The recent legacy of the WWE Women's World Championship is interesting enough to evaluate. The title was originally established in 2016 as the SmackDown Women's Championship, with Becky Lynch becoming the inaugural champion at Backlash. After Royal Rumble winner and Raw Superstar Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair for the title at WrestleMania 39, the title moved to Raw. There, it was renamed the WWE Women's World Championship.

In the time since, the title has been positioned in high regard, fully established in the main event picture. The title is legitimately considered to be on par with either men's World Championship, and depending on who's holding the title, some will say their storylines and matches overshadow the men. That being said, it took the title a long time to achieve such prestige. Not every champion's run was a home run and in evaluating the last 10 reigns, it's easy to weed out the disappointments from the masterpieces.

10 Becky Lynch (Fourth Reign)

62 Days

While longer than her most recent reign, there's a lot more wrong with this run than right. The reign began controversially when Lynch returned at SummerSlam 2021 as a surprise replacement for Sasha Banks, proceeding to defeat Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women's Championship in 23 seconds. While it did kick off an entertaining heel run, the booking decision at Belair's expense is something that left a bad taste in the mouths of many, including Lynch herself, who expresses regret and remorse about the situation in her book, Not Your Average Girl.

While she did return the favor by losing to Belair in a tremendous WrestleMania 38 match, that would be for the opposite Women's Title. Lynch spent day 62 of her reign surrendering her SmackDown Title to Charlotte Flair for her Raw Title in a bizarre segment. Her two title defenses weren't very memorable either, one ending in a no-contest.

9 Ronda Rousey (First Reign)

55 Days

While Ronda Rousey's first run with the company was rightfully critically acclaimed and led to the first women's main event in WrestleMania history, she appeared unmotivated in her second run, which hurt both of her title reigns in a big way. The consistency of quality matches she delivered just about every time she stepped in the ring during her first run was not present at all in her second run, which was especially evident during her first reign with the then-SmackDown Women's Championship.

This reign's only saving grace is that Rousey won it in a great I Quit Match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania Backlash. Her following defenses against Raquel Rodriquez and Natalya, on the other hand, were not good, which is especially disappointing in the latter's case as they had a much better match in 2018.

8 Ronda Rousey (Second Reign)

83 Days

The feud between Liv Morgan and Ronda Rousey ended in a fantastic Street Fight at Extreme Rules 2022 where The Arm Collector captured her second title. Her reign had a strong start, but it was followed by two horrid title defenses against Emma and Shotzi. Rousey, unfortunately, had bad chemistry with both women. Thankfully, her chemistry with Rodriguez was much better, leading to a good defense. What followed was probably the weakest end to a reign on this list, as Rousey lost her title in 41 seconds.

Despite being one of the longer reigns on this list, it stands out as one of the weaker as most of Ronda's matches and storylines were not compelling in the slightest, often hurt by Rousey's own performances, especially on the mic.

7 Becky Lynch (Fifth Reign)

33 Days

This being the shortest reign of the last 10 and having only one (failed) title defense, Becky Lynch's fifth overall reign with the title is arguably her most disappointing. After Rhea Ripley vacated the title due to an injury, The Man won a 14-woman Battle Royal to become a champion again. Her reign already wasn't off to a good start as fans who were ready to see Liv Morgan finally win the title were quick to complain about the veteran once again holding the title.

Becky Lynch filled the role of a transitional champion, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. On a more positive note, the WrestleMania main eventer was able to use her star power to elevate Morgan in defeat, so Lynch's run wasn't completely useless.

6 Charlotte Flair (Seventh Reign)

92 Days

Charlotte Flair redeems her title loss to Ronda Rousey by beating her on the last SmackDown episode of 2022 to much fanfare, despite the match lasting 41 seconds. Unfortunately, there isn't much to say about her reign beyond that, even if it ended in an excellent bout at WrestleMania 39 vs. Rhea Ripley. Charlotte's reign had the flair of a grand opening and a grand closing, but not much to say in between.

