WWE Women's Championship


 * This article is about the championship that is currently defended on the SmackDown! brand of WWE. For Raw's female championship, see WWE Divas Championship

The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Women's Championship is a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. It is challenged by WWE Divas only and is exclusive to the SmackDown brand. WWE Women's Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes.

History
The WWE Women's Championship is descended from the same lineage as the NWA World Women's Championship of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which is still active today. When Mildred Burke won the World Women's title for the very first time, the NWA recognized her as women's champion, followed by June Byers in a two out of three falls match in 1954. The official NWA Women's title however was introduced in 1956, where The Fabulous Moolah emerged as the victor of a tournament final on September 18. It was not until 1964 when Byers retired from professional wrestling, that Moolah was finally recognized as the undisputed NWA Women's Champion. The original title remained in the NWA until 1983, when the World Wrestling Federation acquired the rights to the title from The Fabulous Moolah and left the NWA. The title was then renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Women's Championship. The promotion does not recognize other reigns that occurred during the title's existence in the NWA, and as a result, The Fabulous Moolah's reign is considered to have lasted 27 years. Despite these events, the NWA continues to recognize its own World Women's Championship.

In 1990, the Women's Championship became inactive after Rockin' Robin vacated the championship following her departure from the WWF. Then in December 1993, the title was reactivated with Alundra Blayze winning a tournament for the vacant Women's Championship. The Women's Championship, however, became inactive again when Blayze unexpectedly signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1995 while still champion, forcing her to relinquish the title. The Women's Championship was reactivated again in September 1998 when Jacqueline Moore defeated Sable to win the title.

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, the WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship became the only titles allowed to be defended on both the Raw and SmackDown! brands, while all other titles were exclusive to a single brand. Later, the Women's Championship became exclusive to only the Raw brand. The championship remained the only women's exclusive championship for the promotion until July 4, 2008, when a counterpart to the championship was created for the SmackDown brand, called the WWE Divas Championship.

On April 13, 2009, the Women's Championship was transferred to the SmackDown brand when reigning champion Melina was drafted from Raw to SmackDown during the 2009 WWE Draft. On June 28 at The Bash (2009) pay-per-view, Michelle McCool became the first ever Diva to hold both the WWE Women's Championship and the WWE Divas Championship.

Reigns
Main article: List of WWE Women's Champions

The inaugural champion was The Fabulous Moolah who defeated Judy Grable in September 1956 and she by far had the longest official reign by holding it for 27 years, 10 months, 5 days, or a total of 10,170 days. Trish Stratus has had more reigns than anyone else, with seven. Mickie James has the shortest reign, 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 James pinned Victoria, Melina deserved an immediate rematch in which she won by having her feet on the ropes.

Michelle McCool is the current champion and is in her first reign, having defeated Melina at The Bash on June 28, 2009. Overall, there have been a total of 28 recognized champions with 55 Official WWE Women's Championship reigns combined.