TheWWE Divas Championship was awomen'sprofessional wrestlingchampionship in theWWEpromotion. The championship was generally contested inprofessional wrestling matches, in which participants executed scripted finishes rather than contending in direct competition. The word "Divas" in the championship's name refers to the pseudonymWWE Diva, which WWE used to refer to its female wrestlers.
The creation of the championship was announced on June 6, 2008, by thenSmackDownGeneral ManagerVickie Guerrero as a counterpart to theRawbrand'sWWE Women's Championship.[1] The inaugural champion wasMichelle McCool, who defeatedNatalya on July 20, 2008, atThe Great American Bash.[2][3] On April 13, 2009, the title was moved from SmackDown to Raw as a result of then Divas ChampionMaryse being drafted to Raw in the2009 WWE draft.[4][5] On September 19, 2010, at theNight of Championspay-per-viewevent,Michelle McCool (defending the Women's Championship on behalf of tag team partner and official champion,Layla) defeated Divas ChampionMelina, retiring the Women's Championship and unifying it with the Divas Championship.[6]
The title was retired on April 3, 2016, atWrestleMania 32, afterLita revealed the newWWE Women's Championship would replace the Divas Championship.[7] Reigning championCharlotte defeatedBecky Lynch andSasha Banks in atriple threat match at the event to become the new Women's Champion and therefore the final Divas Champion.[8]
Overall, there were 17 different champions.Eve Torres andAJ Lee held the record for most reigns as Divas Champion with three. AJ Lee also had the longest combined reign as Divas Champion at 406 days.Nikki Bella had the longest individual title reign at 301 days, whileJillian Hall had the shortest reign at 5 minutes.
| Name[9] | Years[9] |
|---|---|
| WWE Divas Championship | June 6, 2008 – April 3, 2016 |
| Unified WWE Divas Championship | September 19, 2010 |
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||||
| WWE:SmackDown | |||||||||||
| 1 | Michelle McCool | July 20, 2008 | The Great American Bash | Uniondale, NY | 1 | 155 | 158 | From September 2002 until July 2008, theSmackDownbrand was without a women's championship as theWWE Women's Championship was exclusive to theRaw brand. To remedy this, SmackDown General ManagerVickie Guerrero established the Divas Championship as the counterpart title to the Women's Championship. McCool defeatedNatalya to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes McCool's reign as ending on December 26, 2008, when the episode aired ontape delay. | [10] | ||
| 2 | Maryse | December 22, 2008 | SmackDown | Toronto, ON, Canada | 1 | 216 | 211 | Maria was thespecial guest referee. The championship became exclusive to theRaw brand following the2009 WWE draft. WWE recognizes Maryse's reign as beginning on December 26, 2008, when the episode aired ontape delay. | [11][12][13][14] | ||
| WWE:Raw | |||||||||||
| 3 | Mickie James | July 26, 2009 | Night of Champions | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 78 | 78 | [15] | |||
| 4 | Jillian Hall | October 12, 2009 | Raw | Indianapolis, IN | 1 | <1 | <1 | [16] | |||
| 5 | Melina | October 12, 2009 | Raw | Indianapolis, IN | 1 | 84 | 83 | [17] | |||
| — | Vacated | January 4, 2010 | Raw | Dayton, OH | — | — | — | The title was vacated afterMelina sustained a tornanterior cruciate ligament. | [18] | ||
| 6 | Maryse | February 22, 2010 | Raw | Indianapolis, IN | 2 | 49 | 48 | DefeatedGail Kim in a tournament final to win the vacant title. | [19] | ||
| 7 | Eve Torres | April 12, 2010 | Raw | London,England | 1 | 69 | 68 | [20] | |||
| 8 | Alicia Fox | June 20, 2010 | Fatal 4-Way | Uniondale, NY | 1 | 56 | 55 | This was afatal four-way match also involvingGail Kim andMaryse. Fox pinned Maryse to win the championship. | [21] | ||
| 9 | Melina | August 15, 2010 | SummerSlam | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 35 | 34 | [22] | |||
| WWE:Raw andSmackDown | |||||||||||
