Ranking All WWE First Time Women's Champions
The new batch of NXT UK episodes have ended, yielding a fantastic match-up between Toni Storm and Rhea Ripley. The two former Mae Young Classic competitors including this years winner tore the house down to determine the British brands' inaugural woman's champion. In a stunning result, the brash Ripley came through giving the babyface Storm a perfect target to chase for the coming year.
Though stalled by technical issues, NXT UK is off to a great start along with its burgeoning women's division bound to grow tenfold in the next few years. It's the perfect microcosm to the growing affinity for the women's division across the board in WWE and the quality produced by its combatants on a daily basis. This is after all the year where the all women's PPV Evolution shined head and shoulders above a myriad of inconsistent programming, barring NXT.
With a rumoured Women's Tag team title to join the ranks, the championship cabinet in WWE for the formerly known Divas has never been stronger. As such it would be interesting to examine this lineage of the women's championships and figure how each one and their respective originators AKA first champions have led to the current explosion of the women's Evolution.
Ranking the six different women's championships across the history of the WWE according to their inaugural champions is no mean feat, but we shall try.
Unranked: Rhea Ripley, NXT UK Women's Champion
Of course, it would be unfair to rank the latest addition to the championship column of WWE's women's division. The seventh women's title to introduced to the company just crowned its first champion. Ripley is a stellar banter fighter to begin the lineage of this title, carrying it with a heelish swagger, as a great foil to the face of the division; Toni Storm.
There's a great amount of talent to elevate this championship in the NXT UK Division. Apart from the aforementioned Ripley and Storm, there is the starlet Xia Brookside (daughter of British stalwart Robbie Brookside), Charlie Morgan AKA Yasmin Lander who's well-traveled. Apart from that, there is hardcore fighter Killer Kelly and above all else current PROGRESS Women's champion Jinny.
All that talent just adds tension to Ripley's nascent reign, if she were to or not even fight them back the truth is this title will no doubt shine. NXT has become a beacon of hope in WWE including its women's title, the same will come true for the UK version with a game Ripley at the helm. Watch out for this championship and brand, it's going to rock!