At WrestleMania 32, WWE Hall of Famer Lita announced that the winner of the triple threat match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks would be crowned the new WWE Women's Champion, making the WWE Divas Championship deactivated in the process.
Beth Phoenix was the original opponent to take on Nikki Bella for the championship but was not medically cleared to compete. Executive Administrator Eve announced Layla as the mystery opponent.
This was a unification match, where the championship was unified with the WWE Women's Championship. The championship, which was referred to as the WWE Unified Divas Championship for weeks afterward, took the lineage of the WWE Divas Championship and became accessible on both Raw and SmackDown brands. Layla subsequently claimed to be the co-champion with McCool, but it is not recognized by WWE, though she defended the belt in McCool's place on some occasions.