The Championships are organized by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).

Previously the "Dust Devil" tournament in 2006 featured teams from across the US, was held in front of several thousand fans in Tucson, Arizona.

[3][4] By 2010, with leagues in Canada and the United Kingdom also enjoying membership of the WFTDA, "National" was dropped from the title of the contest.

Division 1 comprised the top 40-ranked teams in the WFTDA, and the top 40 teams that met eligibility requirements based on the June 30 rankings of that year were invited to Division 1 Playoffs, and were divided into four playoff tournaments (10 per tournament) using an S-curve for seeding.

[7] The tournament is broadcast on the WFTDA online service WFTDA.tv on a pay-per-view basis; starting in 2015 the WFTDA entered into a partnership with ESPN whereby the Sunday games of the tournament – the Division 1 and Division 2 championship and 3rd place games – are carried on ESPN3.

[8][9] For 2017 the format was changed, with the Division 2 Championship occurring earlier in the year, and the Division 1 championship game scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2, marking the first time contemporary women's flat track roller derby will be aired live on American network television.

Scheduling of the bouts allowed for the top four seeded teams to receive a bye in the first round of play.

On Sunday February 26, 2006, four teams (Texas Rollergirls Texecutioners, Tucson Roller Derby Saddletramps, Minnesota Rollergirls All-Stars and Arizona Roller Derby Tent City Terrors) played in the semi-final bouts.

They were finally defeated 178–91 in the semi-finals by the Oly Rollers were regarded as a largely unknown force, although they had gone undefeated through the whole season.

[38] Denver defeated Rocky 151–103 in the third place bout, greatly aided by forty-four points to nil scored in the later section of the first half.

The Oly Rollers built up a half-time lead, 84 points to the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls' 49, principally due to Atomatrix's power jams.

Although she ultimately scored 101 points for Oly, Rocky Mountain were able to fight back in the second half.