Wwe World Heavyweight Championship Buy
The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It was established by WWE in 2002 after WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and split its roster into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, in a brand extension.[1][2]WWE's original world title, the WWE Championship, with which the WCW World Heavyweight Championship had been unified in 2001, was designated to the SmackDown! brand; as a result the World Heavyweight Championship was established for the Raw brand.[3] The World Heavyweight Championship is not a continuation of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but rather its indirect successor.[4][5] For a list of champions who have held those titles, see the list of WCW World Heavyweight Champions and list of NWA World Heavyweight Champions respectively.
wwe world heavyweight championship buy
The championship was contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes. The first champion was Triple H, who was awarded the title on September 2, 2002, by Eric Bischoff, then-General Manager of Raw, and he also holds the record for longest combined reign at 616 days. Overall, there have been 25 different official champions, with Edge having the most reigns at seven. The longest single reign was held by Batista, lasting 282 days. The final holder was Randy Orton, who was also the youngest champion at the age of 24 when he first won the championship. The Undertaker was the oldest champion when he won the title for the third time at the age of 44 years.
Bischoff awarded the championship to Triple H, but The Game had to defend it against his best friend, Ric Flair. Triple H was successful and has held the championship on five different occasions. Other titleholders of this prestigious championship include Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio.
World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)Overview Champion history Title matches Champion gallery Promotion:World Wrestling EntertainmentBrand:Raw (2002 - 2005), (2008 - 2009)SmackDown (2005 - 2008), (2009 - 2011)Both brands (2011 - 2013)Date created:September 2, 2002Date retired:December 16, 2013Most reigns:Edge(7 reigns)First champion(s):Triple HThe World Heavyweight Championship was one of the two top ranked championships in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was introduced into the company when WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar signed exclusively with SmackDown, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded number one contender Triple H with the old WCW World Heavyweight Championship and declared him World Champion. While WWE claims the title has a different lineage from other titles, the original World Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and WCW World Heavyweight Championship are often referred to when talking about its history.
In August 2002, after Brock Lesnar won the WWE Undisputed Championship (the main championship in World Wrestling Entertainment, defended on the RAW and SmackDown! brands), 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. 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. He awarded the championship to Triple H citing the fact that he was "the last man to wear the belt," in reference to Triple H being the last person to physically hold the Big Gold Belt during his reign as Undisputed Champion while it was still represented by two belts. Months later, the Big Gold Belt was replaced with a new similar belt that features the WWE logo at the top of the front plate.
On August 29, 2011, the brand extension was effectively ended, and all WWE programming became "Supershows" featuring the entire roster. With that, the World Heavyweight title (along with every other championship in WWE) became available for all wrestlers to compete for, and was defended on all shows.
On December 15, 2013, WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion John Cena at the TLC PPV in a TLC match to unify the titles. With that Orton was recognized the final World Heavyweight Champion, and the next day title was officially retired by WWE. The championship belt was still in use as a component of the newly renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship until it was retired on the August 18, 2014 edition of RAW.
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.
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 WWE'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.
The inaugural champion was Triple H, and there have been 25 different official champions overall. The longest reigning champion was Batista who held the title from April 3, 2005 to January 13, 2006 for a total of 282 days. Triple H holds the record for longest combined reigns at 617 days. The shortest reigning champion was Big Show who officially held the title for 45 seconds. The youngest champion was Randy Orton, who won the title of the age of 24. The oldest champion is The Undertaker who won at the age of 44. Edge has held the title the most times with seven championship reigns.
The World Heavyweight Championship is one of the most prestigious championships in the history of WWE. The legendary Big Gold Belt is recognizable to wrestling fans as it was used in NWA and WCW before WWE used it in 2001 as the WCW Championship and was renamed the World Championship. However, in September 2002, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff reinstated the title, and it was called the World Heavyweight Championship. The title functioned for 11 years before it was retired at TLC 2013 as it was unified with the WWE Championship.
The Game was the perfect inaugural World Heavyweight Champion as his star power could help establish the championship. His maiden World Heavyweight Championship reign only lasted two months, but Triple H would hold the title, five times, and his "Reign of Terror" began by holding the Big Gold Belt.
The first-ever Elimination Chamber match took place in the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden at Survivor Series 2002, and the World Heavyweight Championship was at stake. Triple H put his championship on the line against Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Booker T.
Six-time WWE World Champion Batista is synonymous with the World Heavyweight Championship. The Animal defeated Triple H for his first World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21. Batista would go on to hold the championship for 282 days.
Major title changes are typically reserved for WrestleMania, and it wasn't good to walk into WrestleMania as the reigning World Heavyweight Champion from 2004-09. The title changed hands in six WrestleManias in a row, with Triple H dropping the championship at WrestleMania 20 to kickstart this run, and he lost it a year later to Batista at WrestleMania 21.
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide in 20 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo. 041b061a72