| 10 | Michelle McCool | September 19, 2010 | Night of Champions | Rosemont, IL | 2 | 63 | 62 | This was alumberjill match where theWomen's Championship was unified with theDivas Championship. The title subsequently became defended on both theRaw andSmackDown brands and was briefly referred to as the Unified WWE Divas Championship, keeping the lineage of the Divas Championship while the Women's Championship was retired.Layla was unofficially the co-champion during this reign; she defended the championship in McCool's place on some occasions. | [23][24][25][26] | ||
| 11 | Natalya | November 21, 2010 | Survivor Series | Miami, FL | 1 | 70 | 69 | This was ahandicap match also involvingLayla asMichelle McCool'stag team partner. | [27] | ||
| 12 | Eve Torres | January 30, 2011 | Royal Rumble | Boston, MA | 2 | 71 | 70 | This was afatal four-way match also involvingLayla andMichelle McCool. Eve pinned Layla to win the championship. | [28] | ||
| 13 | Brie Bella | April 11, 2011 | Raw | Bridgeport, CT | 1 | 70 | 70 | [29] | |||
| 14 | Kelly Kelly | June 20, 2011 | Raw: Power to the People | Baltimore, MD | 1 | 104 | 103 | This was a"Power to the People" special episode ofRaw, whereBrie Bella's opponent was determined by a fan-voted poll. Kelly Kelly received the highest number of votes overBeth Phoenix andEve Torres. Also during Kelly's reign during year 2011 of August WWE's firstbrand extension officially ended. | [30] | ||
| WWE (unbranded) | |||||||||||
| 15 | Beth Phoenix | October 2, 2011 | Hell in a Cell | New Orleans, LA | 1 | 204 | 203 | [31] | |||
| 16 | Nikki Bella | April 23, 2012 | Raw | Detroit, MI | 1 | 6 | 5 | This was alumberjill match. | [32] | ||
| 17 | Layla | April 29, 2012 | Extreme Rules | Rosemont, IL | 1 | 140 | 139 | Beth Phoenix was originally scheduled to challenge for the title, but was not medically cleared at the time before the match got started. Layla made her return as a surprise challenger for the title. Layla pinnedBrie Bella to win the title fromNikki Bella after the twinsswitched places during the match while the referee was distracted. | [33] | ||
| 18 | Eve Torres | September 16, 2012 | Night of Champions | Boston, MA | 3 | 120 | 120 | [34] | |||
| 19 | Kaitlyn | January 14, 2013 | Raw 20th Anniversary Special | Houston, TX | 1 | 153 | 152 | [35][36] | |||
| 20 | AJ Lee | June 16, 2013 | Payback | Rosemont, IL | 1 | 295 | 295 | [37] | |||
| 21 | Paige | April 7, 2014 | Raw | New Orleans, LA | 1 | 84 | 84 | [38] | |||
| 22 | AJ Lee | June 30, 2014 | Raw | Hartford, CT | 2 | 48 | 47 | [39] | |||
| 23 | Paige | August 17, 2014 | SummerSlam | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 35 | 35 | [40] | |||
| 24 | AJ Lee | September 21, 2014 | Night of Champions | Nashville, TN | 3 | 63 | 63 | This was atriple threat match also involvingNikki Bella. | [41] | ||
| 25 | Nikki Bella | November 23, 2014 | Survivor Series | St. Louis, MO | 2 | 301 | 300 | [42] | |||
| 26 | Charlotte | September 20, 2015 | Night of Champions | Houston, TX | 1 | 196 | 195 | IfNikki Bella was counted out or disqualified, she would lose the title per the stipulation. | [43] | ||
| — | Deactivated | April 3, 2016 | WrestleMania 32 | Arlington, TX | — | — | — | WWE Hall of FamerLita announced that the winner of thetriple threat match in whichCharlotte was to defend the Divas Championship againstBecky Lynch andSasha Banks would instead be for the newWWE Women's Championship, subsequently retiring theDivas Championship. | [44] | ||
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined days | Combined days recognized by WWE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AJ Lee | 3 | 406 | 405 |
| 2 | Nikki Bella | 2 | 307 | 305 |
| 3 | Maryse | 2 | 265 | 259 |
| 4 | Eve Torres | 3 | 260 | 258 |
| 5 | Michelle McCool | 2 | 218 | 220 |
| 6 | Beth Phoenix | 1 | 204 | 203 |
| 7 | Charlotte | 1 | 196 | 195 |
| 8 | Kaitlyn | 1 | 153 | 152 |
| 9 | Layla | 1 | 140 | 139 |
| 10 | Paige | 2 | 119 | |
| Melina | 2 | 119 | 117 | |
| 12 | Kelly Kelly | 1 | 104 | 103 |
| 13 | Mickie James | 1 | 78 | |
| 14 | Brie Bella | 1 | 70 | |
| Natalya | 1 | 70 | 69 | |
| 16 | Alicia Fox | 1 | 56 | 55 |
| 17 | Jillian Hall | 1 | <1 | |