championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Women's World Championship wrestling championship in WWE competed by women of the Raw brand. It was created after the return of the brand extension. First known as the SmackDown Women's Championship, it was revealed on the August 23, 2016, episode of SmackDown as the counterpart to the WWE Women's Championship, which became exclusive to Raw as a result of the 2016 WWE Draft. The first champion was Becky Lynch. As a result of the 2023 WWE Draft, the Raw and SmackDown women's championships switched brands, with the SmackDown Women's Championship renamed as the Women's World Championship, while the Raw Women's Championship changed to its original name of WWE Women's Championship.
Women's World Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||
Brand | Raw | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | August 23, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Liv Morgan | ||||||||||||||||||
Date won | May 26, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The title has been in the main event of three WWE premium live events: at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2018, together with the Raw Women's Championship at the time, at WWE's flagship event WrestleMania 35 in 2019, and by itself on Night 1 of WrestleMania 37 in 2021. It was also the first women's wrestling championship to be defended in Saudi Arabia, at Super ShowDown in 2020.
With the return of the WWE Brand Extension in the middle of 2016,[1][2] a draft took place on July 19. The WWE Women's Champion Charlotte was drafted to Raw. As a result, SmackDown Live was left without a women's title.[3] On the August 23, 2016 episode of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon introduced the SmackDown Women's Championship.[4] The first champion was crowned at Backlash on September 11, 2016, where Becky Lynch beat Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya and Nikki Bella in a six-pack elimination challenge to win the title.[5]
Following the 2023 WWE Draft, the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships switched brands and there were no title changes for either championship before drafted wrestlers went to their brands on May 8. The problem was solved on the June 12, 2023, episode of Raw. WWE official Adam Pearce gave a new championship belt to reigning champion Rhea Ripley, with the title renamed as the Women's World Championship. This came shortly after the Raw Women's Championship became the WWE Women's Championship again on June 9.[6]
On the April 15, 2024 episode of Raw, the title was vacated for the first time, after Ripley injured her right arm. This ties Ripley and Bayley for the longest single reign at 380 days.[a][7] The following week on Raw, Becky Lynch won a Battle royal to win her fifth Women's World Championship.
Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method of elimination | Times[5] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alexa Bliss | Naomi | Pinfall | 9:38 |
2 | Naomi | Natalya | Submission | 10:52 |
3 | Natalya | Nikki Bella | Pinfall | 12:50 |
4 | Nikki Bella | Carmella | 12:58 | |
5 | Carmella | Becky Lynch | Submission | 14:40 |
Winner | Becky Lynch | |||
As of November 20, 2024, there have been 27 reigns between 12 champions. The first champion was Becky Lynch, who won the title on SmackDown. The champions with the single longest reign are Bayley and Rhea Ripley with a reign of 380 days,[a] while the record for longest combined reign is also held by Bayley at 520 days. Charlotte Flair has the most reigns at seven. Only two women in history have held the championship for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: Bayley and Rhea Ripley.
Name | Years |
---|---|
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship | August 23, 2016 – June 12, 2023 |
Women's World Championship | June 12, 2023 – present |
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Days recog. |
Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
1 | Becky Lynch | September 11, 2016 | Backlash | Richmond, VA | 1 | 84 | 84 | As a result of the 2016 WWE draft, the WWE Women's Championship became exclusive to Raw, so SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship. Lynch defeated Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella in a six-pack elimination challenge to become the inaugural champion. | [5] |
2 | Alexa Bliss | December 4, 2016 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | Dallas, TX | 1 | 70 | 69 | This was a tables match. | [8] |
3 | Naomi | February 12, 2017 | Elimination Chamber | Phoenix, AZ | 1 | 9 | 8 | [9] | |
— | Vacated | February 21, 2017 | SmackDown | Ontario, CA | — | — | — | The championship was vacated when Naomi injured her knee and was unable to defend the title within 30 days. | [10] |
4 | Alexa Bliss | February 21, 2017 | SmackDown | Ontario, CA | 2 | 40 | 40 | Defeated Becky Lynch to win the vacant title. | [10] |
