Who Is The WWE Champion In 2021?
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Who is the WWE Champion in 2021? This is a question that many WWE fans are asking as we head into the new year. While there is no clear-cut answer at the moment, we can take a look at the current landscape of the WWE and make some educated guesses.
The WWE Champion in 2021
The WWE Champion in 2021 is Drew McIntyre. Drew McIntyre is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is the current WWE Champion in his second reign, having previously won the title in 2020.
The current WWE Champion
The current WWE Champion is Drew McIntyre. He won the title at WrestleMania 36 by defeating Brock Lesnar in a singles match.
The former WWE Champions
The WWE Champion is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently defended on their Raw brand. It is one of WWE’s original championships, dating back to 1963.
The inaugural champion was “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. Since its inception, the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications. It is also exclusive to the Raw brand as of 2017. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign. When the ECW brand was active between 2006 and 2010, a separate ECW World Heavyweight Championship was also defended on that brand; following the conclusion of the ECW brand in 2010, that title was deactivated and unified with the WWE Championship.
The championship was first introduced as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship on April 25, 1963 by WWWF founder Vince McMahon Sr.. The title was created after a tournament held to crown a new heavyweight champion held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a result of Bruno Sammartino vacating the NWA World Heavyweight Championship which originally recognized him as champion back in 1963 (Sammartino would be officially recognized as NWA Champion from 1972 until his retirement in 1980). Buddy Rogers defeated Antonino Rocca in the tournament finals to become the inaugural champion. To keep professional wrestling relevance while Sammartino held sway over mixed martial arts/pro wrestling promoters in North America at large with his seven-year unbroken first reign as NWA Champion that began on May 17, 1963 (a then-unprecedented feat), it was imperative for McMahon Sr.’s business interests that he establish his own World Heavyweight Championship in pro wrestling’s premier market place: New York City/the Northeastern United States region which had been WWWF’s mainstay since its establishment nine years earlier in 1954.
On January 17, 1971 (taped January 5 and aired ten days later), Special guest referee Gorilla Monsoon controversially declared new champion Ivan Koloff the winner by submission over Sammartino even though Sammartino never actually submitted; moments after Monsoon reluctantly raised Koloff’s hand in victory, an irate Sammartino violently attacks both men before storming off backstage in disgust (this marked Sammartino’s final appearance on WWF television for almost eight years). The title change delivered a severe blow to McMahon Sr.’s company because it deprived them of their number one box office attraction which resulted in WWWF attendance and TV ratings going into sharp decline for several months afterwards until McMahon Sr.’s eventual passing in 1984 whereupon his son Vince McMahon Jr. took over WWWF as its new owner and changed its name back to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) soon afterwards along with all titles under WWWF’s jurisdiction including this one being renamed as such at WrestleMania 2000 where it became known as simplyWWF Championship when WWF unofficially retired its original initials but would continue using them until May 6 of that very same year when it officially dropped them for good due to lawsuits brought against them by WTF founder George Raymond Jr..
The WWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of the two world titles of the WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that is promoted on the Raw brand. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his first reign.
The history of the WWE Championship
In 1963, the professional wrestling promotion World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) debuted the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. An article in the New York Times published on January 17, 1963 announced that the company had signed “Verne Gagne, the world’s champion” to appear at Madison Square Garden on January 24. The title was then referred to as the “World Wide Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship”.
In 1971, the WWWF split from its parent company and became known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The championship then became referred to as the “WWF World Heavyweight Championship”.
In 1982, after a tenure of more than 20 years, WWE patriarch Vince McMahon Sr. retired and left his son Vince McMahon Jr. in charge of the company. One of Vince Jr.’s first actions was to unify all of the company’s titles into one world championship. To accomplish this, he created a tournament called The Tournament to Crown a WWF Champion, which was held at Madison Square Garden in December 1982 and was won by WWE Hall of Famer André the Giant. André then subsequently became the first WWF Champion under Vince Jr.’s regime.
