The WWE Speed Championship is a men's professional wrestlinginternet championship created and promoted by the American promotionWWE, 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 Speedtapings on November 15, 2024 (aired November 20).
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 brandNXT—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
Quarterfinals Speed (aired April 3-April 17, 2024)
As of November 28, 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]
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.
