Most Reigns
The NWA World Women’s Championship stands as one of the most historically significant women’s wrestling titles ever created. Its lineage traces back to February 11, 1937, when Mildred Burke defeated Clara Mortensen to capture the Women’s World Championship.
When the National Wrestling Alliance was formally established and began organizing professional wrestling under a unified governing body, Burke was officially recognized as the inaugural NWA World Women’s Champion in 1950. Burke was a trailblazer in every sense of the word, drawing large crowds across NWA territories and proving that women’s matches could be legitimate main event attractions during the post-war era.
Burke’s reign came to a controversial end on August 20, 1954, in Atlanta, Georgia, when she faced June Byers in a two-out-of-three falls match. The bout was halted by the commissioner after Byers won the first fall, and the match was ruled a no-contest. Despite the inconclusive finish, Byers was awarded the NWA World Women’s Championship by the NWA board. This decision split the wrestling world.
Byers had already staked a claim to the title after winning a 10-woman world championship tournament on April 14, 1953, in Baltimore, Maryland, where she defeated Nell Stewart in the final. Most NWA promoters recognized Byers as the rightful champion going forward, while Burke refused to accept the decision. Burke went on to create the WWWA World Championship and was recognized as its first champion, defending that title until her retirement in 1956. The original NWA Women’s Championship belt made its final appearance in an NWA ring on the night of the Burke-Byers match.
Following June Byers’ retirement in January 1964, the championship’s history became indistinguishably linked with one woman: Lillian Ellison, better known as The Fabulous Moolah. Moolah had first claimed a version of the title on September 18, 1956, in Baltimore, Maryland, defeating Judy Grable in a tournament final. However, her recognition was not universal at the time.
Promoters in the Northeastern United States, particularly those affiliated with the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (the precursor to the World Wrestling Federation), recognized Moolah as champion, while many other NWA promoters continued to acknowledge Byers until her retirement. Once Byers stepped away from the ring, Moolah became the universally recognized NWA World Women’s Champion.
Moolah’s dominance of the championship was nearly absolute. Over the next two decades, she controlled the women’s wrestling landscape, with only a handful of brief title changes interrupting her reign. Betty Boucher defeated Moolah on September 17, 1966, in Seattle, Washington. Boucher successfully defended against Judy Grable during her short reign before Moolah regained the title on October 3, 1966, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Moolah then lost the championship to Yukiko Tomoe on March 10, 1968, in Osaka, Japan, during a tour of the country, only to win it back on April 2, 1968, in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. A decade later, Evelyn Stevens captured the title on October 8, 1978, in Dallas, Texas, but Moolah reclaimed it the very next night on October 9, 1978, in Fort Worth, Texas. These brief losses did little to diminish Moolah’s stranglehold on the division.
The championship’s trajectory changed dramatically in 1983 when the World Wrestling Federation formally withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance. As part of this split, Moolah sold the physical NWA World Women’s Championship belt and its associated rights to WWF owner Vince McMahon.
The title was rebranded as the WWF Women’s Championship, with Moolah recognized as the reigning champion under the WWF banner. The WWF didn’t acknowledge any of the title changes that had occurred since Moolah was first awarded the championship in 1956, effectively rewriting the title’s history to present her as having held it continuously. This sale left the NWA without a women’s championship for the first time since 1950.
The NWA reestablished its women’s title in February 1986, introducing a new championship belt and crowning a new champion. On February 13, 1986, in San Jose, California, Debbie Combs won a battle royal to become the new NWA World Women’s Champion, restarting the title’s lineage independent of the WWF.
The late 1980s and early 1990s brought a chaotic disputed era. Misty Blue Simms was recognized as champion by JCP and later WCW beginning in August 1987, while Combs continued defending the NWA-recognized version.
WCW’s lineage passed through Susan Sexton and Bambi before going vacant, and JCP recognized Peggy Lee Leather and later Bambi as champion in 1994. Throughout this confusion, the NWA maintained Combs as the legitimate titleholder.
The official lineage resumed cleanly in 1996 when Malia Hosaka defeated Combs on May 9 in Johnson City, Tennessee, only for Combs to regain it the next night. She was stripped of the title by the NWA in October 1996, and the title went dormant for several years.
The championship was revived on October 14, 2000, in Nashville when Strawberry Fields defeated Leilani Kai, though an injury forced a vacancy shortly after.
From 2002 onward, the title moved through the independent scene with more frequent changes. Madison, Char Starr, and Leilani Kai traded the championship before Kai was stripped in June 2004 for no-shows. The title then passed through Kiley McLean, Lexie Fyfe, and Christie Ricci before MsChif captured it in January 2007. Amazing Kong’s reign in 2007 brought increased visibility to the championship before MsChif regained it in April 2008.
Tasha Simone became the most prominent champion of the early 2010s, winning the title three times between 2010 and 2012. The championship continued through Kacee Carlisle and Barbi Hayden before Santana Garrett captured it on February 7, 2015, in Plant City, Florida. Amber Gallows ended Garrett’s reign in December 2015 via a four-way elimination match in Sherman, Texas.
On September 16, 2016, Jazz defeated Gallows and Christi Jaynes in a three-way match in the same city, capturing the championship and closing out this chapter of the title’s history. With Jazz’s victory, the NWA retired the hexagonal belt design in use since 2014, returned to the classic 1986 three-plate design, and renamed the title the NWA World Women’s Championship.
