ECW Championship

Infobox championship


caption=
championshipname=ECW Championship
currentholder=Matt Hardy
won=September 7 2008
promotion=World Wrestling Entertainment
brand=ECW
created=August 27 1994
mostreigns=The Sandman (4 official reigns)
firstchamp=Jimmy Snuka
longestreign=Shane Douglas nobr|(406 days)
shortestreign=The Sandman nobr|(14 minutes)
oldest=Mr. McMahon nobr|(61 years, 248 days)
youngest=Mikey Whipwreck nobr|(23 years, 146 days)
heaviest=Big Show nobr|(convert|507|lb|kg st|abbr=on)
lightest=Jerry Lynn nobr|(convert|185|lb|kg st|abbr=on)
pastnames=small
*NWA ECW Heavyweight Championship
*ECW World Heavyweight Championship
*ECW World Championship
pastlook

The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. It was originally the highest ranked title of the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. Currently, it is the only championship on the ECW brand.

History

The ECW Championship was originally known as the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) Heavyweight Championship of the National Wrestling Alliance.cite web|url=http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html|title=ECW World Heavyweight Title|accessdate=2007-06-13 |publisher=Wrestling-Titles] Following the title's introduction in 1992, Jimmy Snuka became the inaugural champion on April 25. In 1994, ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas, participated in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship and defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals on August 27 to win the title. However, he immediately relinquished it and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. [cite web|url= http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/ecw/results/1994c.html#082794|title=NWA World Title Tournament
August 27, 1994 in Philadelphia, PA |accessdate=2007-06-15 |publisher=Pro Wrestling History] [cite web|url= http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/082794douglas |title=History of the ECW World Title|accessdate=2007-06-13 |publisher=WWE.com] Following this, Eastern Championship Wrestling left the NWA and was renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling while the title became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) World Heavyweight Championship. The title remained active until April 11 2001 when ECW shut down and World Wrestling Entertainment subsequently purchased its assets.

In June 2006, WWE revived ECW as a third brand and reactivated the championship to be the ECW brand's primary title. On June 13, Paul Heyman awarded the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that the WWE Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if Rob Van Dam became the WWE Champion at the event. [cite web |url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/060605.html|title=WWE RAW results - June 5, 2006|accessdate=2007-06-15 |publisher=Online World of Wresting] However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. [cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/060613.html|title=ECW on Sci Fi results - June 13, 2006|accessdate=2007-06-13|publisher=Online World of Wresting] Soon after, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt was replaced with an updated design. The title later became known as the ECW World Championship in July 2006. [cite web|url= http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/060711.html|title= ECW on Sci Fi results - July 11, 2006|accessdate=2007-06-13|publisher=Online World of Wresting] In August 2007, the title began to be referred to as the ECW Championship.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/|title=ECW Championship|accessdate=2007-08-07|publisher=WWE.com] The title remained on the ECW brand until June 23 2008, when then-champion, Kane, was drafted to the Raw brand, as a part of the 2008 WWE Draft, in the process briefly making the title Raw exclusive. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/exclusives/tangledtitles|title=Tangled Titles|last=Sitterson|first=Aubrey|date=2008-06-25|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-06-30] The title became ECW exclusive once again, after ECW superstar, Mark Henry, won the title in a Triple Threat match at Night of Champions on June 29 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/matches/7188540/results/|title=Worlds Strongest Extreme Champion|last=Rote|first=Andrew|date=2008-06-29|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|accessdate=2008-06-30] On July 22 2008, ECW General Manager Theodore Long introduced a new 17 pound Platinum belt design for the ECW Championship belt. [citeweb|url=http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/archive/07222008/|date=2008-07-22|last=Medalis|first=Kara A.|title=Going for gold|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment]

Current champion

The current champion is Matt Hardy, who is in his first reign. He got the title at Unforgiven on September 7 2008 by being the last person to score a pinfall in a championship scramble also involving former champion Mark Henry, Finlay, the Miz, and Chavo Guerrero. [citeweb|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/wweppv/unforgiven08/ |accessdate=2008-10-03 |title=Unforgiven 2009 results |publisher=Online World of Wrestling]

ee also

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

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/ The ECW Championship at WWE.com]
* [http://www.cygywrestling.com/titlehistories/ecwworldheavyweighttitle.html CygyWrestling.com - ECW World Heavyweight Title History]
* [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html Wrestling-Titles.com]
* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/extras/newecwtitle/ New ECW Belt Look 2008]