For years, WWE struggled to find a place for women’s wrestling. Vince never really saw women’s wrestling as a huge draw in America, and there was certainly a time when that was the case. Despite a brief effort to legitimize the concept in the mid-90s, the company eventually fell back on turning women’s matches into a glorified strip show. While the dawn of the new millennium was not exactly the dawn of a new day for women wrestlers in WWE, the year 2000 marked a point when the lineage of the WWE Women’s/Divas Championship began to include the names of some of the best female wrestlers in the world.

Of course, it also featured some of the worst. That’s the fascinating thing about the history of championship women wrestlers in WWE. The discrepancy between the very best to ever hold the title and the absolute worst is simply stunning. The idea that the people on the opposite ends of this talent spectrum could have held the same belt is almost beyond belief. From the clearly bad to the all-time great, this is the ranking of every Women’s/Divas Champion from 2000 to the present day and from worst to best.

35 35. Hervina

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Hervina was the first women’s champion of the new millennium and certainly the worst. For those who don’t remember this character, Hervina was just long-time manager Harvey Wippleman dressed in drag. He defeated The Kat in a Lumberjill Snow Bunny match (don’t ask) and became the first male to ever win the women’s championship. To be entirely honest, a man winning the women’s championship could have actually been an interesting play on the storyline which saw Chyna win the Intercontinental Championship.

Instead, it proved to be a poorly booked title reign that didn’t get anybody over and lasted less than a day. If nothing else, Hervina will always have the honor of being the absolute worst women’s champion ever and the worst male to ever hold the title.

34 34. The Kat

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Speaking of The Kat, let’s talk about The Kat. Much like how Brian Christopher got a job in WWE by virtue of being Jerry Lawler’s son, The Kat got her start in the company by virtue of being Jerry Lawler’s girlfriend/wife. The difference was that Brian Christopher actually proved to be talented from time to time and The Kat...well...how to put this? If you want to be generous, you could say that The Kat was the perfect Women’s Champion for the Attitude Era. That’s less of a compliment, though, and more of a condemnation of how WWE booked their women’s division during this time.

The Kat pranced around in as little clothing as the censors would allow - sometimes much less - and put her competitors’ health at risk with her own brand of incompetent wrestling.

33 33. Candice Michelle

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WWE briefly flirted with the idea of treating their women’s division somewhat seriously - more on that later - they eventually fell back to the Attitude Era-style booking that worked so well for them in the past. As sad as that was, it’s somehow even worse that Candice Michelle won the championship during this time while wrestlers like Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler who deserved the title much more never even got the chance to enjoy a brief champion run.

While it’s true that Candice Michelle drew a decent amount of heat during her prime, she never threatened to be even a decent wrestler and also struggled mightily with cutting promos. If WWE was going to give the belt to a Candice Michelle-type, there were far better options.

32 32. Kelly Kelly

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Kelly Kelly’s WWE career history is a rather interesting example of the company’s creative team - or just Vince McMahon - refusing to give up on a wrestler that they have determined will be a star. Kelly Kelly joined WWE when she was just 19, and WWE did all they could to get her over as their next blond bombshell sensation. For years, WWE did everything they could to portray Kelly Kelly as a star. They even put the championship on her. None of it really worked for the simple reason that Kelly Kelly wasn’t a great wrestler, was largely devoid of personality, and couldn’t cut a promo. She wasn’t exactly unwatchable, but she failed to find her identity as either a heel or face.

31 31. Jillian Hall

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When Jillian Hall debuted on the main roster in 2005, she was saddled with a strange gimmick that revolved around a grotesque mole on her face that was eventually eaten by The Boogeyman. It’s one of the worst stories that WWE has ever run, and that is no small feat. As bad as that angle was, however, it would turn out to be the last time that Jillian Hall was really all that interesting. WWE tried a few different things with Hall - including her brief stint as an awful singer and the title run that got her on this list - but Hall was mediocre to bad across the board. Her matches were forgettable, her promos were sometimes acceptable, and she never really improved much even as her opportunities grew greater.

30 30. Melina

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In recent years, everyone that has ever worked with Melina in WWE have come out of the dark in order to share a few words regarding what a pain it was to supposedly work with the former Diva who certainly embodied that word. Was Melina ever really that bad of a performer, though? Well, yes and no. Melina wasn’t the best in-ring worker when she debuted in the company and she was green as grass on the microphone. Over time, she did eventually become comfortable working her Hollywood star character and served as a fairly respectable women’s heel at a time when the division was certainly lacking.

