WWE Women's Championship (1956–2010)

This article is about the historical championship. For other championships, see WWE Women's Championship.
WWE Women's Championship

The final belt design of the original WWE Women's Championship.
(June 2002–September 2010)
Details
Promotion WWE
Date established September 18, 1956
Date retired September 19, 2010
Other name(s)

The WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship in the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) promotion. The lineage of the Women's Championship dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the NWA World Women's Champion. The WWE did not exist at that time, and although they did not create their own women's championship until 1983 with The Fabulous Moolah as the first WWF Women's Champion, they claim 1956 for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion in 1956 until she lost it in 1984. This made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment history until its retirement in 2010 after unification with the WWE Divas Championship.[2] The final champion was Layla.

A new WWE Women's Championship (now Raw Women's Championship) was created in 2016, and although both championships had shared the name and the original is considered to be the predecessor, the new championship does not carry the lineage of the original.

History

The Fabulous Moolah's Women's Championship belt, used during her 28-year reign, as recognized by WWE. Inscribed on the belt reads "World’s Champion Girl Wrestler", "September 18, 1956", and "Baltimore, Maryland".[3]

On September 18, 1956, The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion (a championship that still exists today).[4] At that time, the WWE did not exist and did not become a company until 1963 when it was established as 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 1983; 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, and she was recognized as the WWF Women's Champion.[5] Instead of beginning her reign in 1983, 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[6]). As a result, The Fabulous Moolah's reign is considered to have lasted 28 years by the promotion.[7]

In 1990, the Women's Championship became inactive after Rockin' Robin vacated the championship following her departure from the WWF.[8][9] Then in December 1993, the title was reactivated with Alundra Blayze winning a tournament for the vacant Women's Championship.[10] 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 her 2015 WWE Hall of Fame induction speech, Blayze "returned" the belt).[11] The Women's Championship was reactivated again in September 1998 when Jacqueline Moore defeated Sable to win the title.[11]

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.

Melina in her third reign as Women's Champion, after winning the belt at the Royal Rumble in early 2009

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. On June 28 at The Bash pay-per-view, Michelle McCool became the first woman to hold both the Women's Championship and the Divas Championship. Other women that have held both championships include Mickie James, Melina, Beth Phoenix, and Layla. Michelle McCool and Melina are the only women in WWE history to record multiple reigns with both the Women's and Divas championships.

The Women's Championship was unified with the Divas Championship at Night of Champions in September 2010. This match was won by Michelle McCool and unified both titles creating the Unified WWE Divas Championship, thus 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][12]

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

WWF Women's Championship Tournament (1993)

The WWF Women's Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide the new Women's Champion after the title was reinstated following three years of inactivity.[13][14][15]

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
Heidi Lee Morgan Pin
Black Venus
Heidi Lee Morgan Pin
Rusty Thomas
Rusty Thomas Pin
Angie Marino
Heidi Lee Morgan
Alundra Blayze Pin
Alundra Blayze Pin
Allison Royal
Alundra Blayze
BYE
BYE
BYE

WWE Women's Championship Tournament (2006)

The WWE Women's Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide a new Women's Champion after Trish Stratus retired.<ref name="ReferenceA"/[16] The first round started on September 25, 2006.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
Lita Pin
Candice
Lita Pin
Maria
Maria Strip
Candice
Torrie Wilson
Victoria
Lita Pin
Mickie James Cyber Sunday (2006)
Mickie James Pin
Victoria
Mickie James Pin
Melina
Melina Pin
Torrie Wilson

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.

Colors

 Championship moved to the Raw brand.

 Championship moved to the SmackDown brand.
Date of transition Notes
September 2002 Women's Championship became exclusive to Raw.
The WWE Divas Championship was created for SmackDown in 2008.
April 13, 2009 During the 2009 WWE draft, Women's Champion Melina was drafted to SmackDown and brought the title to the brand, while Divas Champion Maryse was drafted to Raw.
The title remained with SmackDown until the unification with the Divas Championship in September 2010.

Reigns

Layla, who held the championship when it was deactivated in 2010.

As per WWE's official title history, the inaugural champion was The Fabulous Moolah, who defeated Judy Grable on September 18, 1956.[17] 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 technically has the most reigns with 8, but because the WWE does not recognize the title changes between 1956 and 1984, Moolah only has 4 and Trish Stratus has the most reigns with 7. Mickie James has the shortest reign with 1 hour. While in Paris on April 24, 2007, James defeated then-champion Melina and Victoria in a Triple Threat Match. However, Jonathan Coachman, the Acting General Manager for Raw said that since Mickie pinned Victoria, Melina deserved an immediate rematch, which she won.[18]

The only male Women's Champion was Harvey Wippleman. On January 30, 2000, Wippleman won the WWF Women's Championship from The Kat while he was in a disguise and used the name "Hervina" in a "Lumberjill Snow bunny" match; the match took place in a snow filled pool surrounded by female wrestlers whose purpose was to keep the competitors from leaving the pool.[19]

The women's division was deemed inactive in 1990 during Robin's reign.[20] Alundra Blayze won the Women's Championship after it was reactivated in 1993.[21] Chyna departed from the company during her reign. Trish Stratus won her seventh title reign in her final match at WWE Unforgiven in 2006 against Lita before retiring the same night, thus vacating the championship the next day.[22] Michelle McCool unified the Women's and Divas Championships in Layla's place, thus leaving Layla the final and undefeated champion.[23][24]

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ The Fabulous Moolah technically became the inaugural WWF Women's Champion in 1983, but as per WWE's official title history, she became the inaugural champion in 1956 when she won the NWA World Women's Championship.
  2. ↑ As per WWE's official title history, Trish Stratus has the most reigns at seven.
  3. ↑ The Fabulous Moolah first lost the championship in 1966, but this and other title changes until 1984 are not recognized by WWE.
Footnotes
  1. ↑ "Mickie's third Reign". WWE.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  2. 1 2 Raymond-Santo, Katie A. (2010-09-24). "Flawless mark on history". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  3. ↑ Murphy, Ryan. "Seven Rare Championships from the WWE Vault". WWE. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  4. ↑ Chris Schramm (October 5, 1998). "Moolah: Twenty-eight years was the reign". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  5. ↑ Steve Slagle. "The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame: Fabulous Moolah". The Ring Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2011-05-26. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  6. ↑ "NWA World Women's Championship". Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
  7. ↑ "WWE: Inside WWE > Title History > Women's > 19560918 - Fabulous Moolah". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
  8. ↑ "Women's Championship reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  9. ↑ Ellison, Lillian (2003). The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. ReaganBooks. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-06-001258-8.
  10. ↑ "Alundra Blayze's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  11. 1 2 Scott Fishman (October 20, 2007). "Rena enjoys home life". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  12. ↑ "History of the Unified Divas Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2010-09-21. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  13. ↑ "19931213 – Alundra Blayze". WWE.com. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  14. ↑ "WWE Title Tournaments". Prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  15. ↑ "WWF 1993". The History of WWE.
  16. ↑ "20061105 – Lita". WWE.com. Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  17. ↑ "The Fabulous Moolah's first reign". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Melina's second reign". WWE. Archived from the original on August 18, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Hervina's first reign". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Rockin' Robin's first reign". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Alundra Blayze's first reign". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Trish Stratus' seventh reign". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  23. ↑ Raymond-Santo, Katie A. (September 24, 2010). "Flawless mark on history". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Hall of Women's Champions". WWE. Retrieved April 4, 2016.

External links

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