The Last 10 NXT Women's Champions, Ranked Worst To Best

Thanks in part to the Four Horsewomen, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair, WWE's Developmental program, WWE NXT, put women's wrestling on a new level that had never been seen within WWE itself. As NXT began to take women's wrestling more seriously than ever before, new names would pop up, including Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley, and Shayna Baszler, all paving the way and delivering great wrestling along the path.

RELATED: What Is The Identity Of WWE NXT Under Shawn Michaels' Leadership?

It has been years since the Women's Revolution first began in WWE, and while the company has lost its step in regards to the booking of its women's division once again, there is still enough to look back on and remain positive. Taking a peak into the recent past, these are the last 10 NXT Women's Champions, ranked from wrost to best based off their title reigns.

10 Indi Hartwell

The most recent NXT Women's Champion, Indi Hartwell would reach the top of the mountain during WrestleMania 39 weekend, as she would win a ladder match to become the new NXT Women's Champion, ending Roxanne Perez's convoluted storyline as champion and starting fresh. Hartwell would be seen as a natural babyface champion, despite lacking the strong in-ring skills that Perez had. Unfortunately for Hartwell, her fans, and NXT, she would suffer an injury during her second defense, a triple threat against Roxanne & Tiffany Stratton.

Hartwell would manage to retain, and would even be drafted to Monday Night Raw during the 2023 WWE Draft, though her injury would force her to vacate the belt less than one month after winning it.

9 Roxanne Perez

Looking to the woman who held the NXT Women's Championship prior to Indi Hartwell, Roxanne Perez has been regarded as one of the most promising female wrestlers in the world, joining NXT in 2022. By the end of the year, she would become champion, ending Mandy Rose's long reign.

Similar to Hartwell, Roxanne's reign would unfortunately suffer, though this time not due to an injury. Instead, it would be Shawn Michaels' booking that would cause her reign to be ruined, as her character would develop on-screen heart issues, with them teasing a heart attack and panic attacks for Perez in a truly bizarre angle. NXT would announce that she was vacating the belt, with the ladder match set for WrestleMania weekend, only for Roxanne to return, with Michaels stating that she would be defending the title instead, negating the vacating, though she'd end up losing the belt anyways, ending a weird title reign.

8 Kairi Sane

While many fans look back on Kairi Sane's run in NXT with fondness, many may forget that her actual time as NXT Women's Champion was less-than-great. Capturing the belt from Shayna Baszler, Kairi Sane would become champion at NXT TakeOver Brooklyn 4, in a match that was praised by fans and critics across the board. The feud wouldn't end there however, as Kairi & Shayna would continue their beef on NXT as one of the marquee matches to take place at 2018's WWE Evolution PPV. Kairi would lose the belt back to Shayna, losing in her first defense, though both title matches between the women were great.

RELATED: The Best WWE PPV Every Year For The Past 10 Years

7 Charlotte Flair (2nd Reign)

The COVID-19 Pandemic would see most wrestling companies decide to make random booking choices. WWE choosing to have Charlotte Flair defeat Rhea Ripley clean to become a two-time NXT Women's Champion during WrestleMania 36 might be one of the most random. After ending Ripley's reign, it would quickly become clear that the company had no direction planned, as Charlotte would defend against Io Shirai, only to lose via DQ. Her second defense would be her final one, as Io and Ripley would take their rematches against Flair, with Shirai walking out as champion and Charlotte vanishing from NXT, accomplishing nothing during her reign.

6 Raquel Gonzalez

Now known to main roster fans as Raquel Rodriguez, where she has once again found success in a tag team, this time with Liv Morgan, during her time in NXT, the Latina star was known as Raquel Gonzalez. After taking part in the Mae Young Classic, Raquel would find herself as a part of the NXT Women's Division, and would notably form an alliance with Dakota Kai. Together, the two would be the first pair of NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. Raquel would also hold the NXT Women's Championship for a time, though it would be a mostly forgettable reign filled with short title defenses before she dropped the belt to Mandy Rose as NXT 2.0 prepared to launch.

5 Shayna Baszler (1st Reign)

Defeating Ember Moon at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans in April 2018, Shayna Baszler would kickstart her first reign as NXT Women's Champion on a high note. Her first reign would not live up to her second however, as it felt that the company was not fully behind Shayna yet. She would only have a few title defenses, taking on Dakota Kai, Nikki Cross, and Toni Storm, before eventually falling to her longtime rival, Kairi Sane. Though the Queen of Spades would be back for blood.

4 Mandy Rose

Becoming one of the most polarizing figures in women's wrestling, Mandy Rose would take NXT by storm as the promotion underwent a transformation into NXT 2.0 during the second half of 2021. Rose would defeat Raquel Gonzalez to win her first singles gold in WWE, and would form the Toxic Attraction faction, a group whose entire gimmick was heightened sex appeal. It felt out of place, and felt even worse as the women's matches in NXT became shorter, with more of a focus on sex appeal and younger, less talented wrestlers. Rose would reign supreme for over a year, holding the belt from October 2021 until December 2022, when she dropped the belt to Roxanne Perez before being fired a day later due to her Brand Army Page.

RELATED: WWE's Firing Of Mandy Rose Is An Awful Move And Look For The Company

3 Rhea Ripley

A reign that deserved to be much longer than it was, Rhea Ripley's sole reign with the NXT Championship would be cut short by Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36. Despite this, Ripley's title win remains one of the most special moments in NXT history, with it being one of NXT's brightest moments during the Wednesday Night Wars. Looking back at her reign, it at least gave fans some solid matches before it ended, with Ripley defending against Toni Storm & Bianca Belair before facing Charlotte in a great match at WrestleMania, just with the wrong outcome.

2 Shayna Baszler (2nd Reign)

A truly career-defining championship reign, Shayna Baszler's second reign as NXT Women's Champion would begin at WWE Evolution in 2018, as she would shockingly beat Kairi Sane in her first title defense. It was a great shock, and would begin Shayna's historic second reign that would last until the following December.

During her second time at the top of the mountain, Shayna would play the villain role perfectly, with a number of noteworthy defenses against great challengers. None of them would be able to play upset to Baszler's dominating turn as champion, though Rhea Ripley would defy the odds and dethrone Baszler during a special TV Title Match in December 2019, creating one of the best moments in NXT history.

1 Io Shirai

There is only one real choice for the top spot, and it belongs to Io Shirai. Breaking out in Stardom, Shirai would eventually make her way to North America as she would sign with WWE NXT in 2017. It would take some time for Shirai to truly find success in the WWE system, though she would make it to the finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic and would become a staple within the NXT Women's Division.

In 2020 however, she would finally get her run atop the division, as Shirai would defeat Charlotte Flair & Rhea Ripley to become NXT Women's Champion. The reign itself would be hampered by the lack of a real crowd, though Shirai would make the most of it, continuing to put in performances as one of the best wrestlers alive. Simply put, Shirai's reign, even held back by COVID-19 restrictions, easily clears ever other recent NXT Women's Championship reign.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKeoqqSowaa%2BjZympmeclsC1ec2xq2avn6Kyr7%2BMnJ%2BapaCevK%2B%2FjKuYp6OVmXq4u9Gsq2asn2Kvpr%2FTaA%3D%3D