The WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two secondary women's championships on WWE's main roster, along with the WWE Women's United States Championship on SmackDown. The title was unveiled prior to the November 25, 2024, episode of Raw. The current champion is Lyra Valkyria. She won the title by defeating Dakota Kai in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion on Raw on January 13, 2025.
| WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship belt with default side plates | |||||
| Details | |||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||
| Brand | Raw | ||||
| Date established | November 25, 2024 | ||||
| Current champion(s) | Lyra Valkyria | ||||
| Date won | January 13, 2025 | ||||
| |||||
History
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The American professional wrestling promotion WWE was founded in April 1963, but it never had a secondary women's championship until April 2024 when the NXT Women's North American Championship was introduced for the developmental brand NXT,[1] followed by the WWE Women's United States Championship for the main roster brand SmackDown in early November.[2][3][4] Later that same month prior to the November 25 episode of Raw, the brand's general manager Adam Pearce unveiled the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship for the main roster women's division on the Raw brand, countering the men's WWE Intercontinental Championship.[5]
The inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion was determined by a tournament that began on the December 2 episode of Raw. Prior to that episode's broadcast, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque revealed the tournament bracket, featuring 12 women from the Raw roster in four triple threat matches for the first round, with the winners of each advancing to the semifinals in singles matches, with those winners then facing off in the tournament final on Raw on January 13, 2025. Tournament participants announced were Dakota Kai, Shayna Baszler, Katana Chance, Zoey Stark, Raquel Rodriguez, Kayden Carter, Lyra Valkyria, Zelina Vega, Ivy Nile, Alba Fyre, Kairi Sane, and Natalya.[6] In the tournament final on January 13, Valkyria defeated Kai to become the inaugural champion.[7]
Tournaments
editInaugural tournament
editThe tournament to determine the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Champion began on December 2, 2024, and was held across episodes of Raw. The final took place on the January 13, 2025, episode.[8][6]
| First round Raw December 2 – December 23, 2024 | Semifinals Raw December 30, 2024 | Final Raw January 13, 2025 | |||||||||||
| Dakota Kai | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Katana Chance | 7:00[9] | ||||||||||||
| Shayna Baszler | — | ||||||||||||
| Dakota Kai | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Zoey Stark | 8:15[13] | ||||||||||||
| Zoey Stark | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Raquel Rodriguez | — | ||||||||||||
| Kayden Carter | 9:25[10] | ||||||||||||
| Dakota Kai | 8:31[14] | ||||||||||||
| Lyra Valkyria | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Lyra Valkyria | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Zelina Vega | — | ||||||||||||
| Ivy Nile | 7:50[11] | ||||||||||||
| Lyra Valkyria | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Iyo Sky | 11:45[13] | ||||||||||||
| Alba Fyre | — | ||||||||||||
| Iyo Sky[a] | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Natalya | 8:05[12] | ||||||||||||
- Notes
- ^ Kairi Sane was originally slated to participate, but was attacked backstage by Pure Fusion Collective (Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, and Zoey Stark) during the December 16 episode of Raw and was pulled from the tournament. She was replaced by fellow Damage CTRL stablemate Iyo Sky.
Belt design
editThe belt design is identical to the men's version, but like all women's championships in WWE, it is smaller and on a white strap. It also replaced the word "Heavyweight" with "Women's". Like all of WWE's other championship belts, the two side plates feature a removable center section which can be customized with the champion's logos; the default side plates feature a WWE logo over a blue globe.[15]
Reigns
editAs of January 17, 2025.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
| WWE: Raw | ||||||||||
| 1 | Lyra Valkyria | January 13, 2025 | Raw | San Jose, CA | 1 | 4+ | Defeated Dakota Kai in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion. | [16] | ||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Currier, Joseph (April 6, 2024). "WWE introducing Women's NXT North American Championship". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (November 8, 2024). "WWE Women's United States Championship Unveiled On WWE SmackDown". Fightful. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
- ^ Aguilar, Matthew (November 8, 2024). "WWE Reveals New Women's Championship on SmackDown". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
- ^ Ucchino, Rick (November 9, 2024). "WWE Introduces Women's United States Championship On SmackDown". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 9, 2024. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (November 25, 2024). "WWE Women's Intercontinental Title Introduced Before WWE Raw". Fightful. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Ucchino, Rick (December 2, 2024). "Triple H Unveils The Bracket For the Women's Intercontinental Championship Tournament". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (January 13, 2025). "First-Ever WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion Crowned On WWE Raw". Fightful. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
- ^ Mrosko, Geno (November 25, 2024). "WWE introduces women's Intercontinental championship". Cageside Seats. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 2, 2024). "WWE Raw results (12/2): Powell's live review of New Day's ten-year celebration, CM Punk's opening segment, Dakota Kai vs. Katana Chance vs. Shayna Baszler in a Women's Intercontinental Title tournament match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 16, 2024). "WWE Raw results (12/16): Powell's live review of Bron Breakker vs. Ludwig Kaiser for the Intercontinental Title, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh vs. The War Raiders for the World Tag Team Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 9, 2024). "WWE Raw results (12/9): Powell's live review of Raquel Rodriguez vs. Rhea Ripley, Lyra Valkyria vs. Zelina Vega vs. Ivy Nile in a Women's Intercontinental Title tournament match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 23, 2024). "WWE Raw results (12/23): Powell's live review of Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn, Damian Priest vs. Dominik Mysterio, Seth Rollins sit-down interview, Women's Intercontinental Title tournament match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (December 30, 2024). "WWE Raw results (12/30): Powell's live review of CM Punk and Seth Rollins, Iyo Sky vs. Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai vs. Zoey Stark in Women's IC Title tourney semifinal matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
- ^ McGuire, Colin (January 13, 2025). "WWE Raw results (1/13): McGuire's live review of Dakota Kai vs. Lyra Valkyiria to become the first Women's IC Champion, Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor in a Street Fight, Chad Gable vs. a mystery luchador". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
- ^ WWE [@WWE] (November 25, 2024). "Say hello to the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship! 🤩" (Tweet). Retrieved November 25, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Thompson, Andrew (January 13, 2025). "Lyra Valkyria defeats Dakota Kai on WWE Raw to become first-ever Women's Intercontinental Champion". POST Wrestling. Retrieved January 13, 2025.