Post by scarfacekid24 on Dec 22, 2006 6:45:10 GMT 7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Championship is a professional wrestling title. The championship is WWE's original world championship and was exclusive to the SmackDown! brand from August 26, 2002 until on June 6, 2005, when then-WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to RAW during the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery, he took the belt with him to RAW. Since then, the RAW's World Heavyweight Championship was moved to SmackDown! due to the draft of then-Champion Batista on June 30, 2005.
HISTORY
The WWE Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. In 1971, the WWWF rejoined the National Wrestling Alliance, and the title was downgraded in status to become simply the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. In 1979, the promotion dropped "Wide" from its name, thus renaming the title the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Heavyweight Championship. After the WWF left the NWA in 1983, the title was referred to as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Beginning in the 1990s, the title was occasionally referred to as simply the WWF Championship. When the belt was changed to the "Attitude" title belt in 1998, the belt read World Wrestling Federation Champion, no longer having the words "World Heavyweight".
It was unified with another title, then called the World Championship (though more commonly known through lineage as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship), on December 9, 2001 by Chris Jericho at the Vengeance 2001 pay-per-view event in San Diego, California (Some argue that this unification gave the WWF title lineage to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as WCW had claimed the lineage of that title, however, no consensus has ever been reached.). Whilst unified, both championship belts were used and they were collectively defended as the WWF Undisputed Championship until April 1, 2002 when Ric Flair presented then-champion Triple H with a single belt representing both titles. During the title reign of Hollywood Hulk Hogan, legal matters prompted the company to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the championship was likewise renamed, with the WWF logo on the belt shortly afterwards being replaced with a new WWE logo during The Undertaker's 2002 title reign. The belt style remained in use, and the combined title was known as the WWE Undisputed Championship until August 26, 2002, when the champion at the time, Brock Lesnar, refused to defend the championship against a RAW brand wrestler following a number-one contender's match won by Triple H. Lesnar claimed he would only defend his championship against SmackDown! brand wrestlers, despite previous tradition that the Undisputed Champion would defend their championship against wrestlers from either brand.
Following Lesnar's actions, RAW's general manager Eric Bischoff awarded the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H on September 2 2002, to act as RAW's premier champion. This left the former Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar as simply the WWE Champion, with no "undisputed" label. Both championships have since become exclusive to both brands.
When John Cena was drafted to RAW on June 6, 2005, both belts were briefly RAW-exclusive until Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion at the time, was drafted to SmackDown! on June 30, 2005.
Prior to ECW One Night Stand 2006 on June 11, 2006, Paul Heyman hinted that, if ECW-brand exclusive Rob Van Dam was to win the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship name might be revived as a replacement for that belt. After Van Dam did in fact defeat Cena for the title, he was referred to by Joey Styles and on WWE.com as the "WWE/ECW Champion". On the premiere episode of ECW on Sci Fi on June 13, 2006, Heyman presented Van Dam with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Van Dam then stated that he would keep both titles.
The WWE paid tribute to the history of the WWE Championship by releasing The History of the WWE Championship DVD on September 5, 2006.
BELT DESIGNS
Consistent Belts. These Belts are from 1963-2006.
Parallel Belts. (Existed alongside "consistant belts" for a short period without succeeding the existing design.)
The "Big Eagle" and the World Championship/Big Gold belts were collectively defended as the WWE Undisputed Championship from December 9, 2001 to March 31, 2002, during Chris Jericho's entire reign, and the first 2 weeks of Triple H's fifth reign.
Special custom belts have been created for at least six WWE champions: Billy Graham (slightly different plate art and a red strap), the Ultimate Warrior (white, blue, and purple straps), Sgt. Slaughter (purple strap that he won from Warrior), Stone Cold Steve Austin (entirely custom "smokin' skull" belt), John Cena (entirely custom diamond-filled "bling" belt with spinning WWE logo modeled after the culturally popular "spinner" vehicle rims and the "spinner" necklace), and Edge (belt similar to Cena's but with a spinning "Rated R Superstar" logo replacing the spinning WWE logo).
