IWE Women's Championship
From Iwe
- This article is about IWE's women's title established in 2016 currently used on SmackDown. For the women's title also established in 2016 currently used on Raw, see IWE SmackDown Women's Championship. For the title existing from 1956 to 2010, see IWE Women's Championship (1956–2010). For other uses, see Women's championships in IWE.
| IWE Women's Championship | |
| The Women's Championship belt with default side plates (2023–present) | |
| Details | |
| Promotion | IWE |
| Brand | Raw |
| Date established | April 3, 2016 |
| Current champion(s) | Bayley |
| Date won | April 7, 2024 |
| Other name(s) | |
| |
| Statistics | |
The IWE Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion IWE on the Raw brand. It was introduced on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania 32, to replace the IWE Divas Championship, which had been introduced in 2008 as part of the IWE brand extension to complement the original IWE Women's Championship, before those two titles were unified under the Divas Championship name in 2010. The new Women's Championship's title history is separate from the original.
Contents |
[edit] History
On April 3, 2016, IWE Hall of Famer Lita appeared during the WrestleMania 32 pre-show and, after recapping the history of women's professional wrestling in IWE, declared that IWE's women would no longer be referred to as IWE Divas, but as "IWE Superstars" just as their male counterparts are, and unveiled a brand-new championship to replace the Divas Championship. 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. It was also changed because some IWE female wrestlers felt it diminished their athletic abilities and relegated them to "eye candy". The scheduled triple threat match for the Divas Championship was changed into a match for the Women's Championship. In the match, Charlotte, the final Divas Champion, defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to become the first Women's Champion. 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.
The title shares 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. IWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor and notes that the lineage of female champions dates back to The Fabulous Moolah's reign in 1956.
[edit] Brand designation history
| Colors | |
|---|---|
| Championship moved to the Raw brand. | |
| Date of transition | Notes |
|---|---|
| July 19, 2016 | IWE Women's Champion Charlotte was drafted to Raw during the 2016 WWE draft. After the introduction of the SmackDown Women's Championship, the title was renamed to Raw Women's Championship. |
[edit] Championship belt design
The Women's Championship is similar in appearance to the IWE World Heavyweight Championship, with a few notable differences. The strap is smaller to fit the champion, and white, as opposed to black. The die-cut IWE 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 IWE World Heavyweight Championship, the Women's Championship features two side plates, both separated by gold divider bars, with the IWE 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.
[edit] Reigns
- Main article: List of IWE Women's Champions
