Interim championship

An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing and in other combat sports, such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts. Occasionally, the champion of a particular weight class is temporarily unable to defend their championship because of medical, legal, or other reasons beyond the competitor's control. When this case occurs, two highly ranked contenders may fight for an interim championship of the same weight division, leading to two champions existing in the same weight division simultaneously. Once the original champion can return, at the discretion of the sanctioning body or promotion concerned, they must defend their title against the interim champion, who will relinquish their interim title to fight for the full world title. If the original champion is defeated, cannot return, refuses to defend their title, or transfers to a different weight division, the interim champion is promoted to full championship status.

In professional wrestling, due to the sport's entertainment and scripted nature, an interim championship is rarely used. If the champion is injured or if other reasons occur beyond the wrestler's control, they will usually be stripped of the title, and a new champion will be determined. One example of an interim champion in WWE was on the company's NXT brand, where Jordan Devlin (the NXT Cruiserweight Champion) could not travel to the United States to defend the title due to COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions, rendering him only able to defend the title on NXT's UK brand at the time. In the United States, an interim Cruiserweight Championship was created and won in a tournament by Santos Escobar. Once travel restrictions eased up, Devlin and Escobar fought in a championship unification match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver to determine the sole champion, which Escobar won. All Elite Wrestling (AEW) utilized the concept of interim championships for a time by crowning the winners of Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the interim AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the interim AEW Women's World Championship, and Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes for the interim AEW TNT Championship. The concept returned for their sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2025, when Mina Shirakawa was crowned the interim ROH Women's World Television Champion at Supercard of Honor due to lineal champion Red Velvet being injured.