NXT UK Women's Championship


The NXT UK Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on their NXT UK brand division, a sister brand of NXT based in the United Kingdom. Established on 18 June 2018, the inaugural champion was Rhea Ripley. The current champion is Kay Lee Ray, who is in her first reign and is the longest reigning champion.
WWE had originally announced plans for a United Kingdom-based brand in December 2016, however, it was not until mid-2018 when NXT UK was formally established as that brand. The NXT UK Women's Championship was then introduced during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament. Although it is one of four singles championships for women in WWE, it is viewed as a step below the promotion's three main brand titles, the WWE Raw Women's Championship, WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, and NXT Women's Championship.

History

In a press conference at The O2 Arena on 15 December 2016, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced plans to establish a United Kingdom-based brand on which professional wrestlers from the country would compete. A men's title, the WWE United Kingdom Championship, was established that same day, however, it was not until mid-2018 when NXT UK was formally established as the United Kingdom-based brand, and sister brand of the American-based NXT. On 18 June during the first night of the 2018 United Kingdom Championship Tournament, the NXT UK Women's Championship, along with the NXT UK Tag Team Championship, was announced for the NXT UK brand. Afterwards, a two-day eight-woman single-elimination tournament was scheduled to crown the inaugural champion during the first tapings of NXT UK. During the 26 August tapings, Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the tournament final to become the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion.
In January 2020, WWE briefly began referring to the women's championship as the "NXT UK Championship" to bring it on an equal level as the men's title, though reverted back to calling it the NXT UK Women's Championship soon after; it remained as NXT UK Women's Championship on the official title history during this time.

Inaugural tournament

Championship belt design

The championship belt was revealed during the 25 August tapings of NXT UK. It is nearly identical to its male counterpart, the NXT United Kingdom Championship. Like the United Kingdom Championship, the center plate is modeled after the United Kingdom's royal coat of arms, featuring a lion and a horse on either side of the arms, while at the center of the plate features a shield with the NXT UK logo; atop the shield are the crown jewels. Above the arms is a banner that reads "United Kingdom", directly below the shield is a banner that reads "Women's", and below that is a banner that reads "Champion". Gold divider bars separate the center plate from the belt's two side plates. In what has become a prominent feature for WWE's championship belts, the two side plates feature removable center sections that can be replaced with the current champion's logo; the default side plates feature the WWE logo on a red globe. Like the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championship belts, the strap is white and smaller than the men's.

Reigns

As of , there have been three reigns. Rhea Ripley was the inaugural champion. Kay Lee Ray is the longest reigning champion at + days, while Rhea Ripley has the shortest reign at 139 days. Ripley is also the youngest champion when she won the title at the age of 21 while Ray is the oldest at 27.
The current champion is Kay Lee Ray. She defeated Toni Storm on 31 August 2019 at in Cardiff, Wales.