#5 – Charlotte
Total Days as Champion: 195 Days
Longest Reign: 195 Days
Times Held: 1
Successful Defences: 7
The arrival of Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to the main roster would bring in a change to the WWE Divas Division that culminated with a rebranding of Divas to Superstars and the WWE Divas title being officially retired.
Before that, however, Charlotte would win the Divas Championship, the only of her NXT peers called up to do so, and would defend the belt for the last time at Roadblock 2016. While the title was advertised to be defended at Wrestlemania that year, it was revealed before the show that the match would actually be for the new WWE Women’s Championship.
Charlotte would be the only holder of the title to completely turn from face to heel during her reign as she fended off challenges from the likes of Paige, Becky Lynch, Natalya and Brie Bella over her 195 day reign.
With the turning of a corner for the Divas division, Charlotte would have one of the best booked reigns with regular appearances and continued title matches on PPV and with Hall of Famer Ric Flair in her corner, it encouraged more casual fans of the division to tune in to her title run.
While Charlotte has gone on to win a plethora of other titles since retiring this belt, I would argue her time as Divas Champion was perhaps one of her better booked runs as champion.
#4 – Michelle McCool
Total Days as Champion: 220 Days
Longest Reign: 158 Days
Times Held: 2
Successful Defences: 3
History always has a beginning and the WWE Divas Title begins with Michelle McCool. A mainstay of the Smackdown roster throughout the entirety of her career, McCool was the top Diva of the brand when the title was introduced (she even won a fan-voted contest to say so).
Beating the more experienced Natalya at The Great American Bash, McCool would go on to hold the belt for 158 days while defending against both friend and foe with Maryse and Maria being her main adversaries. McCool would lead the Smackdown Division in the first Smackdown vs RAW Survivor Series match and be a part of the first Champion vs Champion match when she faced off against Beth Phoenix during her reign.
McCool’s second reign would be shared with Layla as part of Laycool but WWE recognises McCool as the sole champion for the 62 days they held the title. Primarily, the duo would make Natalya’s life a misery with McCool losing a match via DQ (thanks to Layla’s quick action) to keep the belt and then Layla defending the title against Natalya later. Ironically, Layla would defend the belt more than McCool did during her second reign.
Michelle McCool is synonymous with the Divas Championship and would regularly make history throughout her reigns. First ever champion, first ever Diva Search contestant to hold the Divas Title, first woman to have held both the Divas and Women’s titles and the women who unified the two titles at Night of Champions.
#3 – Eve
Total Days as Champion: 258 Days
Longest Reign: 120 Days
Times Held: 3
Successful Defences: 8
A common consensus amongst women’s wrestling fans is that Eve Torres retired at the top of her career and sooner than any of us would have liked.
For her third and final reign alone, Eve would have ranked quite highly on this list due to its arching storyline that spanned several months and how featured the title would become in her hands.
Rewinding the clock slightly, Eve’s first reign would be in 2010 when she defeated Maryse and be the first Diva Search winner to have held a title in WWE before she would drop the belt in a Fatal Four Way match just under two months later.
Ironically, it would in another Fatal Four Way that Eve would win the belt back months later as she was added to a title match live during the Royal Rumble, winning the belt in a surprising move and making her a two times Divas Champion.
Eve’s second reign would see her feud primarily with newly heel Bella Twins as she did her best to combat Twin Magic, at one point having the idea to mark Nikki Bella with a cross on her hand but the tactic still worked and Eve would drop the belt to Brie Bella.
Eve was a popular Diva and had grown exponentially in the ring but she truly arrived in the division with her heel turn in 2012 and we saw a more conniving Eve who would worm her way into a position of power within WWE and eventually, to the Divas title once again. Running through the division but mostly Layla and Kaitlyn, Eve would also defend against Naomi and even challenge Mae Young to a title match during her reign. She would bow out of WWE after dropping the title to Kaitlyn in 2013, ending her third reign at 120 days and being tied with AJ Lee as the woman with the most reigns of the butterfly belt.
