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The brand extension ended in 2011. In April 2016 at WrestleMania 32 , the Divas Championship was retired and subsequently replaced with
966-699: The WWE Raw Women's Championship (which is the successor to the WWE Divas Championship , which in turn succeeded the original WWE Women's Championship created in 1956) for the Raw brand, the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship for the SmackDown brand, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship , the NXT Women's Championship and NXT Women's Tag Team Championship for the NXT brand, and the NXT UK Women's Championship for
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#17328957157141012-583: The Women of Honor banner, culminating in the creation of the Women of Honor World Championship in December 2017 and the announcement at Final Battle 2017 of a tournament to crown the first champion. Stars from Japan 's World Wonder Ring Stardom also participated in the tournament. Sumie Sakai became the inaugural Women of Honor Champion when she won the title at Supercard of Honor XII in 2018. In 2015, WWE revamped its women's divisions by hiring mainly independent wrestlers as opposed to models, initially known as
1058-768: The Women of Honor , and WWE's female talent were known as the Divas until 2016. Three notable women-only promotions are Shimmer Women Athletes (est. 2005) in Illinois ; the World Wrestling Network 's Shine Wrestling brand (est. 2012) in Florida , which is a sister to Shimmer; and Women of Wrestling (WOW) (est. 2000, 2012) in Los Angeles . Shimmer is recognized as the earliest and most prominent promotion to take women's wrestling more seriously. In addition to Shine, Rise Wrestling
1104-855: The World Mixed Tag Team Championship , in which tag teams of one woman and one man compete. In 2000, businessman Luciano Alberto Garcia de Luna started an all-woman promotion company called Lucha Libre Femenil (LLF) in Monterrey . Current notable independent promotions include Pro-Wrestling: EVE , Bellatrix Female Warriors , The British Bombshells, and Fierce Females. Notable British women wrestlers include: Lady Blossom , Xia Brookside , Nikki Cross , Blair Davenport , Sadie Gibbs , Jamie Hayter , Laura James , Jetta , Klondyke Kate , Katie Lea , Dani Luna , Millie McKenzie , Tegan Nox , Paige , Jemma Palmer , Kay Lee Ray , etc. Pro wrestler Madison Eagles and her husband Ryan co-founded
1150-472: The " Diva's Revolution " and later known as the "Women's Revolution". NXT TakeOver: Respect , held on October 7, 2015, saw then- NXT Women's Champion Bayley defend her title against Sasha Banks in a 30–minute Iron Man match in the main event . This was the first women's match to headline a major WWE event, and the first time in WWE history that a women's match had this stipulation. A new WWE Women's Championship
1196-402: The "junior heavyweight" class in men's wrestling. Arsion 's Sky High of Arsion Championship (est. 1999) and NEO Japan's High Speed Championship (est. 2009) are two such titles. In 2010, former Arsion and JDStar promoter Rossy Ogawa, retired wrestler Fuka Kakimoto , and veteran wrestler Nanae Takahashi started a new joshi puro promotion, World Wonder Ring Stardom . Stardom, considered
1242-530: The 1990s include Manami Toyota , Bull Nakano , Akira Hokuto , Cutie Suzuki , Aja Kong , Megumi Kudo , Shinobu Kandori , Kyoko Inoue , Takako Inoue (who is unrelated to Kyoko), Dynamite Kansai , and Mayumi Ozaki . Some joshi have a high-flying style that precedes the X Division of men's wrestling in North America. Since, for cultural reasons, women wrestlers are not divided into weight classes , these wrestlers compete for special titles comparable to
1288-543: The NWA ). As a result, The Fabulous Moolah's first reign is considered to have lasted 28 years by the promotion. In 1990, the Women's Championship became inactive after Rockin' Robin vacated the championship following her departure from the WWF. Then in December 1993, the title was reactivated with Alundra Blayze winning a tournament for the vacant Women's Championship. However, the Women's Championship became inactive again when Blayze
1334-477: The WWF disaffiliated with the NWA and Moolah sold the championship's rights to the WWF in 1984, and she was recognized as the WWF Women's Champion. Instead of beginning her reign in 1984, the WWF claimed the lineage of her reign from when she first became champion in 1956. The preceding champions and the title changes between 1956 and when Moolah lost it in 1984 are not recognized by WWE (although they are recognized by
1380-450: The early 1950s and recognized herself as the first champion, although the championship would be vacated upon her retirement in 1956. The National Wrestling Alliance however, ceased to acknowledge Burke as their Women's World champion in 1954, and instead acknowledged June Byers as champion after a controversial finish to a high-profile match between Burke and Byers that year. Upon Byers' retirement in 1964, The Fabulous Moolah , who won
1426-582: The first champion by defeating Miss Chevius. The title has been defended in several different promotions, including some promotions in Japan. During Nicole Matthews ' near-year-long title reign in 2011, the title was renamed the ECCW Women's Championship. As of November 29, 2024. As of November 29, 2024. Women%27s professional wrestling Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling
ECCW Women's Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
1472-489: The first-ever women's Royal Rumble match in the main event, which would be the longest women's match in WWE history. The following month, at the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view , the first-ever women's Elimination Chamber match took place. Later that year, WWE would present its first all-women's pay-per-view event: WWE Evolution . The Women's Evolution would culminate at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, where Charlotte Flair , Becky Lynch , and Ronda Rousey would compete in
1518-427: The longest reign by holding it for 10 years, although the WWE considers it to be longer at 28 years, as title changes between 1956 and 1984 are not recognized by the promotion. The Fabulous Moolah is technically tied with Trish Stratus for the most reigns with 7, but because WWE does not recognize the title changes between 1956 and 1984, Moolah only has 4 and Stratus has the most reigns with 7. Mickie James's third reign
