WWE Divas Championship

WWE Divas Championship
Details
Promotion	WWE
Date established	July 20, 2008
Date retired	April 3, 2016

The WWE Divas Championship was a professional wrestling championship in WWE. The championship was created by WWE in 2008, and was introduced in storyline by then-SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero as an alternative to Raw's Women's Championship. Michelle McCool became the inaugural champion on July 20, 2008 when she defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash. After former Divas Champion Maryse was drafted to Raw as part of the 2009 WWE Draft, she took the title with her. Michelle McCool won a match to unify the WWE Divas and Women's titles at the Night of Champions pay-per-view on September 19, 2010, creating the Unified Divas Championship. The title retired on April 3, 2016, being replaced by the WWE Women's Champion.

History

With the first WWF Brand Extension, a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to different television programs and touring companies, in 2002, the WWE Women's Championship was originally to be defended on both brands. At some point that year, however, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. Thereafter, only Divas on the Raw brand were able to compete for the title, while the Divas on the SmackDown brand were unable to compete for a women's-exclusive championship. However, on a few occasions the regulation was bypassed with Melina, Ashley, Torrie Wilson and Nidia challenging for the title while on the SmackDown! brand, but none were successful.

As a result, WWE created the WWE Divas Championship and introduced it on the June 6, 2008 episode of SmackDown when then SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced the creation of the title. The championship belt was officially unveiled on the July 4, 2008 episode of SmackDown. After winning respective matches to earn the opportunity to wrestle for the new championship, Michelle McCool defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash to become the inaugural champion. When Maryse won the title from McCool in December 2008, she dislocated her kneecap at a live event later that month. Similar to how Trish Stratus kept the Women's Championship when she was sidelined with a herniated disc in 2005, Maryse was able to keep the Divas Title upon her return in late January 2009. As part of the 2009 WWE Draft, then-Divas Champion Maryse was one of the people drafted to the Raw brand, in the process making the championship exclusive to Raw.

It was announced on the August 30, 2010 episode of Raw that the Divas Championship would be unified with the Women's Championship at a match at Night of Champions. And with that, the title (known briefly as the WWE Unified Divas Championship) became accessible to both WWE brands and the champion could appear on both shows, a situation made permanent by the ending of the Brand Extension in 2011.

So far, it continues to defend on Raw, SmackDown and pay per view events

Reigns

There have been 20 total reigns. The inaugural champion was Michelle McCool, who defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash on July 20, 2008.

Eve Torres is the only three-time Divas Champion in history, the most reigns in the title history. Maryse holds the record for second longest combined reigns at 265 days. The longest reigning champion is AJ Lee with 218+ days. Jillian is the shortest reigning champion, with her reign lasting 4 minutes and 30 seconds after her loss to Melina.

The last holder of the championship was Charlotte, who defeated Nikki Bella at Night of Champions on September 20, 2015 in Houston, Texas.