Women's Wrestlers With The Most World Titles (Across All Major Promotions)
To be The Woman, who do you have to beat?
About three years ago, yours truly published an article about the men's wrestlers with the most world titles, across all major federations. One about women wrestlers was long overdue, and you will possibly be glad to learn that this one is shorter: it is only 28 entries.
The task was easier than it was for men. There hasn't been that many major women's titles in pro wrestling history. Notable federations like PWG, CZW, Chikara, AJPW, NOAH or Dragon Gate do not have any title for women, and until very recently, New Japan did not either. The championships taken into account for this list are the usual suspects (women's titles from WWE, NWA, TNA, etc. in the United-States ; CMLL, AAA or UWA in Mexico etc.) The case of Japan's joshi scene is discussed further below.
That being said, it should be noted that the World of Stardom, Tokyo Joshi's Princess of Princess, Shimmer or AEW Women's World championships will not feature in this article. Not because they shouldn't be considered world titles, but because, surprisingly, none of the women who's ever held any of those belts managed to be World champion more times than...
28. Jumbo Miyamoto (5)
5 WWWA World Single Championships
For this list, the bar is set at five, which means the likes of Alundra Blayze, Lita, Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool, Awesome Kong, Bayley, Toni Storm, Meiko Satomura, Hikaru Shida or Iyo Sky - who are all four time champs - miss out.
There's probably a lot to say about Jumbo Miyamoto, who won the WWWA World Single Championship a record five times between 1973 and 1976, but it seems few people took the time to say it. Her CageMatch page is a stub, her Wikipedia page nonexistent. There is an odd video of hers here and there on YouTube.
There is more to say on the title that made her, the famous "red strap", after which the current World of Stardom Championship was designed. In 1954, the legendary Mildred Burke, who had held the original Women's World Championship since 1937, fought June Byers to a no-contest. Byers was recognized by the NWA as the legit champion, while Burke took the title to the promotion she had founded a few years earlier, the WWWA (World Women's Wrestling Association), and still defended it for two years before retiring.
In 1970, AJW chose to revive that championship as its top prize, which is a fitting tribute when you consider that it was Mildred Burke's 1954 Japan tour that sparked the joshi puroresu movement.