Having said all that, Melina doesn’t compare to the top-end entrants on this list and her noted attitude problems put her a few notches below performers that are arguably at least her equals.

29 29. Jazz

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Figuring out Jazz’s exact placement on this list is fairly difficult. WWE pushed Jazz as a serious wrestler during a time when the WWE women’s division still featured bra and panties matches and the like. Jazz was fit for the gimmick in the sense that she didn’t look like the typical diva and was a fairly decent wrestler but the truth of the matter is that Jazz wasn’t nearly good enough to kickstart some kind of revolution in the division. Jazz was also quite boring. Say what you will about some divas only pushed because of their looks, but a fair few of those wrestlers actually found ways to capture your attention. Jazz’s in-ring skills weren’t good enough for her to blow your mind with her matches, and she was devoid of personality.

28 28. Kaitlyn

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Kaitlyn debuted in WWE during a particularly bad time for the division. It was an era that was somewhere between the raunchy diva days and the women’s revolution. WWE didn’t want to overly sexualize their female performers, but they also weren’t quite ready to trust them to regularly have great matches. In many ways, Kaitlyn is the embodiment of that era. Were her matches unwatchable? Not exactly. Could she cut a promo? Eh. Did she look great? Absolutely. Ultimately, though, Kaitlyn is one of those wrestlers that you forget even held the Divas Championship until you actually look up a list of winners. Kaitlyn didn’t make the division any worse, but she was never nearly as good as WWE would have you believe that she was.

27 27. Stephanie McMahon

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It’s tempting to rank Stephanie lower on this list, and it’s equally tempting to place her higher on this list. The argument for a lower ranking is relatively simple. Stephanie was not a full-time wrestler when she won the women’s championship, and she wasn’t nearly as good of an overall performer as she would eventually become. The whole “Boss’s Daughter” thing is also certainly a knock against her championship reign. Still, for as hated as Stephanie winning the belt was at the time, you do have to remember that she was supposed to be hated. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that Stephanie’s championship reign was one of the few times during that era that the Women’s Championship was treated with even a measure of respectability. Still, there are others who deserve more credit.

26 26. Jacqueline

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When WWE announced that Jacqueline was going to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, some fans raised a concerned eyebrow. Their argument was that Jacqueline was an okay wrestler in her day, but is far from Hall of Fame worthy. While that might be the case, you do have to remember that Jacqueline came into WWE at a time when the company had no idea how to book the women’s division. Despite this, she is still remembered as a pretty respectable performer. Sure, she participated in evening gown matches, bikini matches, and similar bouts, but the same can be said of other performers who are very high on this list. At a time when WWE was desperate for respectable women’s wrestlers, Jacqueline helped create a template for the future.

25 25. Layla

It’s tempting to give Layla the love that she never really received during her WWE run by placing her higher on this list. Layla was someone that WWE would call on whenever they needed to fill an empty spot on the roster. Extra participant in a battle royal? Call Layla. Someone needs a tag team partner? Layla. Despite this, Layla made the most of her opportunities and eventually became champion. As fantastic as Layla could be, though, she was never really able to make that jump from “Sexy Diva” to “Fighting Champion.” She was a very good overall performer, but her in-ring skills were a step below the division’s best, and her heel work didn’t mature much over the years. Still, she would fit in well with the current division.

24 24. Maryse

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Your initial reaction might be that we’ve lost our minds and have clearly placed Maryse several places below her actual ranking. That’s a perfectly understandable reaction. Over the last several months, Maryse has really shined as Miz’s valet. Her husband’s natural charisma has seemingly inspired Maryse to really find herself and become a fantastic heel. However, the Maryse we see on television now is not the Maryse that once held the WWE Divas Championship. That Maryse was a fairly generic - though obviously attractive - performer who couldn’t work a babyface role to save her life. Maryse’s heel work was always okay, but a combination of bad booking and learning the ropes prevented her from reaching her full potential at that time. As for her ring work...did we mention she’s currently a valet?

23 23. Eve Torres

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Eve Torres is one of those wrestlers that you really wish would have gotten the chance to perform in the modern women’s division so we could have a better idea of what she is really capable of. As it stands, Eve’s legacy in terms of how she compares to other women’s wrestlers is a bit of a question mark. Eve was clearly not as bad as some of her contemporaries during the division’s least notable era. There were times, in fact, when it looked like Eve might actually become a truly great wrestler. Even if Eve had gotten the chance to work with a greater array of capable performers, she never really developed a compelling character and her promo skills were below those of Layla and some other wrestlers.

22 22. Alicia Fox

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Alicia Fox is sometimes saddled with the reputation of being the “other wrestler” of the modern era. As you can see from these rankings, she is clearly a few steps below her fellow performers. However, Alicia catches way too much heat for being a “bad wrestler.” Actually, she is an incredibly capable performer whose ring work is only a few steps below some of the better wrestlers in the women’s division. Fox’s problem seems to be that she came up during a time when WWE didn’t want their women’s wrestlers to do much more than smile and wave. As such, Fox never really had the chance to find her character or develop the intangibles that make good wrestlers great. Still, she’s much better than you might think she is.

21 21. Brie Bella

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When the Bella Twins arrived in WWE, they were little more than an excuse for WWE’s creative team to write more jokes and scenarios involving twins switching places in the ring. For the longest time, it seemed that Brie and Nikki were destined to be nothing more than a largely identical tag team. Then, something amazing happened. Brie and Nikki were given more to do and responded by actually upping their game. As you can tell by the rankings thus far, Brie never quite established herself as a singles competitor the same way that Nikki has. She might technically be a better in-ring wrestler than Nikki - that’s debatable - but Brie’s has relied too much on the success of Daniel Bryan and Nikki Bella over the years.

20 20. Molly Holly

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There are a lot of reasons to love Molly Holly. She played several great characters, was a respectable wrestler at a time when WWE desperately needed respectable women wrestlers, and she had an overall great attitude towards the nature of the business and what wins and losses really mean. Molly Holly the overall performer was great, but Molly Holly the champion? That’s a slightly different story. Holly’s championship run came at a time when WWE were just using her as a piece in a Trish Stratus storyline. She never really got to have many championship moments and always felt like a transitional champion. That’s a shame, but looking back, Molly was one of those performers who always worked best as a supporting character.

19 19. Ivory

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This is certainly where the rankings get a lot more tricky. Much like Molly Holly, Ivory was a breath of fresh air for WWE’s women’s division. She was sexualized just like most of the Attitude Era women wrestlers were, but Ivory has always championed for a more respectable take on women’s wrestling that allowed the division’s performers to be more than models. She was always a pretty good worker even though her skills were bolstered by the fact that many women wrestlers in WWE back then just couldn’t wrestle at all. Despite Ivory’s best efforts, she wasn’t really able to convince WWE to get serious about professional wrestling, at least not during her time with the company. Still, Ivory is one of the most division’s trailblazers.

18 18. Michelle McCool

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Not to start this entry off on a bad note, but much like Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool was never quite as good or quite as popular as WWE would have you believe that she was. Michelle McCool was the inaugural Divas Champion and helped kick off the division’s dreaded butterfly belt era. Along with her eventual running mate Layla, McCool was one of the few women on the roster during this time who was at least clearly capable of working an honest-to-god wrestling match. When she finally turned heel and formed LayCool, Michelle McCool found the right mix of character and skill that helped her to finally do more than just put on a few good wrestling matches. McCool was one of the best performers of her era, for whatever that is worth to you.

17 17. Nikki Bella

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A couple years ago, many wrestling fans would have told you that Brie is clearly the more talented wrestler of the Bella twins. Nikki was always seen as more of the glamor model whose career success could be traced back to the fact that she is married to John Cena. While Nikki’s early years were pretty rough, she has turned things around in recent years and actually become an incredible heel and fairly respectable in-ring worker. Nikki isn’t quite on the same level as the four horsewomen, but you do have to give her credit for realizing that times were changing in the women’s division and she had to step up her game in order to keep up. Nikki is able to keep up with some supremely gifted modern wrestlers.

16 16. Naomi

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Naomi is another wrestler whose true talent has only emerged in recent years. Well, technically, recent months. Prior to joining the SmackDown roster, Naomi was thought of as a mostly untalented background performer who was good enough to keep her job, but not really good enough to hold your attention. That all changed when Naomi really established her “glow” gimmick. This seemingly simple change of character gave Naomi a new purpose and gave people a reason to recognize that Naomi has always been a fairly decent wrestler who finally found the perfect character. People were surprised when Naomi won the championship, but watch any Naomi match, and you’re sure to spot several awesome moves, some great selling, and a whole lot of personality. She’s a very good wrestler who is only going to get better.