MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship
Wrestling championship by promotion Major League Wrestling
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The MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion Major League Wrestling (MLW). The current champion is Shotzi Blackheart, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Shoko Nakajima at an MLW Fusion taping in Cicero, Illinois on February 7, 2026.
| MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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The current championship belt | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Major League Wrestling (MLW) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | July 7, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | Shotzi Blackheart | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | February 7, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||
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History
MLW previously teased the formation of a women's division on August 18, 2019, later announcing its official launch on October 18, 2019.[2][3] The division's first official match was held at MLW Blood and Thunder of 2019 between Zeda Zhang and The Spider Lady which Zhang was successful at winning via disqualification.[4][5]
Following MLW coming back from a lengthy hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on July 7, 2021, it was announced that Shimmer Women Athletes co-founder Dave Prazak had joined MLW to help relaunch its women's division.[6] On the September 22, 2021, episode of Fusion: Alpha, MLW officially announced the launch of its MLW women's featherweight division and introduced the first wrestlers on the roster, including Brittany Blake, Holidead, Nicole Savoy, The Sea Stars (Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo), Willow Nightingale and Zoey Skye.[7][8]
On April 21, 2022, it was announced that on May 13, 2022, at Kings of Colosseum that there will be a match between Taya Valkyrie and Holidead to determine who the first ever MLW Women's Featherweight Championship title holder is.[9] During the match, Taya defeated Holidead via submission to become the inaugural championship holder.[10]
Sometime during Taya Valkyrie's reign, the title's name was changed from the MLW Women's Featherweight Championship to the MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship according to MLW's official website.[11]
On May 19, 2025 it was announced that the MLW Women's title will be defended in Japan for the first time ever in history at a Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling event on June 7, 2025 as then-champion Shoko Nakajima faces Kaya Toribami.[12] During the event Shoko was successful at retaining the title.[13]
Reigns
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As of April 27, 2026, there have been six reigns between five champions Taya Valkyrie was the inaugural champion. She is also the oldest champion at 38 years old, while Delmi Exo is the youngest at 28 years old. Janai Kai's reign is the longest at 455 days, while Exo's second reign is the shortest at 84 days.
The current champion is Shotzi Blackheart, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Shoko Nakajima at an MLW Fusion taping in Cicero, Illinois on February 7, 2026.
Names
| Name | Year |
|---|---|
| MLW Women's Featherweight Championship | July 7, 2021 – July 31, 2022 |
| MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship | July 31, 2022 – present[11] |
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
| Major League Wrestling (MLW) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Taya Valkyrie | May 13, 2022 | Kings of Colosseum | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 328 | Defeated Holidead to become the inaugural champion, which aired on tape delay on June 16. During this reign on July 31, 2022, the title name was changed to the MLW World Women's Featherweight Championship. |
[1][11] | ||
| 2 | Delmi Exo | April 6, 2023 | War Chamber | Queens, NY | 1 | 191 | Aired on tape delay on June 15. | [14] | ||
| 3 | Janai Kai | October 14, 2023 | Slaughterhouse | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 455 | [15] | |||
| 4 | Delmi Exo | January 11, 2025 | Kings of Colosseum | North Richland Hills, TX | 2 | 84 | This was a Title vs. Hair match. | [16] | ||
| 5 | Shoko Nakajima | April 5, 2025 | Battle Riot VII | Long Beach, CA | 1 | 308 | [17] | |||
| 6 | Shotzi Blackheart | February 7, 2026 | Fusion | Cicero, Illinois | 1 | 79+ | Will air on tape delay. | [18] | ||
Combined reigns
As of April 27, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janai Kai | 1 | 455 |
| 2 | Taya Valkyrie | 1 | 328 |
| 3 | Shoko Nakajima | 1 | 308 |
| 4 | Delmi Exo | 2 | 275 |
| 5 | Shotzi Blackheart † | 1 | 79+ |