8 times women held pro wrestling titles in the Men's Division.

Women's pro wrestling goes back in history for more than a hundred years. Despite this longevity, women have struggled to be taken seriously in what has been, for most of its existence, a male-dominated industry.

Early women wrestlers were part of the carnival sideshow act, just like the men. Many of these women were not especially large or powerful, but were well-schooled by the Hookers and Shooters--legit wrestlers with genuine Greco Roman credentials--so they could defeat their typical opponents; men selected from the crowd.

Because wrestling is as much about skill as strength, the women often defeated the local men. Eventually, someone had the idea of women wrestling each other, and as the sport transitioned from a legit athletic contest to more of a performance, women went along for the ride.

In the 1950s there was a women's pro wrestling boom, led by the controversial but significant figure, Fabulous Moolah. The developing medium of broadcast television helped put women's wrestling in homes across the world.

But then there was a decline in women's wrestling, and it had all but vanished from the United States by the mid-1980s. The only promotions featuring women's wrestling regularly were either across the sea or titillation like GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).

Thankfully, the Women's Evolution has changed all of that. Women main evented Wrestlemania for the first time in history in 2019's Wrestlemania 35 and Becky Lynch remains arguably the most marketable star the WWE has on their roster.

Recently, Tessa Blanchard turned heads by challenging for the Impact World Title and turned out victorious. But she is not the first woman to hold a major men's championship.

Here are eight times women have held men's championships in pro wrestling.

#1 Chyna - WWE Intercontinental Championship

Chyna holds up the Intercontinental championship she had just won in 1999.

One of the most dearly missed performers of the Attitude Era who is no longer with us, Chyna turned a lot of heads when she debuted with Hunter Hearst Helmsley (now known as Triple H) acting as his manager/valet.

Standing at just under six feet tall and weighing nearly two hundred pounds, the muscular amazon presented a stark contrast to the typical female in WWE during that era. Unlike many valets of the past, Chyna presented a legit physical threat to Triple H's opponents.

Eventually, Chyna started wrestling herself and wound up embroiled in a feud with Jeff Jarrett, a future WWE Hall of Fame member and the founder of Impact wrestling. Jarrett was due to jump ship to then-rival WCW but demanded additional payment from WWE to drop the IC title. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn't because Jarrett was misogynist: His WWE contract had expired, and he had no obligation to work the match at all.

The match itself was a "Good Housekeeping" bout, which was sort of like a hardcore bout except that household items were utilized as weaponry. Unfortunately, Chyna's IC title reign was brief but remains an important achievement.

#2 Daffney - WCW Cruiserweight Champion

Daffney wins her first--and only--major championship, which just happens to be in the men's division.

During the fading years of WCW, the promotion was rife with bad decisions from both booking and a business perspective.

But one of the things that actually worked was the strange triad of David Flair, Crowbar, and Daffney, Flair's sort-of girlfriend in the all crazy people stable.

During an angle, WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Candido put his title on the line against Crowbar and Daffney in a mixed tag match. Crowbar and Daffney won, becoming co-champions, though Daffney would defeat Crowbar the following week and claim the title for herself exclusively.

Daffney was an athletic star trained in Lucha Libre style moves, and quite over with the fans, but WCW didn't keep the belt on her for long.

Later, Madusa also captured the Cruiserweight title, but her reign is tainted by the fact that her opponent, Evan Karagais, essentially gave up when they started making out in the ring, allowing himself to be 'pinned.'

#3 Molly Holly - WWE Hardcore Championship

Molly Holly in WWE.

When WWE first introduced the Hardcore championship, it was intended to be a joke from the get-go. Mankind rescued the broken WWE championship that Macho Man broke up with a hammer and 'fixed' it with generous amounts of glue and tape.

Fans didn't care much for the title until Crash Holly won the belt and announced he would defend the title 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so long as a WWE official referee was present.

This led to one of the most chaotic and fun messes in WWE history, as half the locker room attempted to wrest the belt from Holly.

Another Holly, Molly Holly, would actually win the title for a very brief period before losing it herself. She was one of several women who would hold the belt but not actually keep it for long, but Holly is probably the best known among them for her actual in-ring competition. Thus, she represents the other women who have held the title as well as herself for the purposes of this list.

#4 Miss Jackie - WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Miss Jackie proved to be an unlikely--but successful--challenger for Chavo Guerrero's Cruiserweight championship.

Back in 2004, the women's evolution was a ways off yet, but WWE made a surprising move for one of their longest-tenured women stars.

Miss Jackie had wrestled extensively on the indie circuit as Miss Texas, particularly in the South West. She was brought in to WWE during the Attitude Era and functioned in a variety of roles, usually as a manager but also competing in the women's division.

