5 Worst Women's Champions in WWE history

All titles go through a rough patch in terms of their prestige. While the likes of the WWE Championship has always been fiercely protected, many secondary titles have had the misfortune of being downgraded for a variety of reasons.

No other title seems to have fallen victim to this fate than the WWE Women's title - especially during and immediately after the Attitude era. At a time when women were not expected to be proficient in the ring, title reigns were never considered important.

The likes of Sable, Bertha Faye, Kelly Kelly, and even a 76-year-old Fabulous Moolah have won the title over the years - which makes the rumored Raw Women's title main event for this year's Wrestlemania all the more satisfying.

Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey have definitely elevated the status of the Women's title and the likes of Trish Stratus, Mickie James and Alexa Bliss have all had memorable Women's title matches at Wrestlemania.

However, this list takes a look at the five worst Women's Champions in WWE history

#5. Candice Michelle

Candice Michelle had a lengthy run with the Women's title

Candice Michelle started out in the WWE as a Tough Enough contestant. Not a trained wrestler, she was considered eye candy in the company, taking part in a number of pillow fight matches and lingerie matches and wasn't acknowledged as a serious competitor.

Candice received national exposure when she was featured in a Go Daddy ad that was broadcast during the 2005 Superbowl. This increased Candice's presence on the WWE screen, albeit in controversial segments involving Vince McMahon and Kelly Kelly.

However, WWE pushed her to be the face of the Women's division soon. At Vengeance 2007, Candice had a Women's title match with Champion Melina and scored the upset victory with a heel kick. Candice had started training during her off days and she did improve considerably compared to her early years in the company, thus making her a more credible Champion than the other entries in this list.

She would debut a Double Underhook Facebuster as her new finisher - named the Candywrapper - and defended her title successfully against the likes of Melina and even Beth Phoenix. Candice held the title for 105 days and was featured as the top female star on RAW before finally losing the title to Beth Phoenix.

#4. Jillian Hall

Jillian Hall won and lost the Women's title on an episode of RAW

Jillian Hall did not have much of a presence from an in-ring perspective in the WWE, and it was a huge surprise when she beat women's division stalwart Mickie James to win the WWE Divas Championship in about one and a half minutes in 2009. Jillian was in the middle of her 'bad singer' persona and having such a comedy character defeat James confused the fans.

But Jillian is not placed higher up the list because she was the definition of a transitional champion as the WWE wanted to put the title on baby face Melina without having another fan favorite Mickie James lose to her.

Jillian was immediately challenged by Melina to a title defense and she lost the title to the Latina in about 30 seconds, making Jillian the shortest reigning Divas Champion in history. Jillian and Melina botched the superfast finish to their match, once again underlining that giving the title to Jillian at that stage was a mistake.

#3. Debra

Debra Marshall made her name in the WWE as the manager of Jeff Jarrett and later, her second husband Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite having no in-ring talent, Debra captured the Women's title from the popular Sable in 1999.

While Sable was also limited in the ring, she had a presence about her that led to fans queuing up to see her and had a six-month reign as Women's Champion. But off-screen, she was having a contract dispute with the WWE and the decision was made to move the title from her.

The fact that Debra and Sable could not have a competitive match led WWE to book an evening gown match between the two. Special referee Shawn Michaels would controversially award the match to Debra despite Sable not losing the match. It made Debra's title victory meaningless and she would lose the title within a month to Ivory.

#2. The Kat

The Kat won and lost the Women's title in embarrassing situations

Stacy Carter has a few 'firsts' in the WWE, but none of them is anything to be proud of. As part of the Attitude era where WWE was pushing the boundaries, Stacy Carter aka The Kat was the first female to undertake intentional nudity on WWE TV, drawing the ire of conservative groups like the Parent Teacher Council.

The act happened on the same night the Kat won the Women's Championship. Despite having the competent Ivory as the Women's Champion and also featuring Jacqueline as a participant, The Kat won the title in a four corners evening gown match on Raw.

Her title defenses consisted of chocolate pudding matches, swimsuit contests and swimming pool matches and she managed to hold on to the title for 50 days. She finally lost the title during a lumberjill snowbunny match on Raw, but the title change led to the worst Women's champion getting crowned.

#1.Hervina

That lumberjill snowbunny match ended with a debuting Hervina defeating the Kat for the Women's Championship. The only problem was that Hervina was actually longtime manager Harvey Wippleman in disguise.

Akin to Santino Marella winning the Ms. Wrestlemania battle royal, the incident tarnished the Women's division and made it the butt of jokes. Hervina wasn't immediately stripped of the title. Instead, he was allowed to defend the title in a match against Jacqueline on the following week's Raw.

Thankfully, Jacqueline managed to beat Hervina in under a minute to start her second Women's title reign. But WWE showed again that it did not care two hoots for the title when Stephanie McMahon beat Jacqueline for the title and started one of the longest reigns in women's title history at the time - a reign that just missed the cut to be included in this list.