List Of NWA World Women's Champions
History
Mildred Burke was recognized as the inaugural champion in 1950. After her Two out of three falls match against June Byers in 1954 ended in a no contest, Byers was recognized as the NWA World Women's Champion, and Burke created the WWWA World Championship and was recognized as its first champion. Upon June Byers's retirement, it was held primarily (and operated) by Lillian Ellison (under the ring name of The Fabulous Moolah), who first won the championship in a battle royal in September 1956.
In 1983, the physical belt was sold by Ellison to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), where it became the WWF Women's Championship. The World Wrestling Federation recognized Moolah as the reigning champion but did not recognize any of the title changes that had occurred since Moolah was first awarded the title in 1956. The NWA Women's title continued its lineage after Moolah's belt was purchased and renamed by the WWF.
The Fabulous Moolah has held the title more times than any other wrestler, with a total of four reigns. She also has the longest reign of 3,651 days, and is the oldest champion after winning the title at 55 years old. Evelyn Stevens and Malia Hosaka have the shortest reign at 1 day each. La Reina de Corazones is the youngest champion after winning the title at 21 years of age. Overall, the title has been held by 25 different women for a total of 35 reigns.
Via various partnerships, the NWA World Women's Championship has also been defended in other promotions.
Belt design
1950 - 1954: Mildred Burke defeated Clara Mortensen on February 11, 1937, to win the original version of the Women's World Championship. Due to her victory, Burke was recognized as the inaugural NWA Woman's Champion in 1950. The original title belt last appeared in an NWA ring on August 20, 1954. In 2021, The main plate of the original belt was given to NWA President, Billy Corgan.
1954 - 1986: Sometime after August 1954, a new design was presented. In 1983, During The Fabulous Moolah's reign as champion, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and The Fabulous Moolah sold the championship to the WWF. 1986 - 2002, 2016 - 2019: In February 1986, a new title was introduced. It featured 3 plates on a black strap. The main plate is circular with the NWA Logo at the top. There are two black banners at the top and bottem, the top reading "WOMANS" and the bottem reading "CHAMPION", both in gold letters. The center of the main plate has a silver oval with a globe on the inside. The side plate are oval shaped. They feature the NWA Logo on both side plates. This design lasted until August 2002. In September 2016, the NWA returned to using this design. The title was then renamed to the NWA Woman's World Championship. This title was mostly used by Jazz during this time. This design lasted until 2019. 2002 - 2010: In August 2002, a new design was created. This design features 5 plates on a black strap. The main plate is gold. The plate features a black oval in the center with the NWA logo on it. The top of the belt reads "World Womans" at the top and has a black banner at the bottem which reads "Champion". Below the black banner, it also has a red crown. Over time, the black oval was changed to red. There are 4 side rectangular side plates that feature the flags of some countries. Those being Switzerland, Japan, America, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Russia, and United Kingdom.
2010 - 2014: In 2010, a large new belt was introduced. This belt, like the previous version, has 5 plates on a black strap, all in gold. The main plate is large. It features the red NWA logo in the center. There are 3 black banners, 1 on the top and 2 at the bottem. The top one reads "Womans". The second banner located at the bottom reads "World". Below that is another black banner that reads "Wrestling Champion". The side plates, like the previous version, are rectangular with the flags of some countries, those being United Kingdom, Australia, America, Italy, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil. This design lasted until January 2014.
2014 - 2016: In January 2014, another design was introduced. Unlike the previous version, this design is much smaller. The belt has 5 hexagonal plates on a black leather strap. This design was replaced with the '86 - '02 championship in 2016.
2019–present: On September 30th, 2019, NWA President, Billy Corgan presented a new NWA World Womans Championship. The belt was made by Belts By Dan. The design pays homage to the original design of the championship. The belt has 3 plates on a white strap. The plates are silver. The main plate pays homage to the original version of the championship. It features an angel at the top of the plate. There are 2 black banners on the top and bottom. The top banner reads "National Wrestling Alliance" and the bottem reading "Women's World Champion", just like the original design. The center of the plate features a picture frame that has a picture of the wrestler that holds the championship, which changes with each champion, also from the original design. Above the picture frame has the year 1948, which was the year the NWA was founded. Surrounding the picture frame and the 1948 are branches with leaves on them. On the left and right of the belt, there are shields with wrestlers engraved on them. The main plate also features 12 red gems all over the belt. The side plates are oval shaoed and feature the NWA logo on it.