In 2000, WWE introduced a brand extension, where Raw and SmackDown! each had their own separate rosters and championships. The original world championship became exclusive to Raw while a new world championship — later known as the WWE Undisputed Championship — was created for SmackDown!. As a result of this brand extension, WCW’s Big Gold Belt — which had been used as WCW’s world heavyweight championship since 1991 — was retired and Active wrestlers were then able to choose which show they wanted to wrestle for.
In 2002, after WWE acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW), they unified all three world championships into one title called the Undisputed WWE Championship. This title was defended on both Raw and SmackDown! until August 29, 2006 when ECW ceased operations and its roster was absorbed by Raw.
The following year, at WrestleMania 23, WWE introduced a new world championship called the WWE Championship when Mr. McMahon defeated ECW representative Bobby Lashley in a “Battle of Billionaires” hair match with Donald Trump as special guest referee. Lashley represented McMahon while Trump represented Lashley’s opponent — fellow billionaire Ted DiBiase Sr..
In July 2016 at Battleground PPV event , following controversial finish between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose for WWE championship , it was announced that there will be new universal champion crowned in Fatal 4 way match between Seth Rollins , Finn Balor , Roman Reigns & Samoa Joe at SummerSlam event . At SummerSlam event , Brock Lesnar won fatal 4 way match & become universal champion .
The current WWE Championship belt
As of 2021, the current WWE Champion is Drew McIntyre. McIntyre won the title at WrestleMania 36 by defeating Brock Lesnar.
The WWE Championship match
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE, currently held by Drew McIntyre. It is one of WWE’s top titles, along with the Universal Championship and the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign.
The WWE Championship match at WrestleMania
At WrestleMania, the WWE Championship will be on the line as Roman Reigns looks to retain his title against Edge. This will be a rematch from their match at the Royal Rumble, which saw Edge win the WWE Championship.
Edge is a former WWE Champion and has held the title on two occasions. He is a multiple-time World Champion and has held titles in other promotions as well. Roman Reigns is also a former WWE Champion and has held the title on three occasions. He is a multiple-time World Champion and is currently one of the top stars in WWE.
This match is sure to be a hotly contested one, as both men are looking to prove that they are the best in WWE. Who will walk out of WrestleMania as the WWE Champion?
The WWE Championship match at SummerSlam
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently contested on their Raw brand. It is one of WWE’s top titles, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was introduced on Raw in 2016. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign.
The title was introduced in 1963 by the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship under its founder and first champion, Bruno Sammartino. The title remained inactive until 1975, when it was reformed as the WWWF Heavyweight Championship following Sammartino’s retirement; however, he would be reclaim the title that same year. In 1979, the promotion was renamed World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and the championship became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship—although it has been referred to as simply the WWF Championship or WWF Heavyweight Championship since 1998.
In 1993, the promotion was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) due to regulatory issues with the World Wildlife Fund over the use of the “WWF” initialism, and the championship subsequently became known as the WWE Championship. The title was then vacant following a controversy surrounding then-champion Bret Hart’s departure from WWE in late 1997; this period lasted 54 days until The Rock won a tournament at WrestleMania XIV to become champion.
The title has existed in its current form since March 2001, when it was unified with Vince McMahon’s short-lived WCW World Heavyweight Championship—which McMahon won from Booker T at Survivor Series that November—to become recognized as undisputed world champion for what is recognized as WWE’s “Attitude Era”. In 2002 after then-WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar signed with rival promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), McMahon stripped him of both championships and created two separate world titles: The WWE Undisputed Championship for SmackDown and what would become UFC’s version of Lesnar’s original title, which Lesnar retained after defecting back to UFC in early 2008; this version became inactive following Lesnar’s departure from MMA later that year. These two titles were unified at WrestleMania XXV in 2009 to create what is now referred to as “the trophy” or “the gold”; subsequently christened as simply “the WWE Title” instead of its prior designation of “World Heavyweight Champion”, it became exclusive to Raw—as opposed to SmackDown which then introduced a new world heavyweight championship known simply as “the World Title”—in August 2016 before reverting back to “WWE Champion” after also becoming exclusive to Raw in July 2017.