She only had two title defenses in between, both against Sonya Deville, and despite being a month apart, they're interchangeable and nothing memorable. Her only notable storyline was against Ripley heading into Mania. Even then, it was more about Ripley redeeming herself for her previous loss to Charlotte at Mania 36, with Charlotte having little to no stakes in the storyline.

5 Liv Morgan (First Reign)

98 Days

This marked Liv's first run with any title in WWE, kicking off with immense excitement. Fans who had waited years for a proper Liv Morgan push rejoiced when they watched her cash in her Money in the Bank contract on Ronda Rousey. Sadly, their rematch at SummerSlam caused some problems for Liv Morgan's championship reign. Not only did it end in controversy with Liv tapping out as she pinned Ronda, but the match didn't have time to be great at less than five minutes.

Liv looked weak in victory, but she bounced back with an underrated gem of a title defense against Shayna Baszler at Clash at the Castle. The reign wasn't perfect, but it was bolstered by a captivating feud of Liv trying to prove herself against the Baddest Woman on the Planet.

4 Charlotte Flair (Sixth Reign)

198 Days

There's only two things stopping Charlotte Flair from being ranked higher on this list with this reign. The first being that she was literally handed the title from former champion Becky Lynch in an utterly strange belt trade-off. The other is that while Charlotte Flair has always had in-ring consistency, her storylines centered around the title left more to be desired, being mostly forgettable, which is sadly a running theme for most of her title reigns.

However, her in-ring consistency is exactly why she's still able to crack the top five for this reign. Only four of her title matches were televised, but they were all great matches against Toni Storm, Naomi, and Ronda Rousey (although their Backlash match was much better than a slightly disappointing Mania match).

3 Liv Morgan (Second Reign)

140 Days and Counting

Liv Morgan has benefited from the title maintaining the luster of Rhea Ripley's time with the belt. Not only does the magnitude of Liv's star power feel bigger with the title in her hands, but she - like Ripley - finds herself prominently featured throughout the show as a member of the Judgment Day. Whether it's in the thick of her storylines or something revolving around "Daddy Dom" and co., Liv finds herself in multiple segments throughout the show. It makes both Liv and the title feel bigger.

Although Ripley laid the groundwork for the title's current prominence, that's not to take away Liv's work as champion. She's been wildly entertaining both on the mic and in the ring, where her matches remain consistent. Granted, her much-maligned Bad Blood match has knocked her reign down a peg in the eyes of many, but seeing as her reign continues, there's time to redeem herself.

2 Bianca Belair

133 Days

Bianca Belair could not have asked for a hotter start to her title run, and it's arguably the hottest start for any reign on this list. She defeated Sasha Banks in the second women's main event in WrestleMania history and the first singles women's main event in WrestleMania history. The reign was off to a slow start with a pair of matches against Carmella that were less than exciting, but it quickly got back on pace with some terrific matches against Bayley. Her feud with Bayley was stellar with implications that still shape both women's storylines with each other to this day.

Her reign is largely overshadowed by her 23-second loss to Becky Lynch, but fans shouldn't forget what was ultimately a good reign. This did for Bianca what a first title run should for any competitor, and that's establish them as a main eventer.

1 Rhea Ripley

380 Days

At 380 days, Rhea Ripley is not only the longest reign on this list, but it is tied with Bayley's second championship reign as the longest in the title's history. Rhea Ripley's mega push was immediately off to a strong start after she defeated 15-time World Champion, Charlotte Flair, for the title at WrestleMania 39 in what many hailed as the best match of Mania weekend.

Thanks to viral moments and branching off into additional pop culture media (including comics), Ripley grew immensely popular during her reign, justifying her and her Judgment Day being featured heavily across every show. The more visible Ripley became, it helped the title's visibility. However, her reign was partially stunted by the fact she was booked almost too strong, to the point she didn't have many believable challengers. Still, opponents like Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, and Raquel Rodriguez gave Ripley some of the best matches of her career, elevating the WWE Women's World Championship to true main event status.