- The WWE Women’s United States Championship was unveiled on SmackDown, this week
- The new title is the first secondary Women’s Title in WWE main roster history
- WWE have signed several high-profile women’s stars from across the world in recent months
On April 3, 2016, WWE reintroduced the Women’s Championship back to the company, after years in the pink butterfly adorned ‘Diva’s Title’ wilderness. Female talent were being taken seriously again and, within the colossal confines of the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks would be presented as one of the marquee attractions on the biggest show of the year, as they battled over who would be crowned WWE Women’s Champion and spearhead the the newly christened Women’s Revolution.
That Flair, Lynch and Banks (now plying her trade in All Elite Wrestling as Mercedes Mone) stole the show that balmy Texan evening eight years ago should come as no surprise. The trio had long been stealing shows in NXT and were now showing the wider world what they were capable of.
Eight years later and, while there have certainly been a few missteps along the way in establishing the WWE women’s division, suddenly, it feels as though we are on the cusp of witnessing another explosion into a new era. And this march into an even brighter future continued with the historic announcement of the Women’s United States Championship, this past Friday on SmackDown.
The title, unveiled by on-screen SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis, represents the first secondary championship in main roster women’s division history in WWE (the NXT Women’s Division saw a North American Title unveiled in April, this year). There has only ever been a World Title-level belt in the women’s singles division, while the Women’s Tag Team titles were introduced in 2019.
There is no word yet as to whether there will be a corresponding Intercontinental Title unveiled for the division over on the Raw brand, although it could make sense if the United States Championship is to be brand specific to SmackDown. Aldis did also not unveil how the inaugural Women’s US Champion would be coronated, whether via a tournament or a one-off match.
The introduction of the Women’s US Championship is not surprising, even if it did catch the roster off-guard this past week, with no one reportedly knowing about it until the day of the show. But given how heavily WWE are investing in their women’s division at NXT level, it is only logical that the main roster is bolstered with more hardware to duel over.
In the last few months Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer and Zaria (formerly Delta) have debuted in NXT, flying in from Japan, Mexico and Australia respectively with huge reputations and the resumés to back said reputations up.
On top of this, former TNA Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace is becoming more of a regular fixture on NXT television (as well as appearing in this year’s women’s Royal Rumble match) and, with her TNA contract expiring soon, is a talent we should likely get used to seeing in the old New York territory a lot more often from 2025 onwards. And when you consider how ludicrously talented the likes of Roxanne Perez, Kelani Jordan and Sol Ruca are, not to mention the promise of Lola Vice and Jaida Parker, the future is looking more than bright both down in the Orlando Performance Center and up in the big leagues.
A secondary women’s title has been discussed for years by WWE fans, clamouring for the female talent to be treated more and more like their male colleagues. Over the last seven years, the women’s division has earned their own Royal Rumble, their own Money In The Bank, two WrestleMania main events, their own dedicated PPV (although it would have been nice to see more than one of these, in fairness) Queen Of The Ring and their own tag team titles. A secondary title has long been conspicuous by its absence on that list.
Now it has arrived, Triple H and co have the opportune time to cement a legacy or two both for the title and it’s maiden reigns.
So, about that Women’s Intercontinenta Title…
