WWE Speed Championship
| WWE Speed Championship | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The WWE Speed Championship belt with default side plates | |||||
| Details | |||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||
| Date established | March 27, 2024 | ||||
| Current champion(s) | Ricochet | ||||
| Date won | April 26, 2024 (aired May 3, 2024) | ||||
| |||||
The WWE Speed Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, available to male wrestlers from all three of WWE's brand divisions. It was announced on March 27, 2024, and it has a stipulation in which matches have a time limit of five minutes. The title is named after WWE's online program Speed, which is where the matches exclusively air. The current champion is Ricochet, who defeated Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural champion during the Speed tapings on April 26, 2024, which aired on May 3, 2024, the date WWE officially recognizes as the beginning of Ricochet's reign.
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]
During the inaugural Speed Championship tournament final, which was taped on April 26, 2024, and aired on tape delay on May 3, Ricochet defeated 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]
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 | 02:57[6] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | 01:58[9] | |||||||||||||
| JD McDonagh | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Axiom | 02:26[7] | |||||||||||||
| Ricochet | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | 04:21[3][4] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Cedric Alexander | 01:50[6] | |||||||||||||
| Bronson Reed | 02:23[10] | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Gargano | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Angel | 02:08[8] | |||||||||||||
Reigns[edit]
As of May 4, 2024, there has been one reign. The inaugural and current champion is Ricochet. He defeated Johnny Gargano during the April 26, 2024, tapings of Speed (aired May 3).
| 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 | 8+ | 1+ | Defeated Johnny Gargano in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion. WWE recognizes Ricochet's reign as beginning on May 3, 2024, when the episode aired on tape delay. | [3][11] |
References[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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Beats Johnny Gargano To Win WWE Speed Championship On 5/3 WWE Speed". Fightful. Retrieved May 3, 2024.