5 | Naomi | April 2, 2017 | WrestleMania 33 | Orlando, FL | 2 | 140 | 139 | This was a six-pack challenge, also involving Becky Lynch, Carmella, Mickie James, and Natalya. | [11] |
6 | Natalya | August 20, 2017 | SummerSlam | Brooklyn, NY | 1 | 86 | 86 | [12] | |
7 | Charlotte Flair | November 14, 2017 | SmackDown | Charlotte, NC | 1 | 147 | 146 | [13] | |
8 | Carmella | April 10, 2018 | SmackDown | New Orleans, LA | 1 | 131 | 130 | This was Carmella's Money in the Bank cash-in match. This was the first time a women's title changed hands after a Money in the Bank contract cash-in. |
[14] |
9 | Charlotte Flair | August 19, 2018 | SummerSlam | Brooklyn, NY | 2 | 28 | 27 | This was a triple threat match, also involving Becky Lynch, who Flair pinned. | [15] |
10 | Becky Lynch | September 16, 2018 | Hell in a Cell | San Antonio, TX | 2 | 91 | 91 | [16] | |
11 | Asuka | December 16, 2018 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | San Jose, CA | 1 | 100 | 99 | This was a triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, also involving Charlotte Flair. | [17] |
12 | Charlotte Flair | March 26, 2019 | SmackDown | Uncasville, CT | 3 | 13 | 12 | [18] | |
13 | Becky Lynch | April 8, 2019 | WrestleMania 35 | East Rutherford, NJ | 3 | 41 | 41 | This was a winner takes all triple threat match for both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championship, also involving Ronda Rousey, who defended the Raw Women's Championship. Lynch pinned Rousey to win both titles. | [19] |
14 | Charlotte Flair | May 19, 2019 | Money in the Bank | Hartford, CT | 4 | <1 | <1 | [20] | |
15 | Bayley | May 19, 2019 | Money in the Bank | Hartford, CT | 1 | 140 | 140 | This was Bayley's Money in the Bank cash-in match. | [20] |
16 | Charlotte Flair | October 6, 2019 | Hell in a Cell | Sacramento, CA | 5 | 5 | 4 | [21] | |
17 | Bayley | October 11, 2019 | SmackDown | Paradise, NV | 2 | 380 | 379 | [22] | |
18 | Sasha Banks | October 25, 2020 | Hell in a Cell | Orlando, FL | 1 | 167 | 167 | This was a Hell in a Cell match. | [23] |
19 | Bianca Belair | April 10, 2021 | WrestleMania 37 Night 1 |
Tampa, FL | 1 | 133 | 132 | [24] | |
20 | Becky Lynch | August 21, 2021 | SummerSlam | Paradise, NV | 4 | 62 | 62 | Bianca Belair was originally announces to defend the title against Sasha Banks, but before the match began, it was said that Banks was unable to wrestle for unknown reasons. Carmella was then announced as her new opponent, but Lynch made a surprise return, took out Carmella, and challenged Belair to an match that Belair accepted. | [25] |
21 | Charlotte Flair | October 22, 2021 | SmackDown | Wichita, KS | 6 | 198 | 197 | As a result of the 2021 WWE Draft, then Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair was drafted to SmackDown while Becky Lynch was drafted to Raw. To keep the titles to their brands, WWE official Sonya Deville made the two women switch championships. | [26] |
22 | Ronda Rousey | May 8, 2022 | WrestleMania Backlash | Providence, RI | 1 | 55 | 55 | This was an "I Quit" match. | [27] |
23 | Liv Morgan | July 2, 2022 | Money in the Bank | Paradise, NV | 1 | 98 | 97 | This was Morgan's Money in the Bank cash-in match. Morgan was a member of the Raw roster before the cash-in. She was drafted to SmackDown after winning the championship. | [28] |
24 | Ronda Rousey | October 8, 2022 | Extreme Rules | Philadelphia, PA | 2 | 83 | 83 | This was an Extreme Rules match. | [29] |
25 | Charlotte Flair | December 30, 2022 | SmackDown | Tampa, FL | 7 | 92 | 92 | [30] | |
26 | Rhea Ripley | April 1, 2023 | WrestleMania 39 Night 1 |
Inglewood, CA | 1 | 380 | 380 | Ripley won the championship as a member of the Raw brand, but the title did not officially switch to Raw until the 2023 WWE Draft. It was renamed as the Women's World Championship on the June 12, 2023, episode of Raw. | [31] |
— | Vacated | April 15, 2024 | Raw | Montreal, QC, Canada | — | — | — | Rhea Ripley vacated the title due to an arm injury. | [7] |
27 | Becky Lynch | April 22, 2024 | Raw | Columbus, OH | 5 | 33 | 33 | This was a 15-woman Battle Royal for the vacant title in which Lynch last eliminated Liv Morgan to win. | [32] |
28 | Liv Morgan | May 25, 2024 | King and Queen of the Ring | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | 2 | 179+ | 179+ | [33] |
As of November 20, 2024.
† | Indicates the current champion |
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Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
Combined days rec. by WWE |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bayley | 2 | 520 | 519 |
2 | Charlotte Flair | 7 | 483 | 479 |
3 | Rhea Ripley | 1 | 380 | 379 |
4 | Becky Lynch | 5 | 311 | 310 |
5 | Liv Morgan † | 2 | 277+ | 276+ |
6 | Sasha Banks | 1 | 167 | |
7 | Naomi | 2 | 149 | 147 |
8 | Ronda Rousey | 2 | 138 | |
9 | Bianca Belair | 1 | 133 | 132 |
10 | Carmella | 1 | 131 | 130 |
11 | Alexa Bliss | 2 | 110 | 109 |
12 | Asuka | 1 | 100 | 99 |
13 | Natalya | 1 | 86 |
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