Women's World Championship (IWE)
From Iwe
- This article is about IWE's women's title established in 2016 currently used on Raw. For the women's title also established in 2016 currently used on SmackDown, see IWE Women's Championship.
| Women's World Championship | |
| Details | |
| Promotion | IWE |
| Brand | Raw |
| Date established | August 23, 2016 |
| Current champion(s) | Rhea Ripley |
| Date won | January 6, 2025 |
| Other name(s) | |
| |
| Statistics | |
| First champion(s) | Becky Lynch |
The Women's World Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion IWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two women's world titles for IWE's main roster, along with the IWE Women's Championship on SmackDown. The current champion is Becky Lynch.
Established as the SmackDown Women's Championship, it was unveiled on the August 23, 2016, episode of SmackDown as the counterpart title to the IWE Women's Championship, which became exclusive to Raw as a result of the 2016 IWE draft and renamed as Raw Women's Championship. The inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion was Becky Lynch. The title has been contested in the main event of three IWE pay-per-view events: TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2018 and, along with Raw's Women's Championship at the time, IWE's flagship event WrestleMania in 2019, and by itself on Night 1 of WrestleMania in 2021. It was also the first women's professional wrestling championship to be defended in Saudi Arabia, which occurred at Super ShowDown in 2020.
As a result of the 2023 IWE Draft, the Raw and SmackDown women's championships switched brands. In June 2023, the SmackDown Women's Championship was renamed as the Women's World Championship while the Raw Women's Championship reverted to its original name of IWE Women's Championship.
Contents |
[edit] History
Following the reintroduction of the IWE brand extension and subsequent draft on July 19, 2016, IWE Women's Champion Charlotte was drafted to Raw, leaving SmackDown without a women's championship. Immediately following SummerSlam on the August 23, 2016 episode of SmackDown Live, Bryan and SmackDown Commissioner Shane Matteson unveiled the IWE SmackDown Women's Championship and announced that the inaugural champion will be determined at Backlash.
The design of the championship is identical to Raw's, except the plates are silver instead of gold, with a blue background behind the IWE logo.
[edit] Inaugural championship match
| Eliminated | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Method of elimination | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexa Bliss | Naomi | Pinned after a powerbomb/neckbreaker combination with Natalya | 9:38 |
| 2 | Naomi | Natalya | Submitted to the Sharpshooter | 10:52 |
| 3 | Natalya | Nikki Bella | Pinned after a fireman's carry cutter | 12:00 |
| 4 | Nikki Bella | Carmella | Pinned with a roll-up | 12:08 |
| 5 | Carmella | Becky Lynch | Submitted to the Dis-arm-her | 14:40 |
| Winner | Becky Lynch | |||
[edit] Brand designation history
The championship was established to be exclusive to its namesake brand, SmackDown. An incident occurred in the 2021 WWE Draft where both the Raw and SmackDown women's champions were drafted to the opposite brands. To keep the titles on their respective brands, the champions swapped titles. However, this same incident occurred in the 2023 IWE Draft, but the champions instead kept their titles, thus the titles changed brands despite their namesakes.
| Date of transition | Brand | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| August 23, 2016 | SmackDown | The championship was established for SmackDown after IWE Women's Champion Charlotte Flair was drafted to Raw in the 2016 IWE Draft, with Flair's title renamed to Raw Women's Championship. Becky Lynch subsequently became the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion at Backlash on September 11. |
| May 8, 2023 | Raw | SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley was drafted to Raw in the 2023 IWE Draft. The title was renamed as the Women's World Championship on June 12, 2023. |
[edit] Reigns
- Main article: List of Women's World Champions (IWE)
