WWE Championship

:"This article is about the championship that is currently defended on the SmackDown brand of WWE. For Raw's top championship, see World Heavyweight Championship (WWE). "

Infobox championship


caption=The WWE Championship belt
(April 11, 2005 – present)
championshipname=WWE Championship
currentholder=Triple H
won=April 27, 2008
promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
brand=WWE Friday Night SmackDown
created=April 29 1963
mostreigns=The Rock, Triple H (7 reigns)
firstchamp=Buddy Rogers
longestreign=Bruno Sammartino nobr|(2803 days)
shortestreign=André the Giant nobr|(c. 45 seconds)
oldest=Vince McMahon nobr|(54 years, 21 days)
youngest=Brock Lesnar nobr|(25 years, 44 days)
heaviest=Yokozuna nobr|(convert|568|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on)
lightest=Eddie Guerrero nobr|(convert|220|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on)
pastnames=small
*WWWF World Heavyweight Championship
*WWWF Heavyweight Championship
*WWF Heavyweight Championship
*WWF World Heavyweight Championship
*WWF Championship
*WWF/E "Undisputed" Championship
pastlook

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

History

The WWE Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. Following the title's introduction in 1963, Buddy Rogers became the inaugural champion on April 29. The World Wide Wrestling Federation joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1971 and was renamed the World Wrestling Federation in 1979. During this time, the title was referred to as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Heavyweight Championship. It became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship when the promotion left the NWA in 1983. The title began to be referred to as the WWF Championship in 1998.

In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled. Following this, it was agreed to unify the title with the WCW 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 was named the last WCW World Champion [ [http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwchampionship/3044541104 WCW World Champion - Chris Jericho] at WWE.com] and became the first Undisputed Champion in the World Wrestling Federation.cite web | url= http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwf/wwf-h.html | title=WWWF/WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Title | publisher = Wrestling-titles.com | accessdate = 2007-03-18]

Following the WWF/WWE name change and the WWE Brand Extension, the Undisputed Championship was defended on the Raw and SmackDown brands simultaneously while other titles became exclusive to either brand. However, when Brock Lesnar won the Undisputed Championship he was signed by SmackDown General Manager, Stephanie McMahon, to appear and defend the title only on the SmackDown brand, which left the Raw brand without a world title. As a result, Raw General Manager, Eric Bischoff, disputed the title's "Undisputed" status and introduced the World Heavyweight Championship, commissioning it to be the main world title of the Raw brand. Immediately afterwards, the Undisputed Championship returned to being the WWE Championship. The title remained on the SmackDown brand from August 26 2002 until June 6 2005 as a result of the . The WWE Champion, John Cena, was drafted to the Raw brand with the WWE Championship, which left the two main world titles in WWE on that brand until the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, was drafted to the SmackDown brand with the World Heavyweight Championship on June 30 2005. The title was briefly the property of the ECW brand, when Rob Van Dam cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view on June 11, 2006 and defeated defending champion Cena (Van Dam had been drafted to the then new ECW brand two weeks previous). Edge brought the title back to Raw three weeks later after defeating RVD and John Cena in a Triple Threat Match on the July 3 episode of Raw. The title returned to the SmackDown brand when champion Triple H was taken in 2008 WWE Draft. This makes the WWE Championship the only title to (at various times) have been property of all three WWE brands.

Custom belt designs

Special custom belts have been created for at least four different champions:
*"Superstar" Billy Graham (red leather strap)
*The Ultimate Warrior (white, blue and purple leather straps)
*"Stone Cold" Steve Austin ("Smokin' Skull" belt)
*John Cena (Spinner belt) (current design)
*Edge (Modified "Rated-R Superstar" Spinner belt)

A belt with an exceptionally long strap was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, however he never wore it as champion. Similarly, Edge had originally designed an entirely different custom belt than the "Rated R Spinner" design he used for his second reign, however the plans were scrapped due to time constraints. [cite web |url=http://sports.ign.com/articles/730/730263p2.html |title=Edge Interview |accessdate=2006-11-18 |author=Jon Robinson |pages=2 ] The "Spinner" belt's design has become the WWE Championship's primary design, having been used by John Cena, Edge, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton and Triple H, although the centerpiece no longer spins.

Current champion

The current champion is Triple H, who is in his seventh reign. He won the title by defeating John Cena, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and champion Randy Orton in a Fatal-Four Way Elimination match at Backlash in Baltimore, Maryland on April 27, 2008. This being his seventh reign,cite web|url= http://www.wwe.com/shows/backlash/matches/6803660/results/|title=Twelfth Knight|author=Craig Tello|accessdate=2008-04-27|date=2008-4-28|publisher=WWE] Triple H now shares the record with The Rock for the most WWE Championship reigns in history. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship/|title=History of the WWE Championship|publisher=WWE.com|accessdate=2008-04-27]

ee also

*List of WWE Champions
*List of WWE Championship reigns by length

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship/ WWE Championship Title History]