Champion history
| Becky Lynch | 1 | September 11, 2016 | Richmond, Virginia | Defeated Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella in a six-pack elimination challenge to become the inaugural champion. | 2 | 84 |
| Alexa Bliss | 1 | December 4, 2016 | Dallas, Texas | This was a Tables match. | 4 | 70 |
| Naomi | 1 | February 12, 2017 | Ontario, California | 0 | 9 | |
| Vacated | — | 02017-02-21February 21, 2017 | Ontario, California | Title vacated after Naomi suffered a knee injury. | — | — |
| Alexa Bliss | 2 | February 21, 2017 | Phoenix, Arizona | Won on SmackDown | 1 | 40 |
| Naomi | 2 | April 2, 2017 | Orlando, Florida | Won at WrestleMania 33 | 6 | 140 |
| Natalya | 1 | August 20, 2017 | Brooklyn, New York | Won at SummerSlam | 3 | 86 |
| Charlotte Flair | 1 | November 14, 2017 | Charlotte, North Carolina | Won at SmackDown | 5 | 147 |
| Carmella | 1 | April 10, 2018 | New Orleans, Louisiana | Won on SmackDown after cashing in her Money in the Bank contract | 4 | 131 |
| Charlotte Flair | 2 | August 19, 2018 | Brooklyn, New York | Won at SummerSlam in a triple threat match that included Becky Lynch, who Flair pinned to win the title. | 2 | 28 |
| Becky Lynch | 2 | September 16, 2018 | San Antonio, Texas | Won at Hell in a Cell | 3 | 91 |
| Asuka | 1 | December 16, 2018 | San Diego, California | Won at TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs in a Triple Threat TLC match also involving Charlotte. | 4 | 100 |
| Charlotte Flair | 3 | March 26, 2019 | Uncasville, Connecticut | Won at SmackDown | 1 | 13 |
| Becky Lynch | 3 | April 7, 2019 | East Rutherford, New Jersey | Won at WrestleMania 35 | 1 | 41 |
| Charlotte Flair | 4 | May 19, 2019 | Hartford, Connecticut | Won at Money in the Bank 2019 | 1 | 0 |
| Bayley | 1 | May 19, 2019 | Hartford, Connecticut | Won at Money in the Bank 2019 after cashing in her Money in the Bank contract that she won at the start of the event. | 5 | 140 |
| Charlotte Flair | 5 | October 6, 2019 | Sacramento, California | Won at Hell in a Cell | 1 | 5 |
| Bayley | 2 | October 11, 2019 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Won on SmackDown | 12 | 380 |
| Sasha Banks | 1 | October 25, 2020 | Orlando, Florida | Won at Hell in a Cell | 6 | 167 |
| Bianca Belair | 1 | April 10, 2021 | Tampa, Florida | Won at WrestleMania 37 | 5 | 133 |
| Becky Lynch | 4 | August 21, 2021 | Paradise, Nevada | Won at SummerSlam | 1 | 62 |
| Charlotte Flair | 6 | October 22, 2021 | Wichita, Kansas | Awarded the championship after being drafted to SmackDown while being the reigning WWE Raw Women's Champion | 3 | 198 |
| Ronda Rousey | 1 | May 8, 2022 | Providence, Rhode Island | Won in an "I Quit" Match at WrestleMania Backlash. | 2 | 55 |
| Liv Morgan | 1 | July 2, 2022 | Paradise, Nevada | Won after cashing in her Money in the Bank contract at Money in the Bank 2022. | 59+ |
List of reign lengths
As of August 30, 2022.| Bayley (2) | 380 | October 11, 2019 | October 25, 2020 |
| Sasha Banks | 167 | October 25, 2020 | April 10, 2021 |
| Charlotte Flair (6) | 198 | October 22, 2021 | May 8, 2022 |
| Charlotte Flair | 147 | November 14, 2017 | April 10, 2018 |
| Naomi (2) | 140 | April 2, 2017 | August 20, 2017 |
| Bayley | 140 | May 19, 2019 | October 6, 2019 |
| Bianca Belair | 133 | April 10, 2021 | August 21, 2021 |
| Carmella | 131 | April 10, 2018 | August 19, 2018 |
| Asuka | 100 | December 16, 2018 | March 26, 2019 |
| Becky Lynch (2) | 91 | September 16, 2018 | December 16, 2018 |
| Natalya | 86 | August 20, 2017 | November 14, 2017 |
| Becky Lynch | 84 | September 11, 2016 | December 4, 2016 |
| Alexa Bliss | 70 | December 4, 2016 | February 12, 2017 |
| Becky Lynch (4) | 62 | August 21, 2021 | October 22, 2021 |