WWE also had a custom belt designed for The Rock featuring the brahma bull logo, but decided against using it over fear that its use, combined with that of the Smoking Skull Belt, would result in the traditional belt being nearly abandoned. A belt with an exceptionally long strap was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, but he never wore it as champion.
Hulk Hogan held four different designs during his first title reign: The Green and Gold belt that he won from The Iron Sheik, the smaller silver belt with a name plate featured on the cover of the first WrestleMania, the "Hogan 86" belt and the "Winged Eagle" belt that he adopted just prior to losing the title to André the Giant. He later also held the "Undisputed" belt after defeating Triple H in 2002 at Backlash.
Two slightly different versions of John Cena's custom WWE Championship belt were created. One, used during the title's duration as a SmackDown! championship, featured the word SMACKDOWN on the plate directly to the right of the main plate, with a fist in between the two words. When the title was brought to RAW, the plate was replaced with one that said MON-NITE RAW, and the fist was replaced by a chain and lock. When Edge and Rob Van Dam both won the WWE Championship, they used the 'spinner' championship belt as opposed to the previous 'Undisputed' version of the title.
On the August 21, 2006 episode of RAW, Edge replaced the "spinner" belt with a new one featuring the "Rated R Superstar" logo after Lita threw the old belt into the Long Island Sound. A completely different belt design was originally planned for and designed by Edge, however it was scrapped due to time constraints.[1] After winning the title for a third time, Cena appeared on Raw with his old spinner belt.
STATISTICS
TRIVIA
- The record for most WWF/E Championships 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 WWE championship for more than 365 consecutive days: Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, and Macho Man Randy Savage. Sammartino is the only wrestler to have had two reigns as WWF/E Champion 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
John Cena is the current WWE champion and is in his third reign. He defeated Edge in a TLC match at Unforgiven on September 17, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario.
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Championship is a professional wrestling title. The championship is WWE's original world championship and was exclusive to the SmackDown! brand from August 26, 2002 until on June 6, 2005, when then-WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to RAW during the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery, he took the belt with him to RAW. Since then, the RAW's World Heavyweight Championship was moved to SmackDown! due to the draft of then-Champion Batista on June 30, 2005.
HISTORY
The WWE Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. In 1971, the WWWF rejoined the National Wrestling Alliance, and the title was downgraded in status to become simply the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. In 1979, the promotion dropped "Wide" from its name, thus renaming the title the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Heavyweight Championship. After the WWF left the NWA in 1983, the title was referred to as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Beginning in the 1990s, the title was occasionally referred to as simply the WWF Championship. When the belt was changed to the "Attitude" title belt in 1998, the belt read World Wrestling Federation Champion, no longer having the words "World Heavyweight".
It was unified with another title, then called the World Championship (though more commonly known through lineage as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship), on December 9, 2001 by Chris Jericho at the Vengeance 2001 pay-per-view event in San Diego, California (Some argue that this unification gave the WWF title lineage to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as WCW had claimed the lineage of that title, however, no consensus has ever been reached.). Whilst unified, both championship belts were used and they were collectively defended as the WWF Undisputed Championship until April 1, 2002 when Ric Flair presented then-champion Triple H with a single belt representing both titles. During the title reign of Hollywood Hulk Hogan, legal matters prompted the company to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the championship was likewise renamed, with the WWF logo on the belt shortly afterwards being replaced with a new WWE logo during The Undertaker's 2002 title reign. The belt style remained in use, and the combined title was known as the WWE Undisputed Championship until August 26, 2002, when the champion at the time, Brock Lesnar, refused to defend the championship against a RAW brand wrestler following a number-one contender's match won by Triple H. Lesnar claimed he would only defend his championship against SmackDown! brand wrestlers, despite previous tradition that the Undisputed Champion would defend their championship against wrestlers from either brand.
