WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Women's Championship is a professional wrestling championship. The title is challenged by WWE Divas only. Currently, it is exclusive to the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.
History
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.
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 exclusively 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.
In the mid/late 1980's, the title would be won by Moolah twice more, along with other notable Champions such as Wendy Richter, Leilani Kai, Velvet McIntyre, Sensational Sherri and Rockin' Robin. Robin left the company in 1990 and was stripped of the title. The belt remained deactivated until 1993 when Alundra Blayze won it in a six-woman tournament. After winning it twice more, Blayze went to World Championship Wrestling, where she proceeded to dump the title in a trash can on a December 1995 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
The title wouldn't be seen again until it was re-activated in September 1998 after being won by Jacqueline (she defeated Sable for the vacant title). As this was right in the middle of the "Attitude Era", the title would go on to be defended in non-wrestling match-ups that were considered trashy. Such matches included evening gown matches, swimming pool matches, and bra and panties matches.
After "Attitude" had run it's course, the title went back to being defended in standard matches.
At the onset of the WWE Brand Extension in 2002, the Women's Title (at the time held by Jazz) could be defended on both RAW and Smackdown, as was the case with it's male counterpart, the WWE Undisputed Championship (which was, at the time, held by Triple H).
Eventually, the Women's championship was made a RAW exclusive title, when Smackdown became the exclusive home to the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Statistics
| Record: | Record holder: | Record number: | Notes: |
| Most reigns | Trish Stratus | 7 | Retired on the night of winning the title for the 7th time, leaving the title vacated. |
| 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. WWE does not recognize any of the title changes that did occur during this reign, as the title was under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance at the time. It's also doubtful she defended the title every 30 days per standard championship rules. |
| Shortest reign | Mickie James | <1 hour | Won and lost the title to Melina on the same night. [1] |
| Oldest champion | The Fabulous Moolah | 76 years, 87 days | Moolah won the title at No Mercy 1999 to become the oldest Women's Champion ever. |
| Youngest champion | Wendi Richter | 22 years, 321 days | Richter won the title in July 1984 to become the youngest Women's Champion ever. |
Trivia
- Harvey Wippleman (in disguise as Hervina) is the only male to win the Women's Championship.
- Unlike WWE's other titles, only four Women's Champions have held another title during their WWE careers. They are Jacqueline who held the Cruiserweight Championship, Chyna who held the Intercontinental Championship and Trish Stratus and Molly Holly who held the Hardcore Championship. Madusa, a three time Women's Champion when she was known as Alundra Blayze, also held the WCW version of the Cruiserweight Championship.
Current champion
The current champion is Melina, who is in her first reign. She defeated Mickie James at a house show in Paris, France on April 24, 2007. This was a rematch from the same event in which James won the title.
See also
Notes
- ^ "Mickie's Third Reign".
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External links