| Ronda Rousey | 55 | May 8, 2022 | July 2, 2022 |
| Liv Morgan | 59+ | July 2, 2022 | Current Champion |
| Becky Lynch (3) | 42 | April 7, 2019 | May 19, 2019 |
| Alexa Bliss (2) | 40 | February 21, 2017 | April 2, 2017 |
| Charlotte Flair (2) | 28 | August 19, 2018 | September 16, 2018 |
| Charlotte Flair (3) | 13 | March 6, 2019 | April 7, 2019 |
| Naomi | 9 | February 12, 2017 | February 21, 2017 |
| Charlotte Flair (5) | 5 | October 6, 2019 | October 11, 2019 |
| Charlotte Flair (4) | 0 | May 19, 2019 | May 19, 2019 |
External links
- WWE.com Profile
- Smackdown Women's Championship at CAGEMATCH.net
Liv Morgan carries the SmackDown women's championship like a born winner, but her confidence was not always so unwavering. Morgan defeated Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown women's championship at Money in the Bank in Las Vegas on July 2.
Morgan captured her first world title after eight years in the WWE. A lifelong WWE fan, the 28-year-old from New Jersey repeatedly experienced conflicts between her eternal hopefulness and creeping doubts.
"It's a weird conundrum because I lost confidence, but I never lost hope," Morgan told CBS Sports. "There were tons of moments where I was maybe starting to bring up the idea of accepting that my wrestling career wouldn't pan out the way I expected it to. Still impactful nonetheless but maybe this [title] just wasn't in the cards for me.
"Tons of moments where I had to kind of familiarize myself with that possibility," she continued. "At the same time, my inner-inner-inner monologue said, 'You're going to be champion. This is what you were born for. This is what you were meant for. There is no way that somewhere along the way in this crazy journey you are not going to have this.' I just battled with that for a long time and now here we are."
Check out the full interview with Liv Morgan below.
Morgan's post-match celebration was far more intimate than planned. An expectation to commemorate the occasion with friends was replaced by a long period of self-reflection.
"I thought I was going to want to go out and celebrate. That was my full intention," Morgan said. "But when I got to my room I literally laid on my bed and draped my title over me and I just stared at the ceiling and replayed the last two hours of my life. I couldn't get it to feel real. I just sat there like, 'No, this happened.' I laid there for hours. I didn't move and I didn't go out. I just laid there on my bed with my title, looking at the ceiling and trying to absorb that moment as best as I possibly could."
Pro-wrestling is littered with contradictions. It occupies a space between sports and entertainment. Its stories blur the lines between fiction and non-fiction. The action is part scripted, part improvised. And its athletes work together in pursuit of their individual ambitions. That individual pursuit is why Morgan is so grateful that her fellow female superstars were so encouraging of her ascension to world champion.
"It was amazing. It made the victory and everything so much sweeter," Morgan said. "This is a competitive sport. What we do is competitive. We all want this. We all want to be in a position where we can say we are champions, where we can have this championship. The fact that so many other women took themselves out of that for a second to just be genuinely happy for me made everything so much sweeter. It genuinely touched me. This is just as good as winning. It was very, very sweet and I'm so grateful to all the girls."
Morgan will defend her SmackDown women's championship in a rematch against Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam. The event takes place at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday, July 30.