WWE Women's Championship

The WWE Women's Championship is a diva-exclusive professional wrestling title on World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand. Compared to the men's belts, the Women's championship is traditionally considered to be one of the minor belts, due to the various roles women have had in modern wrestling storylines.

Because of the relative depth of the women's roster compared to the men's roster, little attention is paid to championship responsibilities compared to the men's titles: whereas virtually all of WWE's men's titles are to be defended once every 30 days or vacated in case of an injury, neither has been strictly enforced for the Women's championship. An example of this would be when Trish Stratus took a 4 month leave to recover from a herniated disc in her lower back and returned still wearing the Women's Title.

History
The Women's Championship was first won by The Fabulous Moolah on September 15, 1956 after she defeated Judy Grable in a tournament final. At the time, it was recognized as the NWA Women's Championship. In 1983, Moolah, who at the time owned the rights to the Women's Championship and the Women's Tag Team Championship, sold the rights to Vince McMahon when the then-WWWF withdrew from the NWA. It was thus recognized exclusively as the WWF Women's Championship. Because of this, WWE holds the viewpoint that The Fabulous Moolah held her title for almost 30 years, despite evidence that the Women's Championship changed hands during this span.

The belt was at the center of some controversy in 1995, when the then-champion, Alundra Blayze jumped ship to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling making a surprise appearance on WCW Monday Nitro and dropping the championship belt into a trash can on live television. It is believed that this incident was one of the motives that led Vince McMahon to perform the Montreal Screwjob. The title wouldn't be seen again until mid 1998 when it was re-activated. In the spirit of the Attitude Era, the title was often defended in trashy and highly criticised matches and angles. Many believe that this was a low-point for women's wrestling in general as WWF divas would fight over the title in mud baths, evening gown matches, and the like. In one such incident, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels simply reversed the rules after the match, declaring the loser Debra the winner and awarded her the title.

During 2001, Chyna and at the time "Right to Censor" member Ivory found themselves feuding, after RTC nearly ended Chyna's career with a spike-pile driver. During a match at the 2001 Royal Rumble, Chyna seemed as though she re-injured her neck while performing a handspring elbow. The events of that night led Ivory to successfully defend her Women's Championship. However, Chyna would later return at Wrestlemania X-Seven to defeat Ivory and win the title. Up until November of 2001 Chyna would be undefeated, successfully pinning each and every opponent in what would be a considered a series of "squash matches." It wasn't until contract negotiations fell through between Chyna and the WWF, that the title would be vacated upon her departure.

In early to mid-2002, as part of the WWE's brand extension, the Women's Championship, along with the WWE Undisputed Championship (its male counterpart), was to be defended on both shows. However, because of the difficulty for the champion, travelling from one event to the next with Raw being filmed last on a Monday and SmackDown filmed on a Tuesday, it was eventually made into a RAW-exclusive title so that there would be four championship belts per brand. However, the title remained de jure open to both RAW and SmackDown! challengers, a point which would not be exploited until November 2005, when Women's Champion Trish Stratus accepted a challenge from SmackDown! challenger Melina, as a side-story to the main "show versus show" storyline. At the time, it was the first time a challenger fought for a belt - men's or women's - from the opposite brand.

As a result of the Melina/Stratus encounter, in December 2005 WWE quietly announced that more attention would be made to the women's title on SmackDown! to reinforce the fact that the title remained de jure open to competition on both brands, although there has been no on-air indication to that effect.

Although the title can be contested by both brands, it is not known whether the belt or the wrestler is forced to change shows should a challenger from the opposite brand win the championship - an issue that was avoided in 2005 when Stratus retained the title. There is also no indication whether or not an ECW Diva could challenge for and hold the title.

Trivia

 * Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, and Chyna are the only women to hold the Women's Championship and another Championship usually held by male WWE Superstars. Trish Stratus and Molly Holly each became the Hardcore Champion, Chyna became Intercontinental Champion, and Jacqueline became Cruiserweight Champion. Alundra Blayze also held the Women's Championship and, while it still belonged to WCW, the Cruiserweight Championship.
 * 2006 marked the 50 year anniversary of the WWE Women's Championship, and Trish Stratus retired with the Women's Title in the same month in which the title was created back in 1956, in the month of September.

Current champion
The current champion is Mickie James, who is in her second reign. She defeated Lita at Survivor Series 2006 in Lita's final match.