Ronda Rousey is the reigning, defending SmackDown Women’s Champion, but would rather be called simply the SmackDown Champion moving forward.
At Extreme Rules, Rousey captured the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Liv Morgan, making the woman who dethroned her at Money in the Bank pass out.
Rousey is a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion and held the Raw Women’s Championship from August 2018 to April 2019.
What’s in a Name?
Rousey is arguably the biggest name in WWE’s women’s division but believes that the women’s term is redundant.
Speaking during her most recent vlog, Rousey made her feelings clear about calling titles for females the ‘Women’s’ championship (via WrestlingNews.)
“I don’t want to say ‘women’ in title anymore. And I think they are kind of resistant to taking it out. So then I was like, ‘Can I just not have to say it?’ So then that’s kind of where it’s at.”
While WWE refers to titles from that division as the women’s Championship, no male champions have their sex referenced in their titles.
Changing the Term
Rousey hopes for a day when WWE no longer uses the term ‘Women’ for their championships, but this has happened before.
In January 2020, WWE drop the ‘Women’ term from the NXT Women’s Championship, which at the time was held by Rhea Ripley.
Instead, Ripley was referred to as the NXT Champion, the same term used for NXT Champion Adam Cole.
Not long after though, the idea was scrapped, and by WrestleMania 36, Ripley defended the NXT Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair.