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At the moment, WWE has 21 championships spread out across four different brands. RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK all have a variety of titles with a few floating around in between as well.
Today we'll be looking to go over every single WWE Championship and look at the youngest superstars to ever win them. Alongside brand-specific titles, we've also got the 24/7 Title and the WWE Women's Tag Titles.
We'll be kicking things off with the former, and it may shock you to know that the youngest 24/7 Champion isn't even a contracted WWE Superstar.
#21 WWE 24/7 Championship
The 24/7 Championship is often considered to be R-Truth's personal title. Whether he holds the belt or not, nobody is more associated with it than Truth. Still, though he holds the record for most reigns with the championship at 52, he's nowhere near the youngest WWE 24/7 Champion.
In fact, that claim doesn't even belong to a current member of the WWE roster. At 26 years of age, Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny is the youngest to ever hold the 24/7 Championship. Considering Bunny wasn't actually pinned for the title, we can also unofficially say that he's the longest reigning 24/7 Champion of all time.
#20 WWE NXT Cruiserweight Championship
This is a very important distinction. The current Cruiserweight Championship and the one that was retired back in 2007 are entirely different titles. Knowing that, we're not going to be counting any of the WCW or Ruthless Aggression WWE reigns.
However, if you're curious enough, we looked into that too. As far as WCW went, the youngest Cruiserweight Champion was Rey Mysterio at 21. Oddly enough, the youngest to hold WWE's version of the title, Hornswoggle, was also 21 when he won it.
As far as the new title, which was introduced in the finals of the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic, there have been sixteen different champions. Current NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida is the oldest to hold the title at 38. The youngest to ever wear the gold was also the one to bring it to NXT in the first place.
Originally, the Cruiserweight Championship was a staple of 205 Live and 205 Live only. Cruiserweights would occasionally show up at RAW, but the focus stayed on the Purple Brand. But on the October 9th, 2019 edition of NXT, Lio Rush overcame Drew Gulak to capture the title. He was merely 25 years old.
This was when the Cruiserweight Championship was dubbed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, and has since been seen on 205 Live, NXT, and NXT UK respectively.
#19 WWE NXT Women's Tag Team Titles
Winners of the NXT Women's Dusty Cup from earlier this year, Raquel González and Dakota Kai, earned a shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles. However, after some flagrant interference by Adam Pearce, keeping the titles on Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, the Black and Gold brand decided to make their own belts.
In the title's brief history, we've seen four different teams hold them. The Way holds a pretty unique distinction, as the individual members of the team both have a record. Candace LeRae, at 35, is the oldest to hold the gold, while Indi Hartwell, at 24, is the youngest.
#18 WWE Women's Tag Titles
Speaking of tag titles, WWE re-introduced the women's tag team championship a few years back. The titles were initially won by the Boss 'n' Hug Connection, Sasha Banks and Bayley. The current champions, Natalya and Tamina, are the oldest duo to hold the gold.
Currently, seven different tag teams have held the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles. It was the second to ever capture the gold, though, that claimed the record for youngest champion. Bayley and Sasha lost the titles to The IIconics on April 17, 2019. With that, Peyton Royce became the youngest WWE Women's Tag Champion at 26 years of age.
#17 WWE NXT UK Heritage Cup
It feels a little strange to add this next one to the list, as the Heritage Cup is unlike any other title in WWE today. It's not a belt, but a trophy first awarded to A-Kid after a tournament featuring eight of the best talents in NXT UK. Bouts for the Heritage Cup are fought under British Round Rules, which are as follows:
- Each match has six three-minute rounds with twenty second breaks in between each round.
- The first to two-falls wins.
- A competitor can win a fall by pinfall, submission, or countout.
- A fall immediately ends a round.
- DQs or KOs immediately end the entire match.
- If no winner is declared before the sixth round ends, the competitor in the lead is declared the victor.
A-Kid is a young, bright WWE Superstar that's really been impressing fans. At 24 years of age, he's got a great career ahead of him. He lost the Cup to Tyler Bate, the inaugural NXT UK Champion. While Bate and A-Kid are the same age, the latter won the championship at 23, making him not only the first but also the youngest UK Heritage Cup Champion.
That's a pretty important distinction, as it's one that can be said for the next three entries on this list.
#16 WWE NXT UK Tag Titles
If you've not been watching NXT UK, you've missed out on a pretty impressive tag division. Featuring the likes of Gallus, Mustache Mountain, Symbiosis, Subculture and current champions Pretty Deadly, it's pretty stacked.
The NXT UK Tag Titles were established on January 12th, 2019. So far, only four teams have ever held them. Current NXT UK duos Subculture and Gallus were the second and third title holders, respectively. However, the first to do so were Zack Gibson and James Drake, NXT's Grizzled Young Veterans.
Drake also holds the record for youngest champion at 25 years of age.
#15 WWE NXT UK Women's Title
Being a young WWE brand, NXT UK has done a fantastic job in making every championship they hold as prestigious as possible. No hot potato-ing there. Each championship has had, at most, four champions in the course of the brand's history.
