Every Black World Champion In WWE History

Wrestling fans have had a lot of discourse over the years when it comes to Black WWE Champions. That’s because the number throughout history is quite small, despite the company being around for decades. To date, only six Black men and six Black women have held world singles championships in WWE. Plenty of others have held tag team and midcard titles, which makes the lack of World Champions even more shocking. It’s a controversial topic for many longtime fans.

WWE wasn’t even the first wrestling company to have a Black World Champion as their old rival WCW did it first when Ron Simmons captured the top prize in 1992. Thankfully, there were eventually several Black WWE Champions, and the number has grown significantly in recent years. Some of their top stars today, like WWE 2K24 cover girl Bianca Belair, are Black. That should mean the list of Black WWE Champions will only rise in the coming years.

The Rock

10-Time WWE World Champion

It makes sense that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson became WWE’s first-ever Black world champion, as his father, Rocky Johnson, was one-half of WWE’s first Black tag team champions in the 1980s. The Rock has held 10 world championships during his WWE career, two of them being WCW world title reigns when WWE briefly recognized that belt after buying the company. In his final world title reign, The Rock beat CM Punk for his 10th WWE world title in 2013.

Dwayne Johnson is now a part of the WWE board of directors.

He then lost that title to fellow wrestler-turned-actor John Cena at WrestleMania 29. The Rock remains a prominent part of WWE, even after recently joining the company as a member of the board of directors. He even made a return to the ring in 2024. He was supposed to get another world title shot at WrestleMania that year but gave up the shot so Cody Rhodes could “finish his story” against The Rock’s cousin, Roman Reigns. The Rock is still wrestling on a limited basis to this day.

Booker T

2-Time WWE World Champion

One of the most decorated Black wrestlers ever, Booker T is a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee, going in on his own and as part of the Harlem Heat tag team alongside his brother, Stevie Ray. Before joining WWE, Booker T was already wildly successful, winning the WCW World Championship four times. He added a fifth and final WCW Title reign under the WWE banner in 2001. He also won a record-setting 11 WCW World Tag Team Championships over his career there.

Booker T holds the record for the most WCW world tag team title reigns.

The most successful WWE wrestler to come over in 2001 after WCW closed, Booker T rebounded nicely from a rough start. In 2003, he lost a world Tttle match to Triple H in controversial fashion as HHH had spent weeks saying “people like Booker” couldn’t be a top champion. He eventually won the World Heavyweight Title in 2006 while wrestling as his King Booker persona. This was his only world title with the WWE name attached to it.

Mark Henry

1-Time WWE World Champion

Another WWE Hall of Famer, “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry was an Olympic weightlifter before joining WWE in 1996. Henry struggled to find his footing in WWE for a long time. He signed a monster rookie contract with the company and then had to prove that he deserved the money. He started out as a member of The Rock’s Nation of Domination and then began to work as a powerhouse wrestler, but it seemed that a world title would never come in his future.

This all changed in 2011. That year, he won the World Heavyweight Championship as part of his legendary “Hall of Pain” heel run. Before that, Henry had won WWE’s version of the ECW championship, but WWE didn’t recognize it as a world title. Henry has since become one of several WWE greats to jump ship to AEW, although his contract there expired in 2024, and he is now a free agent. His world title days are behind him, but it was enough to warrant his Hall of Fame credentials.

Kofi Kingston

1-Time WWE World Champion

Kofi Kingston’s story is one of perseverance. After debuting in early 2008, Kingston was pegged as a man with loads of talent and a bright future but his run to the top in late 2009 was thwarted by backstage politics. Kingston spent the next few years as a midcarder though many believed his opportunity to be a top guy had passed by him. That all changed when KofiMania became a thing in 2019.

He replaced an injured superstar in the Elimination Chamber and came so close to winning the big one that fans began pushing hard for him to finally have his moment. He rode that wave of momentum into WrestleMania, where he dethroned Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title in one of the company’s most emotional moments. Kingston reigned as champion for just under five months until he controversially lost to Brock Lesnar in a mere nine seconds. However, his win was a huge moment for WWE’s Black community.

Bobby Lashley

2-Time WWE World Champion

During Bobby Lashley’s initial WWE run in the mid-2000s, he never really hit the heights most predicted, only managing two reigns with the ECW Championship, which, again, wasn’t considered a world title. Lashley did main event a WrestleMania in a controversial match where he backed Donald Trump against Vince McMahon’s chosen wrestler, the late Umaga. Lashley won, and Trump shaved McMahon’s head after the match. Lashley left and fought in MMA for a while.

