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The WWE Women's Championship is a diva-exclusive professional wrestling title. It is currently defended on World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand.
Compared to the men's belts, the Women's championship is traditionally considered to be one of the minor belts, due to the various roles women have had in modern wrestling storylines.
Because of the relative depth of the women's roster compared to the men's roster, little attention is paid to championship responsibilities compared to the men's titles: whereas virtually all of WWE's men's titles are to be defended once every 30 days or vacated in case of an injury, neither has been strictly enforced for the Women's championship. An example of this would be when Trish Stratus took a 4 month leave to recover from a herniated disc in her lower back and returned still wearing the Women's Title.
History
The Women's Championship was first won by The Fabulous Moolah on September 15, 1956 after she defeated Judy Grable in a tournament final. At the time, it was recognized as the NWA Women's Championship. In 1983, Moolah, who at the time owned the rights to the Women's Championship and the Women's Tag Team Championship, sold the rights to Vince McMahon when the then-WWWF withdrew from the NWA. It was thus recognized exculsively as the WWF Women's Championship. Because of this, WWE holds the viewpoint that The Fabulous Moolah held her title for almost 30 years, despite evidence that the Women's Championship changed hands during this span.
The belt was at the center of some controversy in 1995, when the then-champion, Alundra Blayze jumped ship to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling making a surprise appearance on WCW Monday Nitro and dropping the championship belt into a trash can on live television. It is believed that this incident was one of the motives that led Vince McMahon to perform the Montreal Screwjob. The title wouldn't be seen again until mid 1998 when it was re-activated. In the spirit of the Attitude Era, the title was often defended in trashy and highly criticised matches and angles. Many believe that this was a low-point for womens wrestling in general as WWF divas would fight over the title in mud baths, evening gown matches and in one such incident, (then) WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels stripped Sable of the title and handed it to Debra after she was stripped down to her bra and panties.
In early to mid-2002, as part of the WWE's brand extension, the Women's Championship, along with the WWE Undisputed Championship (its male counterpart), was to be defended on both shows. However, because of the relatively little attention given to the women's title compared to the various men's belts, it was quietly made into a RAW-exclusive title so that there would be four championship belts per brand. However, the title remained de jure open to both RAW and SmackDown! challengers, a point which would not be exploited until November 2005, when Women's Champion Trish Stratus accepted a challenge from SmackDown! challenger Melina, as a side-story to the main "show versus show" storyline. At the time, it was the first time a challenger fought for a belt - men's or women's - from the opposite brand. As a result, in December 2005 WWE quietly announced that more attention would be made to the women's title on SmackDown! to reinforce the fact that the title remained open to competition on both brands.
Although the title can be contested by both brands, it is not known whether the belt or the wrestler is forced to change shows should a challenger from the opposite brand win the championship - an issue that was avoided in 2005 when Stratus retained the title.
Statistics
| Record: | Record holder: | Record number: | Notes: | Most reigns | Trish Stratus | 6 | N/A | Longest reign | The Fabulous Moolah | 10,170 / 3,652 days | Moolah claims the longest championship reign in professional sports history, holding the title for twenty-eight years, though this claim is disputed. However, WWE does not recognize any of these title changes, as the title was under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance during that time. | Second longest reign | Rockin' Robin | 650 days | N/A | Third longest reign | Trish Stratus | 448 days | N/A | Shortest reign | Evelyn Stevens and Hervina | 2 days | Evelyn Stevens' reign is not recognised by WWE. | Oldest champion | The Fabulous Moolah | 76 years | The oldest person to win a WWE championship. | Youngest champion | Wendy Richter | 23 years | N/A | Fastest debut-to-champion | Gail Kim and Sherri Martel | N/A | Both won on their debuts. Gail was victorious in a seven diva battle royal while Sherri won a match against the Fabulous Moolah in July 1987. | Only undefeated champion | Chyna | N/A | Chyna won the championship in a squash match against Ivory at Wrestlemania 17. After that, she went undefeated, with almost every title match she was involved in being a squash match. She retained the title until she disappeared from the WWE following contract disputes and the title was vacated |
Trivia
- The WWE Women's Championship has only changed hands on SmackDown! three times, (WWE RAW has 16 changes)
- Lita is the only woman to win the WWE Women's Championship twice on the main event of an episode of RAW. She defeated Stephanie McMahon and Trish Stratus on those episodes.
- The Women's Championship is the only WWE championship to be won in Australia.
- Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, and Chyna are the only women to hold the Women's Championship and another Championship usually held by male WWE Superstars. Trish Stratus and Molly Holly each became the Hardcore Champion, Chyna became Intercontinental Champion, and Jacqueline became Cruiserweight Champion.
- One male competitor has won the Women's Championship. Harvey Whippleman, wrestling in disguise as "Hervina", defeated The Kat in 2000.
- When Debra Marshall became champion unlike most she had 30 days to defend her title but lost it after 5 weeks to Ivory.
- Trish Stratus is the only superstar to have won the Women's Championship from one pay-per-view and retain it at that same pay-per-view (New Year's Revolution) without losing or vacating it
Current champion
The current Women's Champion is Mickie James in her first reign. James defeated Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 22 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago on April 2, 2006.
See also
External links
World Wrestling Entertainment championships | Women's wrestling championships
WWE Women's Championship | WWE Campeonato Femenino | WWE・女子王座
"WWE Women's Championship"