The WWE Speed Championship is a men's professional wrestling internet championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, available to wrestlers from all three of the company's brand divisions. Revealed on March 27, 2024, it has a stipulation in which matches have a five-minute time limit and stream exclusively on WWE's online program Speed, from which the title takes its name. The inaugural champion was Ricochet, who was a member of the Raw roster at the time of his reign. The current champion is Dragon Lee from Raw, who is in his first reign. He defeated Andrade during the Speed tapings on November 15, 2024 (aired November 20).
| WWE Speed Championship | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The belt with default side plates | |||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | March 27, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Dragon Lee | ||||||||||||||||
| Date won | November 15, 2024 (aired November 20, 2024) | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
History
edit
On February 9, 2024, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE announced a partnership with X to introduce WWE Speed, a weekly video series to stream exclusively on the social media platform where wrestlers would perform in matches with a five-minute time limit.[1] The following month on March 27, WWE commentator Corey Graves announced that Speed would premiere on April 3, 2024, but regular matches would instead be three minutes in length. An eight-man tournament was also announced to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion that would take place over the first few episodes of the program. It was also revealed that male wrestlers from all three of WWE's brand divisions—Raw, SmackDown, and the developmental brand NXT—were eligible to challenge for the title.[2]
The inaugural Speed Championship tournament final, which was taped on April 26, 2024, and aired on tape delay on May 3, saw Ricochet defeating Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural champion.[3][4] This tournament final also confirmed that the championship matches would have a duration of five minutes instead of Speed's regular three-minute length.[5] On the July 17 episode, Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes fought to Speed's first time-limit draw in their semifinal match. It was decided that both men were eliminated from the tournament with the winner of the other semifinal, Baron Corbin, receiving a bye to the tournament final to face Andrade for the title.[6] Andrade defeated Corbin on July 19, 2024 to retain his title. He then defended the title successfully against Pete Dunne on August 23, 2024.
Inaugural tournament
edit| Quarterfinals Speed (aired April 3-April 17, 2024) | Semifinals Speed (aired April 24-May 1, 2024) | Final Speed (aired May 3, 2024) | ||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Dragon Lee | 2:57[7] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | 1:58[10] | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Axiom | 2:26[8] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | 4:21[3][4] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Cedric Alexander | 1:50[7] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | 2:23[11] | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Angel | 2:08[9] | |||||||||||||
Reigns
edit
As of November 23, 2024, there have been three reigns between three champions. The inaugural champion was Ricochet. Andrade has the longest reign at 161 days (159 days as recognized by WWE), while Ricochet has the shortest at 42 days. Ricochet is also the oldest champion at 35 while Dragon Lee is the youngest at 29.
The current champion is Dragon Lee from Raw, who is in his first reign. He defeated Andrade during the November 15, 2024, tapings of Speed (aired November 20).[12][13]
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
| 1 | Ricochet | April 26, 2024 | Speed | Cincinnati, OH | 1 | 42 | 42 | Defeated Johnny Gargano in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes Ricochet's reign as beginning on May 3, 2024, and ending on June 14, 2024, the dates in which the episodes aired on tape delay. | [3][14] |
| 2 | Andrade | June 7, 2024 | Speed | Louisville, KY | 1 | 161 | 159 | WWE recognizes Andrade's reign as beginning on June 14, 2024, and ending on November 20, 2024, when the episodes aired on tape delay. | [15][16] |
| 3 | Dragon Lee | November 15, 2024 | Speed | Milwaukee, WI | 1 | 8+ | 3+ | WWE recognizes Lee's reign as beginning on November 20, 2024, when the episode aired on tape delay. | [12][13] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Defelice, Robert (February 8, 2024). "WWE Speed To Air On X (Twitter) Beginning In Spring 2024". Fightful. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (March 27, 2024). "WWE Speed premiere date revealed, tournament will crown champion". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ a b c Lambert, Jeremy (April 26, 2024). "Spoiler: First-Ever WWE Speed Champion Crowned". Fightful. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Lee, Joseph (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Becomes First-Ever WWE Speed Champion, Special Friday Episode Airs". 411Mania. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ Lowson, Thomas (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Celebrates WWE Speed Title Win After Becoming First-Ever Champion". SE Scoops. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (July 17, 2024). "WWE Speed - Ilja Dragunov vs. Carmelo Hayes". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
- ^ a b Nason, Josh (April 3, 2024). "Ricochet, Bronson Reed advance in WWE Speed title tournament on debut episode". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (April 10, 2024). "JD McDonagh advances in WWE Speed title tournament". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (April 17, 2024). "Johnny Gargano Beats Angel To Advance In WWE Speed Title Tournament, Semi-Final Match Set For 4/24". Fightful. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (April 24, 2024). "Ricochet advances to WWE Speed title tournament finals". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 1, 2024). "Johnny Gargano Advances To WWE Speed Title Tournament Finals, To Face Ricochet On 5/3 WWE Speed". Fightful. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
- ^ a b Martínez, Sebastián (November 15, 2024). "Spoilers WWE Speed 15 de noviembre de 2024". Solowrestling. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (November 20, 2024). "WWE Speed – Andrade vs. Dragon Lee for the WWE Speed Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Beats Johnny Gargano To Win WWE Speed Championship On 5/3 WWE Speed". Fightful. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (June 7, 2024). "Spoiler: New WWE Speed Champion Crowned". Fightful. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
- ^ Powell, Jason (June 14, 2024). "WWE Speed – Ricochet vs. Andrade for the WWE Speed Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
Notes
edit- ^ WWE officially recognizes 159 days due to tape delay.