However, Lashley returned to the company in 2018 and has fulfilled his potential. His crowning moment saw him defeat The Miz in March 2021 for his first WWE Title reign. He ultimately lost the title to another Black star in Big E, before winning a second world title against Brock Lesnar with help from Roman Reigns at the 2022 Royal Rumble. Lashley remains one of WWE’s top stars and could still win another world title in the future, although his time might be coming to a close.

Big E

1-Time WWE World Champion

Big E became the second member of the New Day trio — who starred in WWE’s interactive movie Escape the Undertaker — to win WWE’s top prize in September 2021, taking the WWE Title from Bobby Lashley on Raw. It was another crowning moment for a deserving and popular Black wrestler. Unfortunately, like his partner Kingston, Big E saw his reign toppled by Brock Lesnar at WWE’s Day 1 pay-per-view that kicked off 2022.

Big E’s career has seemingly come to an end after a broken neck.

It remains to be seen if or when Xavier Woods will join his New Day brothers as a world champion. It is also unlikely that Big E will ever win another world title. In 2022, just three months after losing his world title to Brock Lesnar, Big E broke his neck in a match with Ridge Holland, where Big E ended up being dropped on his head on the floor during the match. He suffered fractures to his C1 and C6 vertebrae and was told he might never wrestle again.

Jacqueline

2-Time WWE World Champion

A fixture during WWE’s Attitude Era, Jacqueline won WWE’s Women’s Champion twice. The first was a rather historic win as not only did it make her the company’s first Black Women’s Champion, but she was also the first champion since the title was brought back after being defunct for several years. Jacqueline also won the belt in 2000 when she beat a man who held it — a former manager named Harvey Wippleman, who dressed up as a woman and called himself Hervina.

Notably, Jacqueline also won the Cruiserweight Championship, a title usually held by male wrestlers, when she beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. (the late Eddie Guerero’s nephew) when he made an open challenge, and she answered it. In 2016, Jacqueline received the honor of being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Before entering WWE, she also held women’s world titles in minor promotions — the USWA and the UWF.

Jazz

2-Time WWE World Champion

Jazz entered WWE after a well-received tenure in the original ECW, and her WWE run saw two women’s championship reigns. She won the title from Trish Stratus in 2002, whom Jazz then dropped back to her a few months later. Jazz again won the title from Stratus in 2003, and the matches between the two generally drew positive notices. Jazz’s second reign was ended by Gail Kim.

Like Jacqueline though, Jazz’s time as a champion came when the women’s division wasn’t a featured part of the company. WWE often treated these matches, even when they were good, as filler, and it made it difficult to fully consider it a world title at the time. Still, Jazz was ahead of her time with her skillset and would likely fit in any era of women’s wrestling. She was easily one of the best and toughest women’s wrestlers of her era and was still competing recently in the NWA.

Alicia Fox

1-Time WWE World Champion

One of WWE’s longest-continuously tenured female performers, Alicia Fox spent so much of her career doing comedic storylines that many forget she’s a former champion. Fox won WWE’s Divas Champion in 2010, reigning for almost two months before losing to Melina at SummerSlam. Fox is also one of several women to hold WWE’s 24/7 Championship. Again, this wasn’t the best time for women’s wrestling in the company.

Naomi

2-Time WWE World Champion

One of WWE’s most athletic and popular female performers in recent memory, Naomi became WWE’s third SmackDown Women’s Champion by defeating Alexa Bliss in 2017. Like many other Black wrestlers, Naomi had to overcome some early struggles as she was relegated to being a backup dancer for Brodus Clay for years before getting her chance at actually competing consistently.

Naomi’s first reign only lasted a few days before injury cut it short but she returned soon after and recaptured the title at WrestleMania 33. After a few more years with the company, Naomi departed WWE and had a strong run with Impact Wrestler. However, she made her official comeback with an impressive showing in the 2024 women’s Royal Rumble match.

Sasha Banks

6-Time WWE World Champion

One of WWE’s most celebrated female competitors ever, The Mandalorian actor Sasha Banks has been at the forefront of WWE’s women’s evolution period. “The Boss” held the Raw Women’s Championship five times, and the SmackDown Women’s Championship once. That’s not to mention her reigns with the NXT Women’s Title and multiple stints in Women’s Tag Team Champion.

Sasha Banks now works in AEW as Mercedes Moné.

Evidenced by her role in The Mandalorian, Banks, who now goes by Mercedes Moné, is a huge star who goes beyond the wrestling ring. She is no longer with WWE but continues to make waves everywhere she goes, including becoming the second IWGP Women’s Champion in New Japan Pro Wrestling and winning the AEW TBS Championship. The former Sasha Banks also made history by headlining WrestleMania 37 alongside another Black woman in Bianca Belair.

