WWE Heavyweight Title History

Mikk · 02-27-2007, 11:23 PM

The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestlingchampionship. Currently, it is the highest ranked championship on the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment. The belt was introduced in 2002 originally as the top-level championship for the RAW
brand.

History

In August 2002, after Brock Lesnar won the WWE Undisputed ChampionshipRAW and SmackDown!), he declared he would be a SmackDown!-exclusive wrestler and would no longer wrestle on RAW or defend the title against any RAWSeptember 2, 2002, then-General Manager of RAW Eric Bischoff introduced the World Heavyweight Championship to be the new top-tier championship for RAW. This new championship was represented by the Big Gold Belt, an iconic wrestling belt that previously represented the NWA Championship, and later the WCW Championship. Bischoff immediately awarded the Big Gold Belt to Triple H citing the fact that he was "the last man to wear the belt," in reference to Triple H being the was the last person to physically hold the Big Gold Belt during his reign as WWE Undisputed Champion while it was still represented by two belts. Months later, the Big Gold Belt was replaced with a new similar belt that incorporates the WWE logo at the top of the front plate. (the top-tier championship of the WWE, defended on both superstar under any circumstances. In response, on
Following the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship and the creation of a new separate set of tag-team belts for SmackDown!, the two sets of tag-team belts were renamed to mirror those of the top belts: hence the original WWE World Tag Team Championships for RAW became simply known as the World Tag Team Championships, while the new set of tag-team belts for SmackDown! became known as the WWE Tag Team Championships. When the two top singles titles switched shows, neither of the tag-team belts were renamed.
With the WWE 2005 Draft, the two top belts effectively switched shows, with WWE Champion John Cena, moving to RAW as the first pick in the draft and World Heavyweight Champion Batista moving to SmackDown!. In the four-week interim period between the first and last draft picks, RAW had both of the top belts while SmackDown! had neither, prompting SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long to attempt to introduce a third top belt, the "Smackdown! Championship", only for it to be deemed unnecessary when Batista was introduced to SmackDown!.

Lineage and terminology

Officially, according to World Wrestling Entertainment's website, WWE's position regarding the history of the belt is that the World Heavyweight Championship is a new title and not the same championship as the WCW or NWA titles before it, and that the championship does not inherit the title history of the two belts. However, it has been made clear that it is the successor to both titles.
Despite this position, WWE announcers occasionally make allusions to the World Heavyweight Championship's history as far back as 1904, a reference to Georg Hackenschmidt's World Title reign, as well as that of the NWA and WCW titles.
For instance, on January 13, 2006, Batista was forced to drop the World Heavyweight Championship due to legitimate injury. In his speech, he included Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes in his short list of previous holders of the belt. However, while Flair and Rhodes are former WCW and NWA champions, Flair has never held WWE's World Heavyweight Championship and Rhodes has never won a singles title in WWE at all.
Then on December 6, 2006, WWE.com announced the temporary retirement of The Big Show. In the statement it said that The Big Show is the only wrestler to hold the WWE Championship, ECW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. However, while Big Show is a former WCW Champion, he has never held WWE's World Heavyweight Championship.
Perhaps adding to the confusion is due to the fact that WWE often uses the term "world championship" or "world heavyweight champion" in general for all acknowledged World Championships rather than Smackdown's World Heavyweight Championship in particular. Ric Flair, for instance, is touted as a 16-time world champion, referring to him winning the respective World Titles in the NWA, WCW, and WWE. Similar title count amalgamations have been made for other wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, and Triple H. In WWE's tribute to Triple H's ten reigns, he is listed as the first World Heavyweight Champion.

Statistics

<table style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1em 1em; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; background-color: rgb(247, 248, 255);" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td>Record:</td> <td>Record holder:</td> <td>Record number:</td> <td>Notes:</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Most reigns</td> <td>Triple H</td> <td>5</td> <td>Including his 5 WWE Championship reigns, Triple H also has the record for most overall World Titles (within WWE) with 10.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Longest reign</td> <td>Batista</td> <td>282 days</td> <td>Forfeited title due to triceps injury.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Shortest reign</td> <td>Randy OrtonShawn Michaels and </td> <td>28 days</td> <td>Both won and then lost the titles at consecutive pay-per-view events.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Oldest champion</td> <td>King Booker</td> <td>41 years</td> <td>N/A</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Youngest champion</td> <td>Randy Orton</td> <td>24 years</td> <td>N/A</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Heaviest champion</td> <td>Batista</td> <td>c. 318 lb (144 kg)</td> <td>N/A</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Lightest champion</td> <td>Rey Mysterio</td> <td>c. 160 lb (72 kg)</td> <td>N/A</td></tr></tbody></table>Trivia

The only three superstars that have claimed both the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship in their careers are Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Kurt Angle. Of the three, only Kurt Angle has won both since the Brand Extension.
Goldberg, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and King Booker are the only former WCW World Champions to hold this belt.
In the past 4 years, the winner of the Royal Rumble match (The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Batista, and Chris Benoit) has gone on to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship in the WrestleMania main event match of their brand whether it was RAW or SmackDown!, although Benoit moved from SmackDown to RAW to challenge for the title.

Rollcall Of Champions

<table><tbody><tr class="even"><td width="30%">CHAMPION</td> <td width="25%">DEFEATED</td> <td width="20%">LOCATION</td> <td width="15%">DATE</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Triple H </td> <td width="25%">n/a</td> <td width="20%">Milwaukee, WI</td> <td width="15%">09-02-02</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Shawn Michaels </td> <td width="25%">Triple H</td> <td width="20%">New York, NY</td> <td width="15%">11-17-02</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Triple H </td> <td width="25%">Shawn Michaels</td> <td width="20%">Fort Lauderdale, FL</td> <td width="15%">12-15-02</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Goldberg </td> <td width="25%">Triple H</td> <td width="20%">Hershey, PA</td> <td width="15%">09-21-03</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Triple H </td> <td width="25%">Goldberg</td> <td width="20%">Orlando, FL</td> <td width="15%">12-14-03</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Chris Benoit </td> <td width="25%">Triple H</td> <td width="20%">New York, NY</td> <td width="15%">03-14-04</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Randy Orton </td> <td width="25%">Chris Benoit</td> <td width="20%">Toronto, Ontario</td> <td width="15%">08-15-04</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Triple H </td> <td width="25%">Randy Orton</td> <td width="20%">Portland, OR</td> <td width="15%">09-12-04</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Triple H </td> <td width="25%">n/a</td> <td width="20%">Puerto Rico</td> <td width="15%">01-09-05</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Batista </td> <td width="25%">Triple H</td> <td width="20%">Los Angeles, CA</td> <td width="15%">04-03-05</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> Kurt Angle </td> <td width="25%">n/a</td> <td width="20%">Philadelphia, PA</td> <td width="15%">01-10-06</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Rey Mysterio </td> <td width="25%">Randy Orton</td> <td width="20%">Chicago, IL</td> <td width="15%">04-02-06</td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td width="30%"> King Booker </td> <td width="25%">Rey Mysterio</td> <td width="20%">Indianapolis, IN</td> <td width="15%">07-23-06</td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td width="30%"> Batista </td> <td width="25%">King Booker</td> <td width="20%">Philadelphia, PA</td> <td width="15%">11-26-06</td> </tr></tbody></table>