5 women who won male titles in the WWE/WCW

Women breaking barriers in wrestling is always a step in the right direction, if booked properly. One of the recent examples of this was Sexy Star winning the Lucha Underground world title in 2016 which remains the only instance of a female wrestler winning the World Championship in a major promotion. She held the title for only one day, losing it to Johnny Mundo the next night.

While no woman ever won the World title in the WWE or WCW, there have been multiple instances of female wrestlers winning titles aimed for male wrestlers in major promotions. This list takes a look at five instances of women winning male titles in WCW/WWE.

The last time such an event happened in WWE was 15 years ago when Chavo Guerrero had to bite the bullet. This list covers that and the other instances of female dominance.

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#5. Molly Holly, Trish Stratus, Terri and more

Molly Holly is a former Hardcore Champion

The Hardcore title existed in the WWE for only four years - but the 24x7 rule meant that the title exchanged hands 240 times. Out of that, four female wrestlers won the title. The first to win the championship was Cynitha Lynch.

No, Cynthia isn't Becky Lynch's mom - she was actually an unnamed Ho of the Godfather. Way to make women's' wrestling history! She pinned Crash Holly during a Hardcore title match but immediately lost the title back when Crash pinned her.

Molly Holly won the title for a few minutes when she pinned The Hurricane at Wrestlemania 18. Two months later, both Trish Stratus and Terri Runnels had short runs with the title, both losing the title to Stevie Richards in minutes. All the title wins came as comedy segments, which did nothing to elevate the women's division.

#4. Daffney - WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Daffney in WCW

Daffney became Co-Cruiserweight Champion along with Crowbar when they beat Champion Chris Candido and his valet Sunny in a WCW mixed tag match in 2000. The next week, a match was set up between Crowbar and Daffney to determine the undisputed champion.

Daffney - playing a zombie gimmick - won the title in a farce when Candido gave Crowbar a piledriver and Daffney pinned him while trying to revive him. She held the title just over two weeks before losing it in a triple threat match involving Disco Inferno and Lieutenant Loco.

Loco - another one of Chavo Guerrero's awful gimmicks - pinned Inferno to win the match, meaning Daffney was not involved in the finish. Daffney would later be seen in TNA from 2008 -11. Despite basically creating the gimmick adopted by the likes of Rosemary and Nikki Cross, Daffney never won another title in any major promotion again.

#3. Madusa - WCW Cruiserweight Championship

Madusa won the Cruiserweight title

Madusa was the worst woman to win the WCW Cruiserweight title, with her victory coming at Starrcade '99 - WCW's premier event. She won the title form Evan Karagias after some help from the Nitro girl Spice. Her title run was nothing to be proud of, as she was booked in a rivalry with Oklahoma.

Oklahoma was Edd Ferrera gimmicking Jim Ross' Bell's Palsy disorder - it was a tasteless angle which was heavily criticized during the time and later. Madusa and Oklahoma engaged in a feud, with the two even fighting in evening gown matches.

While it would have sent the fans home happy had Madusa decisively won the feud, she instead lost the title to Oklahoma at Souled Out '99. Madusa went on to wind down her in-ring career and became a trainer at WCW Powerplant instead.

#2. Jacqueline - WWE Cruiserweight Champion

Jackie won the cruiserweight title in 2004

Jacqueline won the WWE Cruiserweight title basically out of nowhere in 2004. It was a time when the Cruiserweight title was at its zenith as far as prestige was concerned - The likes of Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio had had solid runs as Champions and Chavo had beat Mysterio to win the title No Way Out 2004.

With both Hardy and Mysterio moving on from the Cruiserweight division, Chavo became the focus of the division. After beating all cruiserweights in a gauntlet match at Wrestlemania 20, Chavo issued a challenge to anyone whom he had not defeated to challenge him for the belt.

The challenge was answered by Jacqueline, who promptly beat Chavo for the title with a low blow. Jackie wouldn't hold the title for too long, losing to Chavo at Judgement Day.

Chavo would later lose the title to his father, Chavo Classic and the title would slowly lose its prestige, becoming an afterthought as it was treated like a hot potato, with the likes of Nunzio, Kid Kash and Funkai having runs with the belt.

#1. Chyna

Chyna won the IC title twice

Still the only woman to compete believably with the men in the WWE, there were even plans to make Chyna the WWE Champion, but eventually, the idea was scrapped. But Chyna did win the Intercontinental title on two occasions.

The first title win came when she beat Jeff Jarrett in a Good Housekeeping match. This was the match where Jarrett successfully demanded $300,000 payoff from Vince McMahon to drop the title to a woman after his contract expired.

Chyna would later lose the title to Chris Jericho and later became co-champions with him. She would lose to Jericho later in a match set to determine the official champion, though.

Chyna' second Intercontinental title reign started when she pinned Trish Stratus in a mixed tag team match also involving Champion Val Venis and Chyna's partner Eddie Guerrero. She would lose the title to Guerrero next week.