The championship was first introduced on April 5, 2013 at WrestleMania Axxess. It was announced at the May 30, 2013 tapings (broadcast on the June 5 episode) of WWE NXT, by Stephanie McMahon that there would be a tournament, featuring four developmental divas and four divas from the main roster competing to be crowned as the inaugural NXT Women's Champion in a knockout system format.[1][2][3] The first NXT Women's Champion was crowned on June 20, 2013, with Paige defeating Emma in the tournament finals.[4]
Paige successfully defended her title at NXT Arrival against Emma using her new Scorpion Cross-Lock, but John Layfield stripped Paige of the title on the April 24 edition of NXT in order to give the divas on NXT a chance, as Paige had been brought up to the main roster upon defeating AJ Lee for WWE's Divas Championship.
A new tournament was started the following week, which saw Sasha Banks qualify over Bayley, Natalya qualify over Layla, Alexa Bliss qualify over Alicia Fox and Charlotte qualify over former number-one contender, Emma. In the semifinals, Natalya defeated Sasha Banks, and Charlotte defeated Alexa Bliss. At NXT TakeOver, Charlotte defeated Natalya to win the vacant NXT Women's Championship and she is also the oldest champion at age 28. At NXT TakeOver: Rival, Sasha Banks won the championship in a Fatal 4-Way match against Charlotte, Bayley and Becky Lynch. On August 23 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Bayley won the championship from Sasha Banks in a highly-rated match. On the September 16 episode of NXT, General Manager — William Regal announced that Bayley will defend her title against Sasha Banks in the main event at NXT TakeOver: Respect on October 7 in the first ever 30–minute Iron Woman match in WWE history.[5] At the event, Bayley defeated Banks in a rematch for the championship, scoring the win with 3 falls to 2.[6][7]
As of November 24, 2024, there have been four champions; two of which won tournaments to become the champion — Paige and Charlotte. The title has only had one vacancy so far. Paige is the inaugural champion, who defeated Emma in a tournament final on June 20, 2013 during the NXT tapings; her reign is also the longest at 308 days. Sasha Banks holds the shortest reign at 192 days. Bayley is the current champion, who defeated Banks to win the title at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on August 22, 2015.
Reign
The reign number for the specific wrestler listed
Location
The city in which the title was won
Event
The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won