#2 – Nikki Bella
Total Days as Champion: 305 Days
Longest Reign: 300 Days
Times Held: 2
Successful Defences: 9
‘How did you spend your year?’ serves as the opening lines to one of the strongest Nikki Bella promo/video packages of her career and it aired on the night that she was destined to become the longest reigning Divas Champion of all time.
As the video package would go on to highlight, Nikki would dominate the division for nearly a full year as Divas Champion and leader of Team Bella. It was during her reign that the Divas division would begin to see a change in its booking and overall standing within the company and it’s ironic to look at this reign compared to her first.
Perhaps as a commemorative reign as The Bella Twins prepared to leave the WWE, Nikki won the belt from Beth Phoenix on an episode of RAW in a Lumberjill match before losing it less than a week later to Layla. It can be forgiven if this reign was forgotten but her second more than made up for it.
Nikki would turn away competitors such as AJ Lee, Paige, Naomi and Tamina in her 300 days as champion, successfully defending the belt 8 total times whilst literally carrying the division on her back (and then dropping them brutally on her neck).
Proving many of her doubters wrong while leaning in to the heat, such as taking credit for the #GiveDivasAChance movement, Nikki established herself as arguably the best Divas Champion, depending on who you ask and she did it all with just one reign realistically.
After dropping the title, Nikki took a well deserved break from WWE to get neck surgery, appearing at Wrestlemania to celebrate her sister on the same night the title that she made history with was officially retired and her legacy cemented.
#1 – AJ Lee
Total Days as Champion: 405 Days
Longest Reign: 295 Days
Times Held: 3
Successful Defences: 10
One thing that cannot be ignored is that WWE booking can make or break a title reign and this remains true even today. Every woman on this list deserved their title reigns and most, it could be said, deserved better booking to have made their reigns rank higher in people’s minds. A Divas Champion who had nearly everything in terms of in-ring skills, ability to cut a promo and time invested in her by creative was AJ Lee.
Winning the belt a total three times in her career, tied with Eve for most total reigns, it was her first reign with the belt that really stands out for AJ Lee so we’ll briefly discuss her other two first.
In a brief hot potato situation, Lee and Paige would exchange the Divas title back and forth with Paige beating Lee then Lee losing to Paige before winning the title once again in her third and final reign which would end in shocking fashion thanks to The Bella Twins. The switching back and forth between Lee and Paige was an interesting set up at the time and ran concurrent with The Bella Twins storyline and so the two were bound to cross, although we were robbed of the Fatal Four Way we deserved.
Now, to AJ Lee’s historic title reign that begun with the mind games and manipulation of her former best friend, Kaitlyn and would be a prelude to how Lee’s title reign would go. With the gift of the gab on her side, AJ Lee would dominate her opponents on the mic as well as in the ring and would clash with Kaitlyn, Stephanie McMahon and the Total Divas cast on the mic which would result in her dropping the #PipeBombshell on Divas not worthy of lacing her chuck taylors.
During this reign we would get the first ever contract signing for the women and would see AJ Lee defend the title against literally every woman on the roster and at Wrestlemania no less, the only champion to defend the title at the premier event.
While Lee’s popularity grew from her interactions with the men, her reign as champion saw her interact primarily with the women and she gained even more following from those who agreed with her comments regarding the Total Divas cast at the time. Lee’s rise to fame within the WWE was not the same journey as others and this became her main selling point, with shots of a child AJ meeting Lita years ago was aired several times and it truly felt like ‘one of us’ was out there in the ring.
With more successful defences than any other Divas Champion and the many memorable moments from her reigns, AJ Lee is my top Divas Champion of all time.
What did you make of this list and how would your Divas Champion rankings look? Let me know in the comments below and share your favourite memories of the butterfly belt!
