The WWE Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The company claims a lineage that dates back to September 18, 1956, when The Fabulous Moolah became the third NWA World Women's Champion. The modern WWE did not exist at that time, but they claim 1956 for the championship's establishment and do not recognize any title changes from when Moolah became champion until she lost it in 1984. Prior to Moolah losing the championship, she sold the rights to the title to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and it became the WWF Women's Championship, which would again be renamed in 2002 to WWE Women's Championship when the WWF was renamed to WWE. With the company claiming a lineage beginning in 1956, it made the Women's Championship the oldest active professional wrestling championship in WWE until its retirement in 2010 after it was unified with the WWE Divas Championship, which briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The final champion was Layla.
Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.
Johnnie Mae Young was an American professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. She wrestled throughout the United States and Canada and won multiple titles in the National Wrestling Alliance. Young is considered one of the pioneers in women's wrestling as she helped to increase the popularity of the sport throughout the 1940s and during World War II. In 1954, she and Mildred Burke were among the first female competitors to tour post-war Japan.
Patty Seymour is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Leilani Kai. She began training with The Fabulous Moolah right after finishing high school. In the 1980s, as part of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection, a storyline that combined wrestling and music, Kai defeated Wendi Richter to become the Women's Champion. Kai, however, lost the title at the inaugural WrestleMania event. She was later paired with Judy Martin, in a tag team that would become known as The Glamour Girls. The team held the Women's Tag Team Championship twice and the LPWA Tag Team Championship once.
Velvet McIntyre is an Irish-Canadian retired professional wrestler. After beginning her career in 1980, she wrestled in American independent promotions before joining the World Wrestling Federation. She had rivalries with both The Fabulous Moolah and Sherri Martel and held the WWF Women's Championship and WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. After the WWF's women's division went on hiatus in the 1990s, McIntyre wrestled in several Canadian promotions, holding several championships.
Victoria "Wendi" Richter is an American former professional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as the National Wrestling Alliance, where she teamed with Joyce Grable, with whom she held the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice. In the 1980s, she joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). She held the WWF Women's Championship twice and feuded with The Fabulous Moolah over the title. She was also involved in a storyline with singer Cyndi Lauper called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". Richter, however, left the WWF after losing the championship in controversial fashion. She then worked in the World Wrestling Council and American Wrestling Association, where she held both companies' women's titles.
Debbie Szostecki is a retired professional wrestler better known as Debbie Combs.
The WWF Women's Tag Team Championship was a women's professional wrestling tag team title in the World Wrestling Federation. The belief its holders were considered world champions was expressed by Jesse Ventura, an announcer for some of its defenses. Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria were recognized as the inaugural champions when they came to the promotion in 1983 as the National Wrestling Alliance's World Women's Tag Team Champions. The final champions were The Glamour Girls when the titles were abandoned in 1989.
The Glamour Girls was a female professional wrestling tag team. The members were Judy Martin and Leilani Kai
Mary Alfonsi, better known by her ring name Donna Christanello, was an American professional wrestler active between 1963 and 1991. Trained by The Fabulous Moolah, she frequently wrestled Ann Casey, Vicki Williams, Evelyn Stevens and Leilani Kai throughout the 1970s.
Mildred Burke was an American professional wrestler. She is overall a three-time women's world champion under different incarnations and recognitions.
William Harrison Wolfe was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1930s to the 1950s. Wolfe was the husband and manager of Mildred Burke and ran a traveling troupe of women wrestlers alongside her.
The NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship is a women's professional wrestling tag team championship defended in member promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley, better known by her ring name June Byers, was an American women's professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the Women's World Championship for ten years and is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. She is overall a three-time women's world champion.
Betty Wade-Murphy, better known by her ring name Joyce Grable, was an American professional wrestler. She was the long-term tag team partner of Wendi Richter. She held the NWA United States Women's Championship once and the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship six times—three with Richter and three with her other tag team partner Vicki Williams.
Winfred "Winnie" Childree, also known as Winfred Barkley was an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Winona Littleheart and The Lock.
Sandy Parker is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. She debuted in 1969, wrestling in Canada, the United States, and Japan. In Japan, she worked for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, holding numerous titles. She also had an unofficial NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship reign with partner Sue Green.
Toni Rose is an American retired professional wrestler. During her wrestling career, Rose captured the NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship on five occasions; three times with Donna Christanello, and twice with her trainer, The Fabulous Moolah. Rose is also a former one-time NWA Southern Women's Championship.
The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has maintained several women's championships since 1983, when the World Wrestling Federation established the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. One year later, the WWF bought the NWA Women's Championship and renamed it the WWF Women's Championship, establishing their first women's world championship. Although the title preceded the company's creation, the WWF claimed a lineage that began in 1956. Whenever the WWE brand extension has been implemented, separate women's championships have been created or allocated for each brand.