Following Lesnar's actions, RAW's general manager Eric Bischoff awarded the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H on September 2 2002, to act as RAW's premier champion. This left the former Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar as simply the WWE Champion, with no "undisputed" label. Both championships have since become exclusive to both brands.
When John Cena was drafted to RAW on June 6, 2005, both belts were briefly RAW-exclusive until Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion at the time, was drafted to SmackDown! on June 30, 2005.
Prior to ECW One Night Stand 2006 on June 11, 2006, Paul Heyman hinted that, if ECW-brand exclusive Rob Van Dam was to win the WWE Championship at One Night Stand, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship name might be revived as a replacement for that belt. After Van Dam did in fact defeat Cena for the title, he was referred to by Joey Styles and on WWE.com as the "WWE/ECW Champion". On the premiere episode of ECW on Sci Fi on June 13, 2006, Heyman presented Van Dam with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Van Dam then stated that he would keep both titles.
The WWE paid tribute to the history of the WWE Championship by releasing The History of the WWE Championship DVD on September 5, 2006.
BELT DESIGNS
Consistent Belts. These Belts are from 1963-2006.
Parallel Belts. (Existed alongside "consistant belts" for a short period without succeeding the existing design.)
The "Big Eagle" and the World Championship/Big Gold belts were collectively defended as the WWE Undisputed Championship from December 9, 2001 to March 31, 2002, during Chris Jericho's entire reign, and the first 2 weeks of Triple H's fifth reign.
Special custom belts have been created for at least six WWE champions: Billy Graham (slightly different plate art and a red strap), the Ultimate Warrior (white, blue, and purple straps), Sgt. Slaughter (purple strap that he won from Warrior), Stone Cold Steve Austin (entirely custom "smokin' skull" belt), John Cena (entirely custom diamond-filled "bling" belt with spinning WWE logo modeled after the culturally popular "spinner" vehicle rims and the "spinner" necklace), and Edge (belt similar to Cena's but with a spinning "Rated R Superstar" logo replacing the spinning WWE logo).
WWE also had a custom belt designed for The Rock featuring the brahma bull logo, but decided against using it over fear that its use, combined with that of the Smoking Skull Belt, would result in the traditional belt being nearly abandoned. A belt with an exceptionally long strap was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, but he never wore it as champion.
Hulk Hogan held four different designs during his first title reign: The Green and Gold belt that he won from The Iron Sheik, the smaller silver belt with a name plate featured on the cover of the first WrestleMania, the "Hogan 86" belt and the "Winged Eagle" belt that he adopted just prior to losing the title to André the Giant. He later also held the "Undisputed" belt after defeating Triple H in 2002 at Backlash.
Two slightly different versions of John Cena's custom WWE Championship belt were created. One, used during the title's duration as a SmackDown! championship, featured the word SMACKDOWN on the plate directly to the right of the main plate, with a fist in between the two words. When the title was brought to RAW, the plate was replaced with one that said MON-NITE RAW, and the fist was replaced by a chain and lock. When Edge and Rob Van Dam both won the WWE Championship, they used the 'spinner' championship belt as opposed to the previous 'Undisputed' version of the title.
On the August 21, 2006 episode of RAW, Edge replaced the "spinner" belt with a new one featuring the "Rated R Superstar" logo after Lita threw the old belt into the Long Island Sound. A completely different belt design was originally planned for and designed by Edge, however it was scrapped due to time constraints.[1] After winning the title for a third time, Cena appeared on Raw with his old spinner belt.
STATISTICS
TRIVIA
- The record for most WWF/E Championships 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 WWE championship for more than 365 consecutive days: Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, and Macho Man Randy Savage. Sammartino is the only wrestler to have had two reigns as WWF/E Champion 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
John Cena is the current WWE champion and is in his third reign. He defeated Edge in a TLC match at Unforgiven on September 17, 2006 in Toronto, Ontario.
