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This article is about the championship that is currently defended on the RAW brand of WWE. For SmackDown's main championship, see World Heavyweight Championship (WWE). For ECW's main championship, see ECW World Championship.

The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Championship is a professional wrestling championship. The title is the original world championship of World Wrestling Entertainment. Currently, it is the highest ranked championship on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.

History

The WWE Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. However, in 1971, the title was demoted in "World" status when the WWWF rejoined the National Wrestling Alliance. Then, in 1979, the name of the promotion was changed to World Wrestling Federation, thus the title was referred to as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Heavyweight Championship. After the WWF left the National Wrestling Alliance in 1983, the title regained its "World" status and became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. The title began to be referred to as simply the WWF Championship when the "Attitude Era/Big Eagle" version of the belt was introduced in 1998 and read "World Wrestling Federation Champion", no longer making use of the words "World Heavyweight".

In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following this Vince McMahon orchestrated the "Invasion" storyline, in which both WCW and ECW were ultimately dismantled. After the "Invasion" concluded, it was agreed to unify the WCW Championship with the WWF Championship at Vengeance 2001. At the event Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WCW/World Championship and the WWF Championship respectively. As a result, Chris Jericho became the first WWF Undisputed Champion.

The belts stayed unified throughout the WWF/WWE name change and the WWE Brand Extension, which allowed the Undisputed title to be defended on the RAW and SmackDown! brands. However, when Brock Lesnar won the Undisputed Championship, he signed an exclusive contract to appear and defend the Undisputed Championship on the SmackDown! brand only, thus leaving the RAW brand without a major championship. Following Lesnar's actions, RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff introduced the World Heavyweight Championship and commissioned it to be the main title for the RAW brand. He awarded the championship to Triple H and stated that the Undisputed Championship could no longer be called "Undisputed" because it belonged to only one brand. Immediately afterwards, the WWE Undisputed Championship reverted to being called the WWE Championship.

The WWE Championship remained exclusive to the SmackDown! brand from August 26, 2002 until June 6, 2005, when the WWE Champion, John Cena, was drafted to RAW during the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. This left RAW with two major titles and SmackDown! with none until the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, was drafted to SmackDown! on June 30 2005.

Belt designs

Consistent Belts

Parallel Belts (Worn or shown instead of "consistent belts" for a short period without succeeding the existing design)

The "Attitude Era/Big Eagle" belt and the Big Gold belt represented the Undisputed Championship from December 9, 2001 to March 31, 2002, during Chris Jericho's entire reign, and the first two weeks of Triple H's reign. They were later replaced by the singular "Undisputed" version.

Special custom belts have been created for at least six different champions: Billy Graham (slightly different plate art and a red strap), the Ultimate Warrior (white, blue, and purple straps), Sgt. Slaughter (purple strap won from Warrior), Stone Cold Steve Austin (entirely custom "Smokin' Skull" belt), John Cena (entirely custom "Spinner" belt), and Edge (similar to Cena's but with an "Rated R" spinner). A belt with an exceptionally long strap was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, however, he never wore it as champion. Though Edge had originally designed a different custom belt for his reign, the plans were scrapped due to time constraints.

There have been two slightly different versions of John Cena's custom WWE Championship. The original belt used during the title's duration on the SmackDown! brand featured the words "Smack Down" on the right plate with a fist between the words. When the title was brought to the RAW brand, the belt was modified to feature the words "Mon-Nite RAW" on the right plate with a chain and lock between the words.

Statistics

Trivia

• The record for most reigns with the championship held by a single person is seven, held by The Rock. Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin have six reigns, Bret Hart and Triple H have five, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle have four, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena have three.
• Five wrestlers have held the championship for more than 365 consecutive days: Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage. Sammartino is the only wrestler to have had two reigns last one year or longer. His first reign lasted for 7 years, 8 months, and 1 day while his second lasted for 3 years, 4 months, and 20 days. His first reign is recognized as the longest continuous world title reign in the history of professional wrestling.
• The Champions with the longest single reign of the respective decades are: Bruno Sammartino (60s and 70s), Hulk Hogan (80s), Diesel (90s), John "Bradshaw" Layfield and John Cena (tied in the 00s).
• Four wrestlers (Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Kane, and Mankind) have had title reigns that lasted approximately 24 hours. Two others (Andre the Giant and Yokozuna) have had reigns that lasted less than an hour.

Current champion

The current WWE Champion is John Cena, who is in his third reign. He defeated Edge in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at WWE Unforgiven on September 17, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario.

See also

• List of WWE Champions
• List of WWE Championship reigns by length
• List of top WWE Champions by combined length
• List of top World Champions in WWE by combined length
• Number of World Heavyweight title reigns in professional wrestling
• WWE Undisputed Championship

References

1. Jon Robinson. "Edge Interview". p. 2. Retrieved 2006-11-18.

• Solie's title histories
• Wrestling-Titles.com

External link

• WWE Championship Title History

• World heavyweight wrestling championships
• World Wrestling Entertainment championships