Women's World Championship (WWE)

This article is about WWE's women's title used on Raw. For the women's title used on SmackDown, see WWE Women's Championship.

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
Two-time champion Rhea Ripley with the current design of the belt (2023–present)
Details
Promotion	WWE
Brand	Raw
Date established	August 23, 2016
Current champion(s)	Iyo Sky
Date won	March 3, 2025
Other name(s)
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (2016–2023) Women's World Championship (2023–present)
Statistics First champion(s) Becky Lynch Most reigns Charlotte Flair (7 reigns) Longest reign Bayley (2nd reign, 380 days), Rhea Ripley (1st reign, 380 days)[a] Shortest reign Charlotte Flair (4th reign, 4 minutes and 55 seconds) Oldest winner Becky Lynch (37 years, 83 days) Youngest winner Alexa Bliss (25 years, 117 days) Heaviest champion Rhea Ripley (170 pounds (77 kg)) Lightest champion Alexa Bliss (102 pounds (46 kg))

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.

History

Two-time champion Alexa Bliss with the first design of the belt (2016–2023)

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.

Match to crown first champion

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

Title history

As of March 4, 2025, 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.

Names

Name	Years
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship	August 23, 2016 – June 12, 2023
Women's World Championship	June 12, 2023 – present

Reigns

Key

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	226	226		[33]
29	Rhea Ripley	January 6, 2025	Raw premiere on Netflix	Inglewood, CA	2	56	56		[34]
30	Iyo Sky	March 3, 2025	Raw	Buffalo, NY	1	1+	1+		[35]

Combined reigns

As of March 4, 2025.

†	Indicates the current champion

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	2	437+	436+
4	Liv Morgan	2	324	323
5	Becky Lynch	5	311	310
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
14	Iyo Sky	1	1+

Footnotes

1. WWE lists Bayley's second reign as lasting 379 days, and therefore only Ripley's first reign as the longest single reign.