The WWE Speed Championship is a professional wrestling internet championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, available to male wrestlers from all three of the company's brand divisions. Revealed on 27 March 27 2024, it has a stipulation in which matches have a time limit of five minutes. The title is named after WWE's online program Speed, which is where the matches exclusively air. The current champion is Andrade from SmackDown, who is in his first reign.
| WWE Speed Championship | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The WWE Speed Championship belt with default side plates | |||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||
| Date established | 27 March 2024 | ||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Andrade | ||||||||||||
| Date won | 7 June 2024 (aired 14 June 2024) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
History
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On 9 February 2024, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced a partnership with X to introduce WWE Speed, a weekly video series to stream exclusively on the social media platform. It was originally announced that on the show wrestling matches would have a five-minute time limit.[1] However on 27 March WWE commentator Corey Graves announced that regular matches would instead be three minutes in length. He also announced Speed would premiere on 3 April 2024, consisting of the first matches of a eight-man tournament to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion. This tournament would take place over the first few episodes of the program, with male wrestlers from all three of WWE's brand divisions eligible to challenge for the title.[2]
The inaugural Speed Championship tournament final was taped on 26 April 2024, and aired on tape delay on 3 May. In this match Ricochet defeated Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural champion.[3][4] This tournament final also confirmed that the championship matches would have a duration of five minutes instead of Speed's regular three-minute length.[5]
Inaugural tournament
edit| Quarterfinals Speed (aired 3 April - 17 April 2024) | Semifinals Speed (aired 24 April - 1 May 2024) | Final Speed (aired 3 May 2024) | ||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Dragon Lee | 02:57[6] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | 01:58[9] | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Axiom | 02:26[7] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | 04:21[3][4] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Cedric Alexander | 01:50[6] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | 02:23[10] | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Angel | 02:08[8] | |||||||||||||
Reigns
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As of 28 June 2024 there have been two reigns between two champions. The current champion is Andrade from SmackDown, who is in his first reign after defeating Ricochet during the 7 June 2024 tapings of Speed, which aired on 14 June 2024 and is when WWE officially began his reign.[11][12]
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
| 1 | Ricochet | 26 April 2024 | Speed | Cincinnati, OH | 1 | 42 | 42 | Defeated Johnny Gargano in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes Ricochet's reign as beginning on 3 May 2024, and ending on 14 June 2024, the dates in which the episodes aired on tape delay. | [3][13] |
| 2 | Andrade | 7 June 2024 | Speed | Louisville, KY | 1 | 21+ | 14+ | WWE recognizes Andrade's reign as beginning on 14 June 2024, when the episode aired on tape delay. | [11][12] |
References
edit- ^ Defelice, Robert (February 8, 2024). "WWE Speed To Air On X (Twitter) Beginning In Spring 2024". Fightful. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (March 27, 2024). "WWE Speed premiere date revealed, tournament will crown champion". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ a b c Lambert, Jeremy (April 26, 2024). "Spoiler: First-Ever WWE Speed Champion Crowned". Fightful. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Lee, Joseph (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Becomes First-Ever WWE Speed Champion, Special Friday Episode Airs". 411Mania. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ Lowson, Thomas (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Celebrates WWE Speed Title Win After Becoming First-Ever Champion". SE Scoops. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ a b Nason, Josh (April 3, 2024). "Ricochet, Bronson Reed advance in WWE Speed title tournament on debut episode". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (April 10, 2024). "JD McDonagh advances in WWE Speed title tournament". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (April 17, 2024). "Johnny Gargano Beats Angel To Advance In WWE Speed Title Tournament, Semi-Final Match Set For 4/24". Fightful. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (April 24, 2024). "Ricochet advances to WWE Speed title tournament finals". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 1, 2024). "Johnny Gargano Advances To WWE Speed Title Tournament Finals, To Face Ricochet On 5/3 WWE Speed". Fightful. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
- ^ a b Lambert, Jeremy (June 7, 2024). "Spoiler: New WWE Speed Champion Crowned". Fightful. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (June 14, 2024). "WWE Speed – Ricochet vs. Andrade for the WWE Speed Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Beats Johnny Gargano To Win WWE Speed Championship On 5/3 WWE Speed". Fightful. Retrieved May 3, 2024.