WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)

This article is about the historical championship contested from 1956 to 2010. For the championship of the same name established in 2016, see WWE Women's Championship. For other WWE women's championships, see Women's championships in WWE. For more women who have held championships in WWE, see Women in WWE.

The 1956 to 2010 version of the WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The company claims a lineage that dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion, although it had only been a part of the WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation; WWF) since 1984.

WWE Women's Championship
The final belt design of the original WWE Women's Championship. (2002–2010)
Details
Promotion	National Wrestling Alliance (1950–1984) World Wrestling Entertainment (1984–2010)
Date established	September 18, 1956
Date retired	September 19, 2010 (unified with the WWE Divas Championship)
Other names
NWA Women's Championship (1950–1984) WWF Women's Championship (1984–2002) WWE Women's Championship (2002–2010)
Statistics First champion The Fabulous Moolah[a] Final champion Layla El Most reigns Trish Stratus (7 reigns)[b] Longest reign The Fabulous Moolah (1st reign, 3,651 days)[c] Shortest reign Mickie James[1] (3rd reign, <1 hour) Oldest champion The Fabulous Moolah (76 years, 87 days) Youngest champion Wendi Richter (23 years, 319 days)

The WWE did not exist in 1956, but claim this year for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion until she lost it in 1984, to Wendi Richter, prior to which Moolah sold the rights to the title to the WWF and it became the WWF Women's Championship. With the company claiming a lineage beginning in 1956, it made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in WWE until its retirement in 2010 after it was unified with the WWE Divas Championship, which briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship.^[2] The final champion was Layla.

A new WWE Women's Championship was created in April 2016, and although both championships share the same name and the original is considered to be the predecessor, the new championship does not carry the lineage of the original. In September 2016, the newer title was renamed as Raw Women's Championship but reverted to WWE Women's Championship in June 2023.

History

The Fabulous Moolah, the inaugural and longest reigning Women's Champion, recognized by WWE as holding the title for 28 years (1956–1984); she is shown here with the original championship belt

On September 18, 1956, The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion.^[3] At that time, WWE did not exist and would not become a company until 1963, when the Capitol Wrestling Corporation pulled out of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to establish the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Moolah, who bought the rights to the championship in the 1970s, defended the championship as the NWA World Women's Champion up until May 19, 1984; by this time, the WWWF had been renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1983, the WWF disaffiliated with the NWA and Moolah sold the championship's rights to the WWF in 1984, and she was recognized as the WWF Women's Champion.^[4] Instead of beginning her reign in 1984, the WWF claimed the lineage of her reign from when she first became champion in 1956. The preceding champions and the title changes between 1956 and when Moolah lost it in 1984 are not recognized by WWE (although they are recognized by the NWA^[5]). As a result, The Fabulous Moolah's first reign is considered to have lasted 28 years by the promotion.^[6]

In 1990, the Women's Championship became inactive after Rockin' Robin vacated the championship following her departure from the WWF.^[7][8] Then in December 1993, the title was reactivated with Alundra Blayze winning a tournament for the vacant Women's Championship.^[9] However, the Women's Championship became inactive again when Blayze was released from the WWF. Blayze, as Madusa, unexpectedly signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1995 and threw the championship belt, which was still in her possession, in a trash can on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro (in Blayze's 2015 WWE Hall of Fame speech, she "returned" the title).^[10] The Women's Championship was reactivated again in September 1998 during the Attitude Era when Jacqueline Moore defeated Sable to win the title.^[10]

Melina in her third reign as Women's Champion after defeating Beth Phoenix for the title at the 2009 Royal Rumble

After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was subsequently referred to as the WWE Women's Championship. With the WWE Brand Extension in March 2002, the Women's Championship at first was still defended on both the Raw and SmackDown brands, while most titles were exclusive to one brand. In September, the Women's Championship became exclusive to only the Raw brand. The Women's Championship remained the sole championship contested by women, until July 4, 2008, when a counterpart to the championship, called the WWE Divas Championship, was created for the SmackDown brand. On April 13, 2009, the Women's Championship became exclusive to the SmackDown brand when reigning champion Melina was drafted from Raw to SmackDown during the 2009 WWE Draft to replace the current WWE Divas Champion Maryse, who had been drafted to Raw.