Bianca Belair

3-Time WWE World Champion

A standout in NXT before graduating to WWE’s main roster, the incredibly athletic Bianca Belair made history along with Sasha Banks, as the two battled for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 37. Belair emerged victorious in a moment that was not only huge for her but for Black women in WWE history and those who want to have a future with the company.

Bianca Belair lost the title in under a minute to Becky Lynch at SummerSlam but rallied to earn another shot where she then defeated Lynch at WrestleMania 38. She reigned for more than a year and then won a third title before 2023 concluded. Entering 2024, Belair remains a top star with WWE as she is one of the cover athletes for their latest video game and is the star of a new reality show, Love & WWE: Bianca & Montez, with her husband, Montez Ford.

Which Black Wrestlers Are Likely To Become Future World Champions

While some huge names have won world championships in WWE, it took a long time to get there as Black athletes. Thankfully that has changed and the sky is the limit now for Black stars in the company. WWE’s top rival, AEW, even got in on the act when Swerve Strickland (a former WWE NXT star) won their world title. With that said, the talent on WWE’s roster is huge when it comes to who could be the next person to step up and win a world title, both in the men’s and women’s divisions.

It is also hard to talk about Carmelo without mentioning the man who beat him for the NXT title, Trick Williams.

On the men’s side of things is a young superstar named Carmelo Hayes. He had already won the WWE NXT Championship, and in his first match on the main roster, he fought WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, putting on a strong showing. He is exciting and young and has a bright future ahead of him. It is also hard to talk about Carmelo without mentioning his former partner and friend, Trick Williams. While Williams might struggle a little more on the main roster, both men should be future stars.

Another male WWE superstar who needs to be mentioned is Montez Ford. While he has spent his entire career in the tag team The Street Profits, many people feel he will one day be a major singles star. The husband of Bianca Belair, Ford got a chance to show his skills in an Elimination Chamber match and turned in a great performance. He needs a chance, and he could end up as the next Kofi Kingston and make his name as a world champion.

On the women’s side, the main person to look at as a future WWE world champion is Jade Cargill. She has a long way to go because she is still raw and has a lot to learn, but WWE is playing it smart. Cargill is already a WWE World Tag Team Champion, only a few months after making her debut (she came from AEW). However, putting her with former world champion Bianca Belair is a smart move, as Cargill has the look and charisma to be a huge world champion, and it might happen very soon.

Other Wrestling Companies That Had Black World Champions

WWE wasn’t the first major wrestling company to have a Black world champion. WCW did it years before WWE finally awarded The Rock his first world title. The first Black man to ever hold a world title in a major promotion was Ron Simmons, who went on to portray the character Farooq in WWE. Unsurprisingly, his WCW World Championship reign came via booker Cowboy Bill Watts. While running Mid-South Wrestling in the 1980s, Watts made Junkyard Dog his top champion despite other promoters telling him fans would never accept it.

WCW only had one other Black world champion before selling to WWE, and that was Booker T, who won the title four times and won the last of the titles on the very last Nitro before the company closed its doors.

In TNA the company had its first Black world champion in 2014 with Bobby Lashley.

The biggest competitor to WWE in the 2000s started business in 2002 with TNA Impact Wrestling. In TNA the company had its first Black world champion in 2014 with Bobby Lashley, who was working there in between his two major stints in WWE. He was a four-time world champion before making his way back to WWE. In 2020, Rich Swann won the title and since then, Moose has become one of TNA’s top stars and is a two-time world champion.

Ring of Honor opened its doors in 2002 as an alternative to WWE. The company’s main titles status as “world championships” is often debated, but they list them as such. The company’s second-ever champion in 2002 was a man named Xavier, which put them ahead of TNA by several years when it comes to crowning a Black world champion. The iconic Homicide also held the ROH World Championship in 2006, and Jonathan Gresham won the belt in 2021.

Letha’s combined 707-day reign as champion is the longest in Ring of Honor history.

However, Ring of Honor also deserves recognition for the two title reigns of Jay Lethal, who won his first world title in 2015 and held it for an impressive 427 days. He then won it a second time in 2018 and held it for 280 days. Letha’s combined 707-day reign as champion is the longest in Ring of Honor history. Ring of Honor also has a long-reigning women’s champion in Athena (who worked as Ember Moon in WWE), who won the title in December 2022.

Since starting business in 2019, AEW has become the biggest wrestling company since WCW went out of business to compete with WWE. However, in its five years, there has been only one Black AEW world champion. Swerve Strickland won the world title in 2024 from Samoa Joe and held it for 126 days before dropping it to Bryan Danielson. However, the future is bright for Swerve, and he should win more world titles in his future.