, shown here after winning the title for a third time when it was known as the SmackDown Women's Championship at
WrestleMania 35, along with the then-
Raw Women's Championship (right). The Women's World Championship was originally established as the SmackDown Women's Championship on August 23, 2016. Its creation came as a result of the American
professional wrestling promotion
WWE reintroducing the
brand extension, where the company again divided its roster between the
Raw and
SmackDown brands where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform; the first brand split ended in August 2011. During the
2016 draft, reigning
WWE Women's Champion Charlotte was drafted to Raw, leaving SmackDown without a women's championship. Immediately following
SummerSlam on the August 23, 2016, episode of
SmackDown, SmackDown commissioner
Shane McMahon and general manager
Daniel Bryan unveiled the SmackDown Women's Championship (Raw's title was subsequently renamed as Raw Women's Championship). A
six-pack elimination challenge was then scheduled for
Backlash on September 11, 2016, to determine the inaugural champion. The six women who competed at SummerSlam in the
six-woman tag team match were chosen for the six-pack challenge:
Alexa Bliss,
Becky Lynch,
Carmella,
Naomi,
Natalya, and
Nikki Bella. Lynch became the inaugural champion when she last eliminated Carmella. The
NXT Women's Championship would become WWE's third main women's title when
NXT, the promotion's
developmental brand, became recognized as WWE's third major brand in September 2019 when it was moved to the
USA Network. However, this recognition was reversed when NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand in September 2021.
Inaugural championship match The title headlined a
WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event for the first time at
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2018, where Becky Lynch defended it in a
triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against Charlotte Flair and
Asuka, which Asuka won; this was also the first women's TLC triple threat match. The title was then on the line in a
winner takes all triple threat match in the main event of
WrestleMania 35 in April 2019, where Flair defended the title against Raw Women's Champion
Ronda Rousey and Lynch, who won the match. This was the first women's match to main event a
WrestleMania – WWE's flagship event. At
Super ShowDown in February 2020, the title became the first women's championship to be defended in
Saudi Arabia, where
Bayley retained the title over Naomi; this was only the second women's match contested in the country. The title would again be on the line in the main event of a WrestleMania, this time Night 1 of
WrestleMania 37 in April 2021 where
Bianca Belair defeated
Sasha Banks to win the title; this was also the first time that two African-Americans headlined a WrestleMania and only the second women's match to main event the annual show. The title was defended for a second time in Saudi Arabia at
Crown Jewel in 2021, where Becky Lynch retained against Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match. As a result of the
2023 WWE Draft, the Raw and SmackDown women's championships switched brands and there were no title changes for either championship before draft results went into effect on May 8. The issue of the SmackDown Women's Championship being on Raw was then resolved on the June 12, 2023, episode of
Raw. That night, WWE official
Adam Pearce unveiled a new championship belt to reigning champion
Rhea Ripley, with the title subsequently renamed as the Women's World Championship. This came shortly after the Raw Women's Championship reverted to its original name of WWE Women's Championship on June 9. == Brand designation history ==