First 5 WWE NXT Women's Champions: Where are they now?
WWE's Black and Gold brand is possibly one of the most premier brands in terms of quality professional wrestling.
Starting as a developmental territory that focused on grooming up and coming wrestlers to become the Superstars of tomorrow, NXT has come a long way. It is now officially recognized by the company as its third brand after RAW and SmackDown.
WWE NXT is also one of the go-to shows to watch good quality women's wrestling. The brand boasts of a stellar women's division which consists of some of the top women's wrestlers in the business.
WWE NXT introduced the NXT Women's Championship way back in 2013 as the top prize for the female Superstars. Gradually, it came to be recognized as a World Championship along with the RAW Women's Championship and the SmackDown Women's Championship.
From inaugural champion Paige to current champion Rhea Ripley, the Championship has come to be regarded as one of the most prestigious women's Championship in pro-wrestling.
In fact, Rhea Ripley will be making history by defending the NXT Women's Championship against 10-time Women's Champion Charlotte Flair this weekend at WrestleMania 36
Several Superstars who have won the title have then gone on to graduate to the 'main roster' where they have become Champions too.
Today, we will take a look at the first five Superstars to have won the NXT Women's Championship and how they're faring currently.
#1 Paige
Paige burst onto the scene of NXT as a non-conformist young woman. Clad in all black who shattered the norms of what it means to be a 'Diva' - a term that was introduced by WWE to refer to its female performers or Superstars.
Aptly dubbed as the Anti-Diva, Paige went on to show the NXT Universe that despite her young age, she had loads of experience coming from a family of professional wrestlers.
She quickly became popular with the NXT Universe and it was not long before she got crowned as the inaugural NXT Women's Champion. Paige made history by becoming the youngest NXT Women's Champion.
She also became the youngest Divas Champion - a title that has been retired since - by defeating AJ Lee when she made her RAW debut on the night after WrestleMania XXX.
As mentioned earlier, Paige would later play a significant role in kickstarting the 'Women's Revolution'. That led to the Divas Championship and the term Divas being retired by WWE at WrestleMania 32. WWE replaced the Divas Championship with the RAW Women's Championship.
Paige would have gone on to earn more achievements within WWE, had it not been for the unfortunate accident. She was forced to retire from in-ring competition after suffering an injury in a match against Sasha Banks at a live event.
The Anti-Diva has since then appeared in backstage and managerial roles and has also not ruled out the possibility of making a return to the ring in the future.
A film based on her life, titled 'Fighting With My Family' was released in 2019 and received critical acclaim.
In the movie, actress Florence Pugh played the role of Paige on-screen and the movie also featured Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Currently, Paige acts as a contributor for WWE's studio show, WWE Backstage.