10 Awful Championships WWE Doesn't Want You To Remember

There forgotten WWE championships won't be heading WrestleMania anytime soon.

Antonio Inoki IWGP title
NJPW

The most prestigious championships in all of wrestling have made their way through WWE at some point.

From the very early days, when the World Wide Wrestling Federation used the titles of the National Wrestling Alliance, to the purchases of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, a flurry of gold appeared at Titan Towers over the years.

There's no doubting the gravitas of these belts, but what about the ones WWE doesn't mention anymore?

If you've seen five minutes of WWE in your life, you likely know the story of the first WWE Championship being "won" in Rio De Janeiro, the merging of the North and South American Heavyweight Championships by Pat Patterson, and the reintroduction of the Big Gold Belt in 2002.

For every one of those stories, there's a rogue championship that showed up for a few years, didn't quite work, then disappeared without a trace. Sometimes WWE failed these straps in their own backyard, other times they shipped them off to another company then changed their mind...

WWE has a lot of belts in 2023, but you ain't seen nothing yet! With some of them depressingly recent, and others relics of a bygone age, these are 10 awful championships WWE doesn't want you to remember.

10. Divas Championship

Antonio Inoki IWGP title
WWE.com

Let's face it, that pink butterfly was an insult to the entire division.

Sure, the Divas Championship was introduced in a different era, but 2008 is only 15 years ago!

When the brand split first happened, the Women's Championship was defended on both shows. Eventually, it become a Raw exclusive and any the divas on SmackDown were marooned on the blue brand without a title to challenge for.

It felt like a step in the right direction when SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced a second women's strap, until they showed what it looked like. What a horror show of a title; it was like it was drawn up by a five-year-old fan who was asked to make a stereotypical design for a company that undervalued its women.

Michelle McCool was the first holder, with divas including the Bella Twins, Jillian Hall, and Kelly Kelly holding the strap in its early years. Mind-numbingly, the Women's Championship, held by legends including the Fabulous Moolah, Lita, and Trish Stratus was retired for this. Stop the ride...

When the women's revolution happened, they kept this belt going for a few years before finally switching it for a brand new Women's Championship. Before that happened, fans had to try and take AJ Lee, Charlotte Flair, and Paige seriously with this strap over the shoulders.

An awful reminder of an era that feels so far removed from what fans have today (even though it was only retired in 2016); everybody was glad to see the back of a belt that reduced an entire division to girlies wanting the pretty accessory. Good riddance.

Contributor

When I'm not trying my hardest to visit all 50 U.S. states, I'm listening to music from the 80s, watching TV from the 90s, and reminiscing about growing up in the 00s. I'm currently living in Melbourne, Australia so WWE premium live events are on Sunday afternoons for me; the absolute dream.