WWE Women's Championship
 | A request that this article title be changed to RAW Women's Championship is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
| Raw Women's Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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 The Raw Women's Championship belt with default side plates | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | Raw | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | April 3, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Charlotte | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | August 21, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Raw Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. Introduced as the WWE Women's Championship on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32, it replaced the WWE Divas Championship, which had been introduced in 2008 as part of the WWE brand extension to complement the original WWE Women's Championship, before those two titles were unified under the Divas Championship name in 2010. The new Women's Championship has a unique title history, separate from the original. In mid-2016, the championship became exclusive to Raw, and SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. It is currently held by Charlotte, who is in her second reign.
History
On April 3, 2016, WWE Hall of Famer Lita appeared during the WrestleMania 32 pre-show and, after recapping the history of women's professional wrestling in WWE, unveiled the brand-new championship and declared that WWE's women would no longer be referred to as WWE Divas, but as "WWE Superstars" just as their male counterparts are.[1] This came after the term "Diva" was scrutinized by some commentators, fans, and several past and present WWE female performers, including then-Divas Champion Charlotte, who were in favor of changing the championship to the Women's Championship.[2] It was also changed because some WWE female wrestlers felt it diminished their athletic abilities and relegated them to "eye candy".[3][4] Lita then announced that the winner of the Divas Championship triple threat match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks later that night would become the first-ever WWE Women's Champion, subsequently retiring the Divas Championship.[5] Charlotte, the final Divas Champion, became the inaugural WWE Women's Champion when she defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.[6]
Following the reintroduction of the brand extension, then champion Charlotte was drafted to the Raw brand on the July 19, 2016 premiere episode of SmackDown Live, making the championship exclusive to Raw. In response, SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship on August 23, 2016. The WWE Women's Championship was subsequently renamed to reflect its exclusivity to Raw.[7]
When the title was introduced, it shared its name with the original Women's Championship. However, the new title does not share the same title history as the original, which was unified with the Divas Championship in 2010, with the combined title inheriting the latter's lineage and history. WWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor,[1] and notes that the lineage of female champions dates back to The Fabulous Moolah's reign in 1956.[5]
Brand designation history
| Colors | |
|---|---|
| Championship moved to the Raw brand. | |
| Date of transition | Notes |
|---|---|
| July 19, 2016 | WWE Women's Champion Charlotte was drafted to Raw during the 2016 WWE draft. After the introduction of the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, the title was renamed the Raw Women's Championship.[8] |
Belt design
The Raw Women's Championship belt is similar in appearance to the WWE World Championship belt, with a few notable differences. The strap is smaller to fit the champion, and white, as opposed to black. The die-cut WWE logo in the center plate sits on a red background, as opposed to a black one. The very small print below the logo reads "Women's Champion". Like the WWE World Championship belt, the Raw Women's Championship belt features two side plates, both separated by gold divider bars, with the WWE logo on the globe as default plates, which are customized with the current champion's logos as a similarity of the name plate feature of other belts.[5]
Title history
Name
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| WWE Women's Championship | April 3, 2016 – September 4, 2016 |
| WWE Raw Women's Championship | September 5, 2016 – present |
Reigns
As of August 19, 2024, overall there have been 3 reigns between 2 champions. Charlotte is the inaugural champion, who defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in a triple threat match on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32; her reign is also the longest at 113 days and she has the most reigns at 2. Sasha Banks is the youngest champion at 24 years old.
The current champion is Charlotte, who is in her second reign. She defeated Sasha Banks at SummerSlam on August 21, 2016 in Brooklyn, NY.
| Reign | The reign number for the specific champion listed |
|---|---|
| Location | The city in which the title was won |
| Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won |
| — | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| + | Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlotte | 1 | April 3, 2016 | 113 | Arlington, TX | WrestleMania 32 | This was a triple threat match also involving Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to determine the inaugural champion. The Divas Championship, which Charlotte held going into the match, was retired in favor of the new WWE Women's Championship. The title became exclusive to the Raw brand following the 2016 WWE draft. | [9] |
| 2 | Sasha Banks | 1 | July 25, 2016 | 27 | Pittsburgh, PA | Raw | [10] | |
| 3 | Charlotte | 2 | August 21, 2016 | 2,920+ | Brooklyn, NY | SummerSlam | The title was renamed the WWE Raw Women's Championship on September 5, 2016 following the creation of the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship on SmackDown. | [11] |
Combined reigns
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
As of August 19, 2024.
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlotte † | 2 | 3033+ |
| 2 | Sasha Banks | 1 | 27 |
See also
References
- ^ a b "WWE Women's Championship". wwe.com.
- ^ Konuwa, Alfred (March 30, 2016). "Is WWE Planning To Rebrand Its Divas Division?". Forbes. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Ahmed, Tufayel. "WrestleMania 32: By Dumping the 'Divas' Branding, WWE Makes Its Biggest Step to Gender Equality". Newsweek. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ^ Gass, Dorathy (2014-06-20). "Wrestlemania 32: How The Women Stole The Show". Wrestle Newz. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ^ a b c WWE Staff (April 3, 2016). "All-new WWE Women's Championship introduced at WrestleMania". WWE. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
Lita introduced the all-new WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania, and revealed that Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch will compete for this title tonight.
- ^ Caldwell, James. "4/3 WrestleMania 32 PPV Pre-Show Results – CALDWELL's Complete Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- ^ http://www.wwe.com/superstars
- ^ http://www.wwe.com/superstars
- ^ Artus, Matthew (April 3, 2016). "Charlotte def. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to become first new WWE Women's Champion". WWE. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- ^ Tedesco, Mike (July 25, 2016). "WWE RAW Results – 7/25/16 (Live from Pittsburgh, fallout from Battleground, new era of RAW begins)". Wrestleview. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
- ^ Caldwell, James. "8/21 WWE Summerslam Results – CALDWELL'S Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 21, 2016.