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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.
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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.
A former WWE writer just went after JBL for his comments HERE
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.
#2 Charlotte Flair
Being the daughter of two-time Hall of Famer and 16-time World Champion Ric Flair, it's only natural that Charlotte Flair would follow in her father's footsteps. Over the years, she has come to be regarded as one of the best women's wrestlers of her generation.
However, that was not always the case as Charlotte never wanted to be a WWE Superstar or a professional wrestler in the first place.
The Flair family was devastated after Ric Flair's son and Charlotte's younger brother Reid Flair passed away in 2013. Charlotte then decided to honor her brother's dream and legacy by becoming a WWE Superstar and put her heart out in trying to become the best in the business.
Charlotte became the second NXT Women's Champion by defeating Natalya in a tournament in 2014. This came about after Paige was stripped of the title for winning the Divas Championship and promoted to RAW. After a few months, Charlotte dropped the title to Sasha Banks and made her debut on RAW.
Since then, The Queen has had memorable and classic matches with a lot of Superstars on the main roster. Charlotte has also had an on-and-off feud with former best-friend turned bitter-rival Becky Lynch. She has become a 10-time Women's Champion since leaving NXT and is currently slated to face NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 36.
#3 Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks has been an avid wrestling and WWE fan since her childhood days. She made no secret that while growing up, WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero was her idol.
She has often paid homage to the Latino Heat by emulating his Frog Splash in matches and sporting his motifs on her attire.
Banks became the third NXT Women's Champion by defeating Charlotte Flair in an epic fatal four-way match at NXT TakeOver: Rival. Banks then lost the title to Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, where the two of them put on an instant classic.
The match was highly praised by critics and won the Match of the Year accolade at the NXT Year-End Awards.
After leaving NXT, The Legit Boss went on to become a four-time RAW Women's Champion and the inaugural WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. The latter came about after she aligned with her former rival turned best friend Bayley to form the Boss N' Hug Connection.
Banks will be facing her best friend and five other Superstars in a fatal five-way match for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36 this coming weekend.
#4 Bayley
As we mentioned in the previous slide, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks to become the fourth NXT Women's Champion. She then retained the title over Banks at the main event NXT TakeOver: Respect, in the first-ever 30-minute women's Iron Man match after scoring three falls to two.
Bayley then lost the title to Asuka, who then went on to have a record-breaking reign (more on that later).
Bayley then made her move to the main roster, following which she became a one-time RAW Women's Champion, two-time SmackDown Women's Champion, and a Money in The Bank winner. Additionally, she also became one-half of the inaugural Women's Tag Team Champions along with Sasha Banks.
Bayley is the first woman to have won the NXT, RAW, SmackDown and Women's Tag Team Championships for which she is regarded as the first women's Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.
She also has the distinction of being the first woman to successfully defend a WWE Championship in Saudi Arabia at Super ShowDown.
From her time in NXT, Bayley has been known for portraying the gimmick of a friendly and jubilant cheerleader-like character. However, she changed her tune and took on a more serious and somber attitude following her SmackDown Women's Championship loss against Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell.
Bayley is currently the SmackDown Women's Champion and will be facing a difficult task at WrestleMania 36 as she will have to defend the title in a fatal five-way match where her best friend Sasha Banks is also one of the competitors.
#5 Asuka
As mentioned in the previous slide, Asuka became the fifth woman to hold the NXT Women's title after defeating Bayley. The Empress of Tomorrow had been undefeated since her NXT debut and went on to have an impressive and record-breaking reign as the champion for 510 days.
However, after an unfortunate injury in 2017 where she broke her collarbone, Asuka had to relinquish the title. Asuka was given a farewell by NXT befitting of a Champion where NXT General Manager William Regal praised her highly. Regal called her one of the greatest champions in WWE history.
Asuka then made her debut on RAW and her in-ring debut against Emma at the 2017 Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV. She also became the first woman to win the women's Royal Rumble match in 2018 and challenged Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's title at WrestleMania 34.
However, Asuka was unsuccessful in her attempt to dethrone Flair as she tapped out to Flair's Figure-Eight Leglock. Charlotte thereby became the first woman to break Asuka's undefeated streak.
Following this, Asuka became a SmackDown Women's Champion and is currently one-half of the Women's Tag Team Champions along with Kairi Sane. Asuka and Kairi are currently slated to defend their Women's Tag Team titles against former champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross at the upcoming WrestleMania 36.
