The WWE Divas Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. The championship was created by WWE in 2008, and was introduced in storyline by then SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero as an alternative to Raw's Women's Championship.Michelle McCool became the inaugural champion on July 20, 2008 when she defeated Natalya at The Great American Bash. After former Divas Champion Maryse was drafted to Raw as part of the 2009 WWE draft, she took the title with her. McCool won a match against Melina to unify the WWE Divas and Women's titles at the Night of Champions pay-per-view on September 19, 2010, creating the Unified Divas Championship.
With the first WWE brand extension, a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to different television programs and touring companies, in 2002, the WWE Women's Championship was originally to be defended on both brands. At some point that year, however, it became exclusive to the Raw brand. Thereafter, only Divas on the Raw brand were able to compete for the title, while the Divas on the SmackDown brand were unable to compete for a women's-exclusive championship. However, on a few occasions the regulation was bypassed with Melina, Ashley, Torrie Wilson, and Nidia challenging for the title while on the SmackDown brand, but none were successful.