WWE Divas Championship The WWE Divas Championship was a professional wrestling championship in WWE . The championship was created by WWE in 2008 , and was introduced in story - line by then , SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero as an alternative to Raw ' s Women ' s Championship . Michelle McCool became the inaugural champion on July 20 , 2008 , when she defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash . After former Divas Champion Maryse was drafted to Raw as part of the 2009 WWE draft , she took the title with her . McCool won a match against Melina to unify the WWE Divas and Women ' s titles at the Night of Champions pay - per - view on September 19 , 2010 , creating the Unified Divas Championship . The title was retired at WrestleMania 32 , when Lita revealed the new WWE Women ' s Championship to replace the Divas Belt . History . With the first WWF Brand Extension , a storyline division in which WWE assigns its employees to a different program , the other being Raw , in 2002 , the WWF Women ' s Championship was to be defended on both brands . At some point that year , however , it became exclusive to the Raw brand . Thereafter , only Divas on the Raw brand were able to compete for the WWF Women ' s Championship , while the Divas on the WWF SmackDown brand were unable to compete for a women ' s - exclusive championship . However , on a few occasions the regulation was bypassed with Melina , Ashley , Torrie Wilson and Nidia challenging for the title while on the SmackDown brand but none were successful . As a result , WWE created the WWE Divas Championship and introduced it in a storyline on the June 6 , 2008 episode of " Friday Night SmackDown " when then SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced the creation of the title . The championship belt was officially unveiled on the July 4 , 2008 episode of " SmackDown " . After winning respective matches to earn the opportunity to wrestle for the new championship , Michelle McCool defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash to become the inaugural champion . When Maryse won the title from McCool in December 2008 , she dislocated her kneecap at a live event later that month . Similar to how Trish Stratus kept the Women ' s Championship when she was sidelined with a herniated disc in 2005 , Maryse was able to keep the Divas Title upon her return in late January 2009 . As part of the 2009 WWE Draft , then - Divas Champion Maryse was one of the people drafted to the Raw brand , in the process making the championship exclusive to " Raw " . It was announced on the August 30 , 2010 episode of " Raw " that the Divas Championship would be unified with the Women ' s Championship at a match at Night of Champions . And with that , the title ( known briefly as the WWE Unified Divas Championship ) became accessible to both WWE brands and the champion could appear on both shows , a situation made permanent by the ending of the Brand Extension in 2011 . AJ Lee was the first diva to defend the championship at WrestleMania . Paige was the last Diva to hold the championship with the scratched logo and the first to hold the new 2014 version . She is also the only diva to hold the Divas Championship and the NXT Women ' s Championship at the same time . Reigns . There have been 26 total reigns and 1 vacancy . The inaugural champion was Michelle McCool , who defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash on July 20 , 2008 . AJ Lee holds the record for the most reigns in history with 4 while under the WWE banner it ' s Eve Torres and AJ Lee with 3 each . AJ Lee ' s first reign is the longest in the championship ' s history at days and Jillian is the shortest reigning champion , with her reign lasting 4 minutes and 30 seconds . The final champion was Charlotte , who held the title only once by defeating Nikki Bella on September 20 , 2015 at Night of Champions . 2010 WWE Divas title Tournament . A tournament was announced to crown a new champion after former champion Melina was stripped of the title due to injury . The first round started on January 4 , 2010 . Title Tournament . Round One Semi Final Final