With so many lineal wrestling championships dating back to the early twentieth century, it’s hard to keep track of which WWE Women’s Title, if any, actually date back to the NWA World Women’s Championship that started in 1937 when Mildred Burke became the inaugural champion. The controversial Fabulous Moolah would capture the title in 1956 and have a death grip on it, carrying the title with her to the WWE in the process.
The lineage of that title ended in 2010. But between the Divas, Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and NXT UK Women’s Championships, there is plenty more history to be written. With so many of the ladies just getting started, look for many of these numbers to go up as the years go on. But for now, with the exception of Moolah, all of the “oldest” champions weren’t even 40 years old.
10 Nia Jax, Raw Women’s Champion - 33 Years, 314 Days
Its simple math – if you’re a Samoan, and you’re a wrestler, you’re bound to be holding championship gold at some point in your career. The wrecking ball with a killer smile, Nia Jax had been tearing a path through the women’s division that few have done or could do. Once she finally realized that her bestie Alexa Bliss was only using her for imposing attitude, Jax obliterated her for the title at WrestleMania 34 and celebrated with her Aunt Ata and cousin Simone.
9 Charlotte Flair, Smackdown Women’s Champion - 33 Years, 184 Days
These days, the Queen is poised to become the first person to head back to NXT and win gold. She also has done all she could do to ensure the competitive future of the Women’s division.
Charlotte won the Smackdown Women’s Title late in 2019 at 33 years old – her dad was only a year younger when he won his first NWA World Title. It didn’t take her nearly as long to amass her own legacy. With the kind of pace she’s cut over the years – The Queen has only just begun her reign.
8 Bertha Faye, WWE Women’s Champion - 34 Years, 187 Days
Considering no one on any roster speaks about Bertha Faye these days, plenty of younger fans might be wondering who this woman was. During the mid-nineties, the WWE, along with then-Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze, tried to bring competitive women’s wrestling stateside. As a product of Mildred Burke’s and Japan’s training, Bertha Faye certainly fit that bill. But interest waned fast on both WWE and Faye’s parts. She asked for and was granted her release.
7 Layla, Divas Champion - 34 Years, 92 Days
During the era of pinup Divas and catalog models, WWE found several beautiful lumps of coal that were squeezed into gorgeous diamonds. Layla El was a former dancer for the Miami Heat. She went on to win the 2006 Diva Search and would then go on to have a memorable career. After having a heel-tastic run as half of LayCool, she returned from injury at Extreme Rules 2012 and defeated Nikki Bella to win her first Divas Championship.
6 Natalya, Smackdown Women’s Champion - 35 Years, 85 Days
As “the curse of the good worker” goes, you’re almost always a bridesmaid and never a bride. It’s why the foundation of the women’s division seldom gets a shot to run with the title. That changed at SummerSlam 2017.
Natalya had been calling Naomi out for weeks as an embarrassment to the division. Much like her father and uncle years prior, Harts + SummerSlam = Championships. Nattie would walk away with the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
5 Jacqueline, WWE Women’s Champion - 36 Years, 25 Days
As a stalwart of any women’s division anywhere, Jacqueline helped out a lot of ladies during the Attitude Era. She also saved the entire division when she took out then-Champion, “Hervina” - Harvey Wippleman in drag. The Hall Of Famer would then also get the torch ready to hand off to Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley when the Billion Dollar Princess defeated her for the same title on the road to WrestleMania 2000.
4 Shayna Baszler, NXT Women’s Champion - 38 Years, 81 Days
Now that we’re firmly on the road to WrestleMania, it’s clear that Shayna Baszler is the new bell of the Raw Ball. But the cage-fighter has been tearing up the competition for years now, even before NXT. She might be relatively new to WWE, but that’s because she spent over a decade competing in MMA. Her last reign in NXT ended at the hands of Rhea Ripley, but it started by taking out Kairi Sane, and just about everyone else in NXT during her reign of terror.
3 Debra, WWE Women’s Champion - 39 Years, 69 Days
If you thought that Debra was just eye candy, then you should have seen her in the ring. Ok, she was nothing more than eye candy. But during this stage in the Attitude Era, that’s all most of the women had to be. Some, like Ivory or Jackie, could and wanted to go in the ring, but others, like Debra liked to make Jerry Lawler’s eyes pop out of their sockets as he exclaimed “puppies!” For 34 days in 1999 though, Debra carried the Women’s Championship as proudly as she would carry any other accessory.
2 Ivory, WWE Women’s Champion - 39 Years, 219 Days
The award for one of the most interesting career paths to WWE has to go Ivory. She started as a girl just trying to find acting work when she landed a role on GLOW. That puts her in acclaimed “trained by a Guerrero territory.”
Her last run with the Women’s Title came when she was part of the Right To Censor. She was able to somehow survive Chyna at the 2001 Royal Rumble, who kayfabe broke her neck. But she wouldn’t be able to survive the Ninth Wonder again at WrestleMania X-Seven, when the degenerate diva would trample Ivory to take the gold.
1 The Fabulous Moolah, WWE Women’s Champion - 76 Years, 87 Days
So many superstars on this list might surprise a fan reading this, but the Fabulous Moolah should come as no surprise here - when she won her first title in 1956, she was already as old as Charlotte and Nia Jax. When she returned during the Attitude Era to take on Ivory, she was as old your grandma - 76 years old and the Fabulous Moolah was again on top of the world.