More often than not, reigns reach well over 100 days, guaranteeing everyone that holds a title has a chance to leave their mark on the division. The WWE NXT UK Women's Championship is one of two titles to have four separate winners. Its inaugural champion, Rhea Ripley, was the youngest to win it at 21.
Ripley holds a record that may not be broken for quite some time. Not only is she a former NXT UK Women's Champion. She's also the only former NXT UK Women's Champion to also win the NXT Women's Championship. As if that wasn't enough, she added on to that feat by winning the WWE RAW Women's Championship.
There's a very good chance Rhea Ripley will be the first and possibly only WWE Superstar to hold the main women's championship on every brand.
#14 WWE NXT UK Championship
Kind of weird how the first person to hold every NXT UK Championship has also been its youngest, right? That started with the first title of the brand. The NXT UK Championship was won after a tournament that took place back in 2017.
Bringing in sixteen of the greatest UK athletes on the scene at the time, we saw many names that became mainstays in, not just NXT UK, but NXT as well. Jordan Devlin, James Drake, Wolfgang, Danny Burch, Pete Dunne and more battled for the right to be the first ever WWE UK Champion.
The finals of the tournament saw Pete Dunne face his fellow British Strong Style ally Tyler Bate. All four rounds of the tournament took place in two days' time, and Bate came in injured as he was attacked by Dunne beforehand.
Despite the exhaustion and the attack by his opponent, Bate came back to win, planting Dunne with the Tyler Driver '97. Tyler Bate is currently the youngest to ever hold the title at 19 years of age, and will more than likely hold that record for some time to come.
#13 WWE NXT Tag Titles
Tyler Bate isn't done yet! The NXT Tag Team Titles have been around since early 2013 and has had 21 different teams hold the gold. Breezango, The Wyatt Family, SAnitY, Authors of Pain, the Undisputed Era, and current champions MSK have all etched their names into WWE's record books over the years.
However, Tyler Bate and his partner Trent Seven managed to find their places in history for a few reasons regarding these titles. Firstly, of course, is that Tyler Bate was the youngest to win the title at 21 years old.
Moustache Mountain, though, also holds the record for shortest reign. They won and lost the NXT Tag Titles to the Undisputed Era in the course of two days, though on tape delay it extended to 22 days. Interestingly enough, Bate also holds the record for shortest reign as NXT UK Champion.
#12 WWE Million Dollar Championship
WWE reintroduced the Million Dollar Championship this year, putting it up for grabs in a ladder match between LA Knight and Cameron Grimes. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House 2021, Knight bested Grimes to become the fifth man to ever hold the title. Knight is also the oldest to ever wear it at 38 years of age.
Who was the youngest? Well, that would be the son of the Million Dollar Man himself, Ted Dibiase Jr. The former Legacy member broke away from Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes in 2010, and would be awarded the title by his father Ted Dibiase the very same year.
#11 WWE NXT North American Championship
Very few championships have been brought out the way WWE introduced the NXT North American Championship to the world. A six-man ladder match boasting some of the greatest talents on the brand at the time, it was awarded five stars by Dave Meltzer himself.
Adam Cole would best EC3, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, Velveteen Dream, and Ricochet in the match. Of course, two of those other competitors would end up with the gold around their waist in less than a year's time. Ricochet took the title off of Cole at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans before dropping it to Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix.
The youngest WWE Superstar to hold the NXT North American Championship so far is Velveteen Dream. The Vainglorious One captured the title back in 2019 by beating Johnny Gargano on an episode of NXT.
#10 WWE NXT Women's Championship
Much like every title in NXT UK, the first-ever NXT Women's Champion is also the youngest to ever hold the title. It all adds up, as she's from the UK herself. Paige captured the title after winning an eight-woman tournament.
In the finals, Paige defeated Emma. Nearly a year after winning the title, she appeared on RAW after WrestleMania 30 to defeat AJ Lee for the Divas Championship. She'd be forced to relinquish the title on the next episode of NXT. Though they took away her title, WWE's going to have a hard time taking Paige's name out of the history books.
The Anti-Diva was 20 when she won the gold, and I doubt anyone is going to come close to that anytime soon.
#9 WWE NXT Championship
WWE has had a phenomenal run of superstars holding the NXT Championship. The legacy started off strong with Seth Rollins and only got stronger with the inclusion of Big E, Shinsuke Nakamura, Adrian Neville, Bobby Roode, Drew McIntyre, Andrade, Keith Lee and more.
One of the greatest NXT Champions of all time, though, was Bo Dallas. The third to ever hold the gold, Dallas bested Big E on the December 6th, 2012 edition of NXT to win it. After an impressive 280 day reign, Dallas would lose it to Adrian Neville before moving onto WWE's main roster.
When Dallas won the NXT Championship, he was 23 years old, making him the youngest NXT Champion ever.
