Women's World Championship (WWE)

The Women's World Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE, which is competed for 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.

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 
With the return of the WWE Brand Extension in the middle of 2016, 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. On the August 23, 2016 episode of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon introduced the SmackDown Women's Championship. 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.

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.

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. The following week on Raw, Becky Lynch won a Battle royal to win her fifth Women's World Championship.

 Match to crown first champion 
EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethod of eliminationTimesAlexa BlissNaomiPinfall9:38NaomiNatalyaSubmission10:52NatalyaNikki BellaPinfall12:50Nikki BellaCarmella12:58CarmellaBecky LynchSubmission14:40Becky Lynch
Title history
As of  , , 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, 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
NameYearsWWE SmackDown Women's ChampionshipAugust 23, 2016 – June 12, 2023Women's World ChampionshipJune 12, 2023 – present

Reigns

 Combined reigns 
As of  , .
†Is the current champion
RankWrestlerNo. ofreignsCombineddaysCombined daysrec. by WWE1  2  520  5192  7  478  4773  2  436  4354  2  324  3235  5  311  3106  3  185  1827  1 1678 †  1 +9  2 13810  1  133  13211  1  132  13112  1  131  13013  2  110  10914  1  100  9915  1 86

 Footnotes 

 References 

Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships
Category:2016 establishments