The concept of having one undisputed world heavyweight champion dates back to June 1971 and WWF owner Vince McMahon Sr.’s original vision for his promotion—then known simply as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC)—which he relaunched that year after purchasing NWA member Jim Crockett Promotions; his goal was realized nearly 30 years later when his son Vince McMahon II merged WCW into WWF during what has come to be known simply as “The Invasion”.
The WWE Championship title
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is held by Brock Lesnar, who is in his first reign. The title was first introduced in 1963 by the then-world champion, Bruno Sammartino.
The WWE Championship title holders
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of WWE’s two world titles, alongside the Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign. He defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 to win the title.
The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, who won the championship in 1963. Since then, there have been 63 different official champions Overall, there have been 74 individual champions and ten times when there were two simultaneous champions due to interference or double pinfalls during title changes. The longest reigning champion is Bruno Sammartino with a reign lasting 2,803 days (7 years 8 months 1 day), while the shortest reigning champion is Yokozuna at 63 days (63 days).
The WWE Championship title defenses
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently defended on their Raw brand. It is one of WWE’s original world titles dating back to 1963, when it was established as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign.
The title was first introduced in 1963 by the WWWF as the World Wide Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship, which was then vacanted after Bruno Sammartino defeated “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers in a match for the vacant title on May 17, 1963. Sammartino became the longest reigning champion in history, holding the title for 2,803 days over two reigns from May 17, 1963 to January 18, 1971. The title was then unified with the Intercontinental Championship by The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven. These three titles (the World Heavyweight, Intercontinental and WWE Championships) were unification matches until December 2013 when only one champion was crowned due to the discontinuation of both belts. On July 19, 2016; SmackDown created their own version of the WWE Championship with AJ Styles as their inaugural champion through a tournament on that nights episode of SmackDown Live. In early 2017 however this version of the title was quietly retired and ambiguous mentions of “WWE Champion” were made until it became exclusive to Raw once again in mid-2017 under its current name after that brand’s split following WrestleMania 33.
In December 2001, WWF Chief Operating Officer Jamie Liniger announced that starting with WrestleMania X8 “the WWF will crown one undisputed heavyweight champion of the world”. At Survivor Series later that year Kurt Angle defeated Chris Jericho and The Rock to become sole possessor of all three WWF Championships—WCW Championship, Intercontinental Championship and WWF Championship—thereby unifying them into one Undisputed WWF Championship; WCW and ECW ceased operations shortly thereafter. Six years later at Vengeance: Night of Champions Jericho defeated Edge for both championships becoming a grand slam winner in process (a wrestler who has won all major titles within WWE), however Edge invoked his rematch clause later that night and won back both belts unifying them into single EDGEcution championship (a combination of ECW’s Hardcoretitle and Rated-RKO). This designation remained until June 2007 when; as part of WWE’s yearly draft lottery, edge was drafted to SmackDown severing any connection with ECW while Rated-RKO disbanded dashing any hopes for unification anytime soon making way for new number one contender Triple H who went on to defeat former partner Randy Orton at Unforgiven to win most prestigious prize in sports entertainment thus creating new lineage forUndisputed WWF/E Championship effectively unifying all championships once again except for ECW’s Hardcoretitle which would be unified with WWE’s other two mainstay titles—the Intercontinental and United States Championships—to create Unified WWE Tag Team Championships (later renamed Unified WWE Tag Team titles following introduction of unified NXT Tag Team titles).
The title is currently one of two world championships in WWE along with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar which are featured on Raw; however it is also defended on SmackDown due to Lesnar not appearing on that program often as per his part-time status. When Lesnar does appear on SmackDown he does not bring the Universal Championship with him meaning that usually only one world championship is featured prominently on each brand at any given time.
