5 Female wrestlers who won men's titles

Women have been a mainstay in professional wrestling for decades on end. The WWE Women's title has been around for 65 years now, despite having its fair share of ups and downs. The first WrestleMania in 1985 saw Wendi Richter defeating Leilani Kai to win the Women's title. Several other promotions like Impact Wrestling have done their bit towards turning the Women's division into a big deal.

Professional wrestling's storied history has seen a long string of Women's Champions, including all-time greats like The Fabulous Moolah, Trish Stratus, and Chyna. But there have also been instances where women ended up winning men's title belts. In the following slideshow, we will take a look at 5 female stars across various promotions, who won men's titles.

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#5 Chyna

Chyna

Dubbed as The ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna made her way to WWE in early 1997, and formed an alliance with Triple H. Soon after, Chyna became a significant part of the notorious faction named D-Generation X, formed by Triple H and Shawn Michaels. In 1999, Chyna entered the Royal Rumble match at No.30, becoming the first female athlete to compete in the annual free-for-all. Later that year, Chyna got into a feud with Jeff Jarrett over the Intercontinental title.

The duo faced each other at WWE Unforgiven 1999. At WWE No Mercy, Chyna defeated Jarret in a Good Housekeeping match to win the Intercontinental title. She became the first woman to achieve this feat, and is the only female Superstar in history to win the coveted belt. Chyna went on to feud with Chris Jericho over her newly-won belt, and defeated him at Survivor Series. Her reign ended at Armageddon 1999, where Jericho defeated her to win the belt. Following his victory, Jericho was confronted by Chyna backstage, who shook his hand as a sign of respect.

#4 Mighty Molly

Mighty Molly

After a brief stint in WCW in the late 90s, Molly Holly made her WWE debut in late 2000. Molly was paired with Bob and Crash Holly upon her arrival on the main roster. The trio feuded with Test, Albert, and Trish Stratus. Around a year later, Molly aligned with The Hurricane, and began calling herself Mighty Molly.

At WrestleMania 18, the WWE Hardcore title changed hands several times. Amidst the hullabaloo, The Hurricane defeated Spike Dudley to become the Hardcore Champion. While he was being interviewed backstage by Jonathan Coachman, Molly appeared out of nowhere and suggested to him that the duo should go to their 'Hurri-cycle'. As The Hurricane proceeded to the direction Molly pointed to, she hit him on the back of his head with a frying pan, and pinned him to bag the Hardcore Championship.

Later in the night, Molly was sprinting in a backstage area when she ran into the upper half of a door, that was deliberately shut by Christian. He pinned an unconscious Molly to win the title.

#3 Madusa

Madusa

Longtime WWE fans who were around in the mid-90s might remember Madusa as Alundra Blayze. She is best known for throwing the WWE Women's title belt in the trash can, when she showed up unexpectedly on WCW Monday Nitro on December 18, 1995. Madusa later stated that she regretted her actions and wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been coerced by Eric Bischoff.

At Starrcade 1999, Madusa met Evan Karagias for the latter's WCW Cruiserweight title. Spice, who was on Karagias' side, hit him with a low blow during the match, leading to Madusa pinning him and winning the Cruiserweight title. Thus, Madusa became the first-ever female to win the belt. Soon after, Madusa kicked off a rivalry with Oklahoma, a character that was created to take a shot at WWE announcer Jim Ross. On January 16, 2000, Madusa faced Oklahoma with the WCW Cruiserweight title on the line. Oklahoma ended up defeating Madusa to win the belt. This was the only title belt that Oklahoma won during his short-lived WCW stint.

#2 Jacqueline

Jacqueline

At No Way Out 2004, Chavo Guerrero defeated Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Cruiserweight title. Weeks later, he defended the title successfully in a Cruiserweight Open, which involved nine other Cruiserweight Superstars. On the May 6, 2004 episode of WWE SmackDown, Chavo issued an open challenge for anyone backstage, who was willing to try their hand at the title.

To Chavo's surprise, Jacqueline came out and ended up defeating him to win the Cruiserweight title. The duo met again at Judgment Day 2004. Things didn't work out for Jacqueline this time around, and she ended up losing the belt back to Chavo. She was then released from WWE, as the creative team didn't have anything for her character.

Jacqueline was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016. She was inducted by The Dudley Boyz, and created history by becoming the first woman of African-American descent to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Around two years later, she appeared on the 25th anniversary of RAW, and was dubbed as "one of the greatest female Superstars in the history of WWE".

#1 Tessa Blanchard

Tessa Blanchard

Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Tully Blanchard, Tessa is one of the biggest stars in Impact Wrestling at present. She made her way to the promotion in 2018, and defeated Kiera Hogan in her debut match. Last year in July, Tessa faced Sami Callihan in the main event of Slammiversary XVII, which was the first Intergender match to headline a PPV.

The November 19, 2019 edition of Impact! saw Tessa winning a Gauntlet match by defeating the likes of Daga, Moose, Rich Swann, Michael Elgin, and Brian Cage, to win an opportunity at the Impact World title. On January 12, 2020, Blanchard faced Sami Callihan at the Hard To Kill PPV. Callihan had won the title months before, on October 25, 2019. He had defeated Brian Cage in a Steel Cage match to become Impact World Champion. At Hard To Kill, Tessa won the belt by defeating Callihan, thus becoming the first female star to do so. Around three months later, Tessa is still the Champion, and it would be interesting to see who puts her down for the belt sometime in the future.