1564-474: The premier joshi promotion in modern times, was purchased by New Japan Pro-Wrestling parent company Bushiroad in 2019. In April 2024, Rossy Ogawa (formerly of AJPW and Stardom) founded a new women's promotion called Dream Star Fighting Marigold or Marigold . In Mexico, professional wrestling is called lucha libre ("free fight"), and women wrestlers are called luchadoras . The Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), or World Wrestling Council, has
1610-515: The sole championship contested by women, until July 4, 2008, when a counterpart to the championship, called the WWE Divas Championship , was created for the SmackDown brand. On April 13, 2009, the Women's Championship became exclusive to the SmackDown brand when reigning champion Melina was drafted from Raw to SmackDown during the 2009 WWE Draft to replace the current WWE Divas Champion Maryse , who had been drafted to Raw. The Women's Championship
1656-565: The stars of a second wave of women wrestlers who succeeded the glamor-oriented generation defined by the Beauty Pair. That decade later saw the rise of the " Crush Gals " Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka , a tag team who achieved a level of mainstream success as women wrestlers that not only was unprecedented in Japan, but unheard of in the history of women's professional wrestling. The Crush Gals' long-running feud with Kaoru "Dump" Matsumoto and her Gokuaku Domei ("Atrocious Alliance") stable
1702-548: The team of Sarita and Taylor Wilde . The titles were initially deactivated on the June 20, 2013 episode of Impact! , but their return was announced at Bound for Glory 2020 . At Hard To Kill , Fire N Flava ( Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz ) won a tournament to become the tag team champions. ROH's has sporadically featured women's wrestling matches at its shows, dating back to a former working relationship with Shimmer. By 2017, ROH had been regularly featuring women's wrestling under
1748-644: The title. After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was subsequently referred to as the WWE Women's Championship. With the WWE Brand Extension in March 2002, the Women's Championship at first was still defended on both the Raw and SmackDown brands, while most titles were exclusive to one brand. In September, the Women's Championship became exclusive to only the Raw brand. The Women's Championship remained
1794-570: The traditional clothing of the Aymara people . They were the inspiration for the comic book Super Cholita , which premiered in 2007. NCW Femmes Fatales is an independent promotion founded in 2009; its headquarters are in Montreal . In 2023, wrestler Nikki Cross completed her master's degree in history; her dissertation was on the subject of women's wrestling. WWE Women%27s Championship (1956%E2%80%932010) A new WWE Women's Championship
1840-432: Was a tournament to crown a new WWE Women's Champion after champion Trish Stratus retired from her wrestling career. The first round started on September 25, 2006, and ended at Cyber Sunday when Lita , who Stratus defeated in her retirement match, defeated Mickie James . Following the WWE brand extension on March 25, all titles in WWE became exclusive to either the Raw brand or SmackDown brand. The following
1886-525: Was created in April 2016, and although both championships share the same name and the original is considered to be the predecessor, the new championship does not carry the lineage of the original. In September 2016, the newer title was renamed as Raw Women's Championship but reverted to WWE Women's Championship in June 2023. On September 18, 1956, The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion . At that time, WWE did not exist and would not become
ECCW Women's Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
1932-564: Was extremely popular in Japan; their televised matches were some of the highest-rated broadcasts in the history of Japanese television, and the promotion regularly filled arenas to capacity. In the 1990s, US wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer rated several joshi puroresu matches five stars —a rarely-awarded perfect score on the Cornette scale—in his periodical the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Prominent joshi wrestlers of
1978-424: Was introduced to succeed the Divas Championship. This new title does not carry the lineage of either the Divas Championship or the original Women's Championship, but is acknowledged by WWE as the successor of both. The WWF Women's Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide the new WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated after three years of inactivity. The WWE Women's Championship Tournament
2024-545: Was released from the WWF. Blayze, as Madusa, unexpectedly signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1995 and threw the championship belt, which was still in her possession, in a trash can on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro (in Blayze's 2015 WWE Hall of Fame speech, she "returned" the title). The Women's Championship was reactivated again in September 1998 during the Attitude Era when Jacqueline Moore defeated Sable to win
2070-491: Was unified with the Divas Championship at Night of Champions in September 2010, creating the Unified WWE Divas Championship and making the Women's Championship defunct as the unified title followed the lineage of the Divas Championship; the title eventually dropped the "Unified" moniker. On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32 , a new WWE Women's Championship (called the Raw Women's Championship from September 2016 to June 2023)
2116-450: Was unveiled and contested at WrestleMania 32 on April 3, 2016, between then- Divas Champion Charlotte Flair , Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match. After Wrestlemania, the Diva's Championship and the "Diva's" branding would be retired. Following the 2016 WWE Brand Extension , the new Women's Championship would become exclusive to the Raw brand, resulting in the creation of
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