Women's Wrestlers With The Most World Titles (Across All Major Promotions)
11. The Fabulous Moolah (7)
4 NWA World Women's Championships
4 (3) WWE Women’s Championships
WWE and NWA each recognize The Fabulous Moolah as a four-time champ' for their own federation. Nevertheless, simply adding the two would be disingenuous.
Moolah won the NWA World Women's Championship in 1956, and then won it thrice more. WWE never acknowledged those title changes, choosing instead to present Moolah as reigning women's champion from '56 to 1984, and appropriating that original NWA reign as their own (like they still do with the NWA/WCW United-States Championship). The problem is that when she sold the rights of the belt to Vince McMahon in May 1984, she was never crowned as a new champion: Vince wanted her to be a 28-year champion heading into her defense against Wendi Richter (the first "true" WWF Women's Champion, in a way).
Her first WWF reign is hence but a continuation of her NWA one. If upon that occasion she had vacated the NWA belt, and been awarded a newly-created WWF title, things would be different. As it stands, she's not an eight-time champion, she's a seven-time champion whose first reign is recognized by two different companies.
As for her legacy, the dispute is a matter of preposition: some say she has held women's wrestling down for forty years, some say she has held it back.