#8 WWE SmackDown Tag Titles
After the WWE Brand Split in 2016, RAW and SmackDown were awarded their own tag team titles. The SmackDown Tag Team Titles have been held by the likes of The Usos, The Bludgeon Brothers, New Day, The Bar and other top tier talents.
The Usos actually won the titles for the fifth time recently, beating Rey and Dominik Mysterio for them on the WWE Money in the Bank pre-show. Coincidentally, they dethroned the youngest champion, Dominik, who was 24 when he won them with his dad back at WrestleMania Backlash.
#7 WWE WWE RAW Tag Titles
Alright, we should all remember this one. WWE made a strange decision when they decided to send Braun Strowman into a RAW Tag Team Title match against then-champions The Bar at WrestleMania 34. Strowman had continuously attacked Sheamus and Cesaro, but had never found a partner he trusted.
Well, at the show itself, Strowman had not yet found someone worthy enough to challenge for the gold. So what did he do? He went into the audience, picked out a ten year old boy, and won the RAW Tag Titles essentially by himself. Nicholas, revealed to be the son of WWE referee John Cone, would be forced to vacate the titles along with Braun.
Braun stated that it was a scheduling issue as Nicholas was in the fourth-grade and needed to focus on school. However, he promised to come back when he was finished to regain what they never truly lost. With Braun Strowman gone from WWE now, that seems unlikely.
Still, perhaps Nicholas will be able to bring Strowman back when he hits the right age for one last run.
#6 WWE Intercontinental Championship
The WWE Intercontinental Championship has been around for well over forty years at this point. Pat Patterson was the first to win it back in 1979. The belt's been known as the workhorse title for the majority of the time it's been around, though it's also a stepping stone to the top of the card.
Many former Intercontinental Champions managed to climb the ranks and eventually reach the top of the mountain. Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, HBK, The Rock and more have used it as a gateway to the WWE Championship.
Another WWE Superstar that did just that is Jeff Hardy. The Charismatic Enigma first won the gold in 2001 when he was just 23 years old. He'd win the title four times before finally getting the WWE Championship in 2008. Hardy won his fifth Intercontinental Championship back in 2020.
#5 WWE United States Championship
This entry is going to be a little different because technically the youngest United States Champion ever came from WCW. David Flair was given the championship by his father, then WCW President, Ric Flair, back in 1999.
But going by WWE Champions specifically, we'd have to cut out David Flair. Actually, we'd be cutting out the top three on the list. Not only is Flair at the top, but he's followed by Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat.
Fourth in the list is former WWE Superstar Carlito. He won the title in 2004 at 25 years old when he defeated John Cena.
#4 WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
Alexa Bliss may be too busy haunting Monday Night RAW to focus on championships. However, back when she first showed up on the main roster, her eyes were on the prize. Soon after debuting for SmackDown, she challenged Becky Lynch for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WWE TLC 2016.
She defeated Lynch in a tables match, and became the second woman to ever hold the gold. She also became the youngest to hold the title at 25 years of age. So far, nobody has been able to take this accolade from her.
#3 WWE RAW Women's Championship
WWE Superstar Sasha Banks will go down as one of the greatest stars of her generation. The Boss is one of the most decorated stars to come out of NXT, and proved herself to be one of the most valuable performers the WWE have lucked into in a decade.
Banks has done it all. Between NXT, RAW, and SmackDown, she's captured seven singles championships. Add to that the two WWE Women's Tag Title reigns, and she's been drenched in gold throughout her entire career.
Banks was the second woman to ever hold the RAW Women's Championship, and she's also the youngest. Charlotte lost the title to Banks on RAW in July 2016 when Banks was 24 years old.
#2 WWE Championship
When it's all said and done, Brock Lesnar will go down as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all-time. Despite what some may think of him, he's done nearly everything one could want in the pro wrestling world.
Not only that, but he reached the top of the mountain at an incredibly young age. To capture any other title at the start of your career is incredible enough as is. But Brock Lesnar managed to capture the WWE Championship when he was 25 years old.
#1 WWE Universal Championship
So the WWE Universal Championship has quite an interesting history in that nobody under the age of 30 has won it. Finn Balor, the first Universal Champion, won the title when he was 36 years old. The title's also been held quite a bit by Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, both of whom are well over the age of the rest of the men to hold the title.
Kevin Owens, oddly enough, is the youngest WWE Superstar to ever be Universal Champion. After Finn Balor was forced to relinquish the title due to injury, Kevin Owens won it in a Fatal-4-Way match. The Prize Fighter captured the title at 32 years of age. It was an elimination bout where Owens eliminated Big Cass first.
Triple H came down to ringside to Pedigree Roman Reigns on the floor, giving Seth Rollins the second elimination of the night. At this point, it seemed that Trips was going to hand the title to Seth Rollins. Instead, he turned on Seth Rollins, planting him with a Pedigree in the middle of the ring.
Owens was as stunned as the rest of the crowd, but picked up the pieces to earn his first, and so far, only, WWE Universal Title.
