Strong Women's Championship
Professional wrestling championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Strong Women's Championship (Japanese: STRONG女子王座, Hepburn: STRONG Joshi Ōza) is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The creation of the championship was announced by NJPW on April 27, 2023.[1] The title is exclusively featured on NJPW's Strong brand and is usually defended at NJPW Strong branded shows in America. The inaugural champion was Willow Nightingale. Alex Windsor is the reigning champion in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Syuri at Wrestle Queendom XIII in London, England on March 8, 2026.
| Strong Women's Championship | |||||||||||||||||
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The Strong Women's Championship belt | |||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling World Wonder Ring Stardom | ||||||||||||||||
| Brand | Strong | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | April 27, 2023[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | Alex Windsor | ||||||||||||||||
| Date won | March 8, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||
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History
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In 2022, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) established a women's division. On July 29 of that year, the promotion created the IWGP Women's Championship, the first women's title in the company's history,[2][3] which was first held by Kairi.[4] The championship was created to be the top title of NJPW's women's division and was intended to be defended on NJPW events in Japan and on events promoted by NJPW's Japanese sister company World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), a joshi puroresu promotion.
On April 27, 2023, NJPW announced the creation of the Strong Women's Championship, the top women's championship of the promotion's American subsidiary Strong Live. The promotion additionally announced a four-woman single-elimination tournament to determine the inaugural champion to be held at Resurgence on May 21, in Long Beach, California.[1] The tournament featured representatives from NJPW's partners All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and Stardom.[1] The tournament participants were former IWGP Women's Champion Mercedes Moné (NJPW), Momo Kohgo (Stardom), Stephanie Vaquer (CMLL), and Willow Nightingale (AEW).[1] At Resurgence, Nightingale became the inaugural champion by defeating Moné in the finals.[5]
Inaugural championship tournament (2023)
| Semi-finals Resurgence (May 21) | Finals Resurgence (May 21) | ||||||||
| Mercedes Moné | Pin | ||||||||
| Stephanie Vaquer | 11:55 | ||||||||
| Mercedes Moné | 13:34 | ||||||||
| Willow Nightingale | Pin | ||||||||
| Momo Kohgo | 9:37 | ||||||||
| Willow Nightingale | Pin | ||||||||
The first defense of the title was Nightingale's successful defense against Emi Sakura on the June 2, 2023 episode of AEW Rampage (taped on May 31, 2023).[6]
Reigns
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As of March 15, 2026, there have been seven reigns between seven different champions. Willow Nightingale was the inaugural champion. Syuri is the oldest champion at 36 years old, while AZM the youngest at 22 years old. Mercedes Moné's reign is the longest at 313 days, while Nightingale's reign is the shortest at 45 days.
Alex Windsor is the current champion in her first reign. She defeated Syuri on March 8, 2026 in London, England at Wrestle Queendom XIII (a Pro-Wrestling: EVE event) to win the title.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | |||||
| New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and World Wonder Ring Stardom (ST★RDOM) | ||||||||||
| 1 | Willow Nightingale | May 21, 2023 | Resurgence | Long Beach, CA | 1 | 45 | 2 | Defeated Mercedes Moné in the finals of a four-woman single-elimination tournament to become the inaugural champion. | [5] | |
| 2 | Giulia | July 5, 2023 | Independence Day Night 2 |
Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 249 | 9 | [7] | ||
| 3 | Stephanie Vaquer | March 10, 2024 | Cinderella Tournament Night 2 |
Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 112 | 4 | [8] | ||
| 4 | Mercedes Moné | June 30, 2024 | Forbidden Door | Elmont, NY | 1 | 313 | 4 | This was a Winner Takes All match also for Moné's AEW TBS Championship. | [9] | |
| 5 | AZM | May 9, 2025 | Resurgence | Ontario, CA | 1 | 141 | 1 | This was a three-way match also involving Mina Shirakawa. | [10] | |
| 6 | Saya Kamitani | September 27, 2025 | Stardom in Korakuen | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 99 | 1 | This was a Winner Takes All match in which Kamitani's World of Stardom Championship was also on the line. | [11] | |
| 7 | Syuri | January 4, 2026 | Wrestle Kingdom 20 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 63 | 0 | This was a Winner Takes All match in which Syuri's IWGP Women's Championship was also on the line. | [12] | |
| 8 | Alex Windsor | March 8, 2026 | Wrestle Queendom XIII | London, England | 1 | 7+ | 0 | This was a Pro-Wrestling: EVE event. | ||
Combined reigns
As of March 15, 2026.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|---|
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes Moné | 1 | 4 | 313 |
| 2 | Giulia | 1 | 9 | 249 |
| 3 | AZM | 1 | 1 | 141 |
| 4 | Stephanie Vaquer | 1 | 4 | 112 |
| 5 | Saya Kamitani | 1 | 1 | 99 |
| 6 | Syuri | 1 | 0 | 63 |
| 7 | Willow Nightingale | 1 | 2 | 45 |
| 8 | Alex Windsor † | 1 | 0 | 7+ |