The answer is: Four - Charlotte, Paige, Natalya, and Alicia Fox The question: Out of 17 different women that have been WWE Divas Champion (a belt that was first activated in July 2008), how many of those 17 women are with WWE today, and have never left the company at any point? With Brie Bella likely on her way out the door to begin family life with husband Daniel Bryan, and sister Nikki staring possible retirement in the face due to a neck injury, you'd think they'd account for the twelfth and thirteenth women on the list of those former champions that walked, but the truth is, they already qualified: the Bella Twins left WWE in the spring of 2012, and were gone for nearly a year, returning shortly before WrestleMania 29. More on that in the list. It's been a common trend for women's wrestlers to bow out of the sport earlier than their male counterparts. Ex-Divas have pursued acting careers, and they've also found that there's money in the weekend convention circuit, signing autographs and posing for photos while maintaining a normal life. In some cases, the women in question have wanted to start having families, which is as good a reason to get off the road as any. It can certainly be a lot less monotonous than what was once their career lot to wrestle two or three minute matches as some sort of obligated filler on Raw. The modern collective of Paige, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and the like precipitated change from those space-occupying diversions, but yes, what is seen today wasn't always the rule. Here are 13 former WWE Divas Champions that parted with the company at an early age.
13. Mickie James
Mickie wasn't one of the ones that simply left the business after their time in WWE came to a close. Nonetheless, it did leave a bit of a void when the gifted James was released in April of 2010, the reason cited being a 'change in direction' for the Divas division. At the time, it was arguable that James was was the most popular Diva on the roster. Her final storyline was one in which she was portrayed as being overweight, something that wasn't implicitly denied in the story as being ludicrous. Admirers of James had something to say about her frame in comparison to some of her rail-thin contemporaries, but it did seem like the angle was borne out of some type of distorted company view.
Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.