Reigns
As of November 18, 2024, there have been 41 reigns, between 32 wrestlers and eight vacancies. Mildred Burke was the inaugural champion. The Fabulous Moolah holds the record for most recognized reigns at four. Moolah is the oldest champion at 55 years old, while La Reina de Corazones is the youngest at 21 years old. Moolah's third reign is the longest at 3,841 days, while Evelyn Stevens and Malia Hosaka's reigns are the shortest at one day each.
Kenzie Paige is the current champion, in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Kamille at NWA's 75th Anniversary Show on August 27, 2023, in St. Louis, Missouri
Names
Name | Year |
---|---|
NWA Women's Championship | 1950 – September 16, 2016 |
NWA World Women's Championship | September 16, 2016 – present |
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
† | Championship change is unrecognized by the promotion |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) | ||||||||||
1 | Mildred Burke | 1950 | Live event | N/A | 1 | Burke defeated Clara Mortensen on February 11, 1937 to win the original version of the Women's World Championship. Due to her victory, Burke was recognized as the inaugural NWA champion in 1950. | ||||
2 | June Byers | August 20, 1954 | Live event | Atlanta, GA | 2 | Byers wrestled Mildred Burke for the NWA World Women's Championship in a two out of three falls match. The commission stopped the match between Burke and Byers at the end of the second fall, stripped Burke of the title, and awarded it to Byers. Burke set up the WWWA World Championship and continued to recognize herself as the World Women's Champion. | ||||
— | Vacated | 1956/1964 | — | — | — | — | In 1956, the NWA promoters of New York, New Jersey and Baltimore (led by Vince McMahon Sr.) stopped recognizing June Byers as champion and she was stripped of the championship by the Baltimore Athletic Commission. Byers, with the support of promoter Billy Wolfe, continued to be recognized by the majority of the National Wrestling Alliance until her retirement in 1964. | |||
3 | The Fabulous Moolah | September 18, 1956 | Live event | Baltimore, MD | 1 | 3,651 | Moolah defeated Judy Grable at the end of a 13-woman battle royal. Moolah was not fully recognized by the National Wrestling Alliance as the new NWA World Women's Champion until 1964 because Billy Wolfe, with whom Moolah had a falling-out earlier in her career, still controlled most of the NWA. Penny Banner, the AWA World Women's champion, was also briefly recognized in some NWA territories after Byers' retirement in 1964. | |||
4 | Bette Boucher | September 17, 1966 | Live event | Seattle, WA | 1 | 16 | ||||
5 | The Fabulous Moolah | October 3, 1966 | Live event | Vancouver BC, Canada | 2 | 524 | ||||
6 | Yukiko Tomoe | March 10, 1968 | Live event | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 23 | ||||
7 | The Fabulous Moolah | April 2, 1968 | Live event | Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan | 3 | 3,841 | ||||
8 | Evelyn Stevens | October 8, 1978 | Live event | Dallas, TX | 1 | 1 | ||||
9 | The Fabulous Moolah | October 9, 1978 | Live event | Fort Worth, TX | 4 | 1,909 | ||||
— | Vacated | December 31, 1983 | — | — | — | — | The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) withdrew from the NWA in 1983, and The Fabulous Moolah sold the championship to the WWF. The WWF recognized Moolah as champion but did not acknowledge previous title changes: see WWE Women's Championship. | |||
10 | Debbie Combs | February 12, 1986 | Live event | Honolulu, HI | 1 | Combs won the vacant championship in a 9-woman battle royal against Candi Devine, Despina Montagos, Eva Savage, Lady Satan, Princess Jasmine, Roxie Rush, Reggie Schwartz, and Sherri Martel. | ||||
— | Vacated | 1987 | — | — | — | — | The championship was declared vacant in 1987 when the Kansas City promotion withdrew from the NWA. | |||
11 | Debbie Combs | April 10, 1987 | Live event | Kansas City, MO | 2 | Combs defeated Penny Mitchell to win the vacant championship. | ||||
12 | Bambi | 1994 | N/A | N/A | 1 | |||||
13 | Peggy Lee Leather | 1994 | N/A | N/A | 1 | |||||
14 | Bambi | July 26, 1994 | NWA TV tapings | East Ridge, TN | 2 | |||||
