Category: WWE

In the old days of wrestling, anyone that won a championship would likely hang on to that title for years at a time. After all, the Fabulous Moolah had a women’s championship for more than 3,650…on two different occasions. In the more modern days, long reigns are harder to come by, but there have still been a few women to have incredible runs with a belt.

We want to focus on the post-Divas era, today, and look at the five greatest WWE Women’s Championship reigns. Before we start the list, here are some of the memorable title reigns that just missed the cut: Alexa Bliss (223 days between 2017 and 2018), Charlotte Flair 198 days between 2021 and 2022), and Sasha Banks (167 days between 2020 and 2021).

Asuka

There were no fans in attendance at the 2020 SummerSlam event, but those who watched the event were treated to the start of one of the greatest WWE Women’s Championship reigns. Coming into the match, Sasha Banks had held the Raw Women’s title for over a month after winning it from Asuka on Monday Night Raw.

Asuka would get her revenge, though, and it came at the second-biggest pay-per-view of the year. Asuka made Banks tap out, beginning her reign which would last until the next year’s WrestleMania. At 231 days, Asuka had one of the longest reigns before dropping the title to Rhea Ripley during the second night of WrestleMania 37.

Ronda Rousey

In the summer of 2018, Alexa Bliss won the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, and later that night cashed in the briefcase to take home the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. Bliss held on to the title for more than two months, and just like the first title change on the list, this one would come at SummerSlam. Bliss seemed like the massive underdog despite being the champion, taking on former UFC champion Ronda Rousey.

In front of a sold-out crowd in Brooklyn, New York, Rousey easily handled the undersized Bliss to begin her first title reign as Raw Women’s Champion. Rousey held the belt for 232 days, and like Asuka, she retained the title all the way up until the following year’s WrestleMania. Instead of Ripley, though, Rousey lost her belt to Becky Lynch (more on that later).

Bianca Belair

While she was in the developmental process with the WWE, those who were higher up knew that Bianca Belair was destined to be a star. With a unique look thanks to her hair that could be used like a bullwhip and an overall amazing skillset, Belair was entered into the main event scene early on in her career. Belair would get her chance to win the WWE Raw Women’s Championship, taking on Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 38.

In front of nearly 80,000 people at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Belair and Lynch put on a classic match that lasted for almost 20 minutes. She would come out on top via pinfall and saw her title reign start to climb the list of the longest in the title’s history. Even in marquee matches at major pay-per-view events, Belair was able to retain her title and keep the reign going.

Becky Lynch

Whether you call her “The Man” or “Big Time Becks”, Becky Lynch has been perhaps the top women’s wrestler of her generation, and has the title history to prove it. Lynch has had several impressive reigns as champion, but the one that started in April 2019 was her best. It was then that WrestleMania 35 took place, and the main event was a triple-threat match between Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair, with both the Raw and Smackdown women’s titles on the line.

Lynch would overcome the odds and pin Rousey in the triple threat, spawning the “Becky 2 Belts” era. Lynch held on to the title without ever losing it in a match. The only reason the title changed hands was that Lynch left due to pregnancy and started Asuka’s first championship reign.

Bayley

While the other title reigns on the list started and ended at major pay-per-views, that wasn’t the case for the longest one in the modern era. On a Friday Night Smackdown in October 2019 in Las Vegas, Bayley took out Charlotte Flair in the main event to secure the Smackdown Women’s Championship.

Bayley had just lost the title earlier that week, which broke what would have been a 520+ day title reign. Still, Bayley was able to hold the title for 380 days, and it wasn’t until the Hell in the Cell pay-per-view the following year that she finally lost it to Sasha Banks.

You could be the greatest wrestler in the world and oozing with charisma, but it won’t mean a thing in the WWE if you don’t have the right gimmick. We’ve seen wrestlers over the years that were loaded with skills and could work a microphone like no other, but were toiling away with a bad gimmick.

Thankfully, some of those legends were able to repackage themselves and became main event-tier wrestlers after the change. Let’s take a look throughout wrestling history and revisit some of the gimmicks that the biggest names in wrestling used to have before being repackaged.

Before we get into the list, let’s take a look at some honorable mentions: Scott Steiner becomes Big Poppa Pump, The Sultan becomes Rikishi, Hulk Hogan becomes Hollywood Hogan, Bradshaw becomes JBL, and Husky Harris becomes Bray Wyatt.

5. Triple H

When he first made it into pro wrestling, Paul Levesque went under the awful punny name of Terra Ryzing. Things didn’t get much better as the played the role of a Connecticut aristocrat during his time in WCW, which was tweaked slightly, and the ‘Greenwich Snob’ went by the very upper-crust name of Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

When teaming up with Shawn Michaels and joining D-Generation X, the name was just shortened to Triple H. Eventually, Triple H completely distanced himself from his old gimmick when announcers referred to him more as “The Game” and “The Cerebral Assasin” and it was a massive improvement.

4. Kane

Glenn Jacobs went through a lot of gimmicks early on in his wrestling career, and that includes playing an insane dentist named Isaac Yankem, DDS. Others included Angus King, the Christmas Creature, Doomsday, and the “Fake” Diesel. He was clearly talented, but none of his gimmicks were sticking. That was, however, until he was repackaged as the Devil’s favorite demon, Kane.

It turns out, fans were more enthralled with a man that was straight from the depths of hell rather than a dentist. Kane became one of the staples of the Attitude Era and was involved in the biggest storylines of the time as he proved to be a great main event heel for the likes of Stone Cold, Mankind, and The Rock.

3. Sting

Sting became one of the biggest stars of the WCW, looking like a character straight out of “American Gladiators” with a name to boot. The surfer gimmick for Sting was definitely a product of its time, and while it got it over with fans, it needed to be tweaked in the late 1990s. Thankfully, the film “The Crow” had become popular at the time, and Sting took on the same look.

Wrestler Scott Hall came up with the idea for Sting to change from the surfer gimmick to the brooding character in black and white face paint. The bold idea paid off big time and he became one of the faces of the WCW during its prime years.

2. The Rock

In terms of wrestlers that have gotten over in the mainstream just as much as they did in the wrestling ring, nobody holds a candle to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He wasn’t always The Rock, though, as he started out his WWE career as Rocky Maivia and dressed in a way that certainly helped him to stand out, but not to get over.

Dropping the last name and completely overhauling his gimmick, Johnson became simply known as The Rock and joined the Nation of Domination stable. Going on his own as the people’s champ and eventually joining the Corporation stable, Johnson was able to showcase his charisma and was massively over.

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

It’s hard to picture, especially for young people, a Steve Austin that had long blonde hair. However, that’s exactly how Austin came into pro wrestling as a member of The Dangerous Alliance and The Hollywood Blonds while in WCW. After a brief stint in ECW, Austin headed to the WWE in 1995 as The Ringmaster, but quickly changed gimmicks to Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Austin became a beer-swilling butt-kicking redneck character that appealed to the blue collar crowds. There was no bigger star during the Attitude Era than Stone Cold, and he showed that you can pull off a vest and bald head in the wrestling ring.