The Women's Championship was unified with the Divas Championship at Night of Champions in September 2010, creating the Unified WWE Divas Championship and making the Women's Championship defunct as the unified title followed the lineage of the Divas Championship; the title eventually dropped the "Unified" moniker.^[2][11]

On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32, a new WWE Women's Championship (called the Raw Women's Championship from September 2016 to June 2023) was introduced to succeed the Divas Championship. This new title does not carry the lineage of either the Divas Championship or the original Women's Championship, but is acknowledged by WWE as the successor of both.

Tournaments

WWF Women's Championship Tournament (1993)

The WWF Women's Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide the new WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated after three years of inactivity.^[12][13][14]

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Alundra Blayze

Pin

Allison Royal

Alundra Blayze

Pin

Heidi Lee Morgan

Pin

Heidi Lee Morgan

Black Venus

Heidi Lee Morgan

Pin

Rusty Thomas

Rusty Thomas

Pin

Angie Marino

WWE Women's Championship Tournament (2006)

The WWE Women's Championship Tournament was a tournament to crown a new WWE Women's Champion after champion Trish Stratus retired from her wrestling career.^[13][15] The first round started on September 25, 2006, and ended at Cyber Sunday when Lita, who Stratus defeated in her retirement match, defeated Mickie James.

Quarterfinals Raw September 25 October 2, 9 and 15

Semifinals Raw October 23 and 30

Final Cyber Sunday

Lita

Pin

Candice

0:28

Lita

Pin

Maria

2:19

Maria

Strip

Candice Torrie Wilson Victoria

1:14

Lita

Pin

Mickie James

8:09

Mickie James

Pin

Victoria

2:51

Mickie James

Pin

Melina

4:00

Melina

Pin

Torrie Wilson

2:43

• Melina defeated Wilson in a Lumberjill match.
• Maria defeated Candice, Victoria and Wilson in Bra and Panties Match.
• The final match between Lita and James was a Lumberjill match.

Brand designation history

Following the WWE brand extension on March 25, all titles in WWE became exclusive to either the Raw brand or SmackDown brand. The following is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the Women's Championship between the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Date of transition	Brand	Notes
September 23, 2002	Raw	The WWE Women's Championship became exclusive to Raw. In 2008, the WWE Divas Championship was established for SmackDown as the counterpart to the Women's Championship.
April 13, 2009	SmackDown	Women's Champion Melina was drafted to SmackDown during the 2009 WWE Draft.
September 19, 2010	N/A	At Night of Champions, Michelle McCool unified the Divas Championship with the Women's Championship. The Women's Championship was retired and the Divas Championship became briefly known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship and defended on both Raw and SmackDown.

Reigns

Main article: List of WWE Women's Champions (1956–2010)

Layla was the final champion before the title was retired in 2010.

Over the championship's fifty-six year history, there were 59 recognized reigns between 29 recognized champions and 4 vacancies (there are 6 reigns and 3 people that are not recognized by the promotion). As per WWE's official title history, the inaugural champion was The Fabulous Moolah, who defeated Judy Grable on September 18, 1956.^[16] Moolah had the longest reign by holding it for 10 years, although the WWE considers it to be longer at 28 years, as title changes between 1956 and 1984 are not recognized by the promotion. The Fabulous Moolah is technically tied with Trish Stratus for the most reigns with 7, but because WWE does not recognize the title changes between 1956 and 1984, Moolah only has 4 and Stratus has the most reigns with 7. Mickie James's third reign is the shortest at less than 1 hour.^[17] Only four women held the championship for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: The Fabulous Moolah (who achieved the feat on six separate occasions), Sensational Sherri, Rockin' Robin, and Trish Stratus.^[18]

Despite the title being contested mainly by female wrestlers, the championship was once held by a male, Harvey Wippleman, who won it under the name "Hervina".^[19]