Jackie was one of the most skilled females on their roster at the time, and the company decided to take advantage of that. During Chavo Guerrero's open challenge days, Jackie would answer and unseat the overconfident champion.

To be fair, the interference of Chavo Classic - that would be Chavo Guerrero Sr, Chavo Jr.'s real-life father - had as much to do with it as anything else.

Though Jackie would quickly drop the belt back to Chavo, it remains one of the more unpredictable and wild moments in WWE history.

#5 Princess Kimber Lee - Chikara Grand Champion

Princess Kimber Lee with the Chikara Grand Championship.

Our next entry on the list comes to us courtesy of the wild, insane, and downright goofy CHIKARA promotion.

Ostensibly a Lucha Libre styled wrestling company, Chikara has an 'anything goes' style of booking and character creation. One of their top stables are all wrestling ants. Yes, wrestling ants.

As a Lucha Libre promotion, albeit an insanely silly one, Chikara execs have never had any qualms about featuring intergender matches, and do so regularly. Kimber Lee led a team of underdog wrestlers (two of whom had ice cream cone gimmicks. No, they didn't eat ice cream; they WERE ice cream) to victory and won the right to challenge for ANY belt, at any time, much like cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase in WWE except that it was for any title.

Kimber Lee waited until Grand Champion Hallowicked had successfully defended his title in a grueling match before cashing in. She locked in an armbar submission and won the Chikara Grand Championship in 2015.

Kimber Lee would become the first woman to hold ANY promotion's 'big belt,' beating larger companies to the punch.

#6 Sexy Star - Lucha Underground Champion

Another controversial figure in women's wrestling who has won a men's division title is Lucha Underground's Sexy Star.

Lucha Underground demonstrated 'out of the box' thinking when it came to the way they presented their product, not to mention how they booked it.

Unlike most other wrestling promotions, Lucha Underground has 'seasons,' meaning that their athletes aren't constantly on the road working for the company all year long.

Also unlike other wrestling promotions, Lucha Underground has actually KILLED OFF their characters (not the actual wrestlers playing them, thank goodness). While some may decry this practice, you can't argue that it's innovative.

But Lucha Underground also bravely put their main big belt championship around the toned, muscular waist of Sexy Star. She won the title in an Aztec Warfare match - Lucha Underground's version of a battle royal.

Sexy Star is a capable wrestler and has the tools to compete against men. Unfortunately, she became embroiled in controversy after breaking another competitor's arm during a match, either through sloppiness or out and out malice.

Nonetheless, she remains an icon for women's wrestling, being the second-ever woman to hold a major promotion's big belt title in the men's division.

#7 Maria Kanellis - WWE 24/7 Champion

Maria Kanellis is the first-ever pregnant champion, much to the chagrin of those superstars chasing the title.

The WWE 24/7 title was intended to be the spiritual successor of the original Hardcore championship, especially when it began to be defended twenty four hours a day.

Fans and critics alike seem to enjoy the chaos that ensues as a result of the title's unique stipulation, which allows any competitor to challenge for it at any time, so long as a WWE official referee is present.

R-Truth clung to the belt for some time, even if he would occasionally lose it for short periods he would gain it back. But then Mike Kanellis would win the title, and while on a doctor's visit with his wife Maria, she berated him into laying down so she could pin him for the belt.

The idea was that no one would be willing to risk harm to Maria's unborn child by attempting to pin her for the belt. Maria proudly proclaimed herself as the first pregnant champion in wrestling history, before her husband would sneakily pin her to win the title back.

As infuriating as this angle was to fans, it is an important milestone in history.

#8 Tessa Blanchard - Impact World Championship

Love her or hate her, the talent and charisma of Tessa Blanchard are undeniable.

Our final entry on the list of women who have held men's championships is the biggest name who has captured the most high profile title belt of those listed.

Tessa Blanchard captured the Impact World Championship at the Hard to Kill pay-per-view, becoming the first woman to hold the company's big belt and turning away a fierce and violent competitor in Sami Callihan.

Though she's become embroiled in controversy about things that may or may not have transpired in Japan, Tessa Blanchard remains a trailblazer for women who wrestle men. She has been presented as scrappy and tough, in contrast to being a 'Mary Sue' who just wins without seeming to expend any effort.

No matter where you sit on the fence about women wrestling for men's titles, you have to admit that her accolade is impressive. Impact may not be as big as WWE, or as high profile as AEW, but the promotion has lasted longer than WCW or ECW did during their runs, and that includes the WWE revival of ECW.

There you have it; Eight times women have held men's division championship belts. Questions or comments? Please leave them after the article,and as always thanks for reading!