15 | Malia Hosaka | May 9, 1996 | Live event | Johnson City, TN | 1 | 1 | Hosaka defeated Debbie Combs, who continued to defend the championship despite Bambi being recognized as the champion by Jim Crockett Promotions. | |||
16 | Debbie Combs | May 10, 1996 | Live event | Fall Branch, TN | 3 | |||||
— | Vacated | October 1996 | — | — | — | — | Debbie Combs was stripped of the championship. | |||
17 | Strawberry Fields | October 14, 2000 | NWA 52nd Anniversary Show | Nashville, TN | 1 | Fields defeated Leilani Kai to win the vacant championship. | ||||
— | Vacated | November 2000 | — | — | — | — | Strawberry Fields vacated the championship due to an injury. | |||
18 | Madison | August 23, 2002 | Live event | Surrey, British Columbia, Canada | 1 | 64 | Madison defeated Bam Bam Bambi to win the vacant championship. | |||
19 | Char Starr | October 26, 2002 | NWA 54th Anniversary Show | Corpus Christi, TX | 1 | 41 | ||||
20 | Madison | December 6, 2002 | Live event | Port Coquitlam, BC | 2 | 96 | ||||
21 | Leilani Kai | March 12, 2003 | NWA:TNA Weekly PPV #36 | Nashville, TN | 1 | 465 | ||||
— | Vacated | June 19, 2004 | — | — | — | — | Leilani Kai was stripped after several no-shows | |||
22 | Kiley McLean | June 19, 2004 | Live event | Richmond, VA | 1 | 308 | McLean defeated Kameo to win the vacant championship. | |||
23 | Lexie Fyfe | April 23, 2005 | Live event | Richmond, VA | 1 | 168 | ||||
24 | Christie Ricci | October 8, 2005 | NWA 57th Anniversary Show | Nashville, TN | 1 | 476 | This was a three-way match, also involving Tasha Simone. | |||
25 | MsChif | January 27, 2007 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | 1 | 98 | ||||
26 | Amazing Kong | May 5, 2007 | Live event | Streamwood, IL | 1 | 358 | ||||
27 | MsChif | April 27, 2008 | Live event | Cape Girardeau, MO | 2 | 818 | ||||
28 | Tasha Simone | July 24, 2010 | House show | Lebanon, TN | 1 | 70 | ||||
29 | La Reina de Corazones | October 2, 2010 | Live event | Altus, OK | 1 | 35 | ||||
— | Vacated | November 6, 2010 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | — | — | La Reina de Corazones was stripped of the championship after refusing to defend it. | |||
30 | Tasha Simone | November 6, 2010 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | 2 | 365 | Simone defeated Rachel to win the vacant championship. | |||
31 | Tiffany Roxx | November 6, 2011 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | 1 | 49 | This was a no disqualification match. | |||
32 | Tasha Simone | December 25, 2011 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | 3 | 300 | This was a steel cage match. | |||
33 | Kacee Carlisle | October 20, 2012 | Live event | Lebanon, TN | 1 | 462 | ||||
34 | Barbi Hayden | January 25, 2014 | Live event | Cypress, TX | 1 | 378 | ||||
35 | Santana Garrett | February 7, 2015 | Live event | Plant City, FL | 1 | 314 | ||||
36 | Amber Gallows | December 18, 2015 | Live event | Sherman, TX | 1 | 273 | This was a four-way elimination match, also involving Bree Ann and Nikki Knight. Gallows won the championship by lastly eliminating Santana Garrett. | |||
National Wrestling Alliance/Lightning One Inc. | ||||||||||
37 | Jazz | September 16, 2016 | Live event | Sherman, TX | 1 | 948 | This was a three-way match, also involving Christi Jaynes. | |||
— | Vacated | April 22, 2019 | — | — | — | — | Jazz vacated the championship due to medical and personal reasons. | |||
38 | Allysin Kay | April 27, 2019 | Crockett Cup | Concord, NC | 1 | 272 | Kay defeated Santana Garrett to win the vacant championship. | |||
39 | Thunder Rosa | January 24, 2020 | Hard Times | Atlanta, GA | 1 | 277 | ||||
40 | Serena Deeb | October 27, 2020 | UWN Primetime Live | Long Beach, CA | 1 | 222 | Deeb defended the title on October 22 on an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Dynamite taping, five days prior to winning the title. The match aired on October 28, 2020, the day after she won the title. | |||
41 | Kamille | June 6, 2021 | When Our Shadows Fall | Atlanta, GA | 1 | 812 | ||||
42 | Kenzie Paige | August 27, 2023 | NWA 75th Anniversary Show | St. Louis, MO | 1 | 449+ |