Which WWE Belt Is the Highest Honor?
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For many WWE Superstars, winning a WWE Championship is the highest honor. But which WWE Belt is the real top prize?
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The WWE World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two world titles in the WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft. The WWe World Heavyweight Championship was established by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on September 2, 1963 after Approval from the NWA Board Of Directors with Bruno Sammartino winning an “Elimination Tournament” to become WWWF World Heavyweight Champion.
WWE Universal Championship
The WWE Universal Championship is the top title in WWE’s main roster. The Universal Championship was introduced at SummerSlam in 2016, replacing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The inaugural Universal Champion was Finn Balor.
This championship is defended on all of WWE’s main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. The current champion is Roman Reigns, who is in his second reign.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
The WWE Intercontinental Championship is the second most important singles championship in WWE, behind only the WWE Championship. The title was introduced in 1979 as the World Wrestling Federation’s (WWF) primary midcard championship and has been contested in almost every WWF/WWE annual event.
The Intercontinental Championship has been held by some of the promotion’s biggest names including Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Bret Hart and current champion, Big E. In recent years, the title has become known as the “workhorse” championship of WWE due to it being contested in more matches on Raw and pay-per-views than any other championship except for the WWE Championship.
WWE United States Championship
The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in WWE’s Prime Time Wrestling (PTW) brand. It is one of three secondary championships in WWE, alongside the WWE Tag Team Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
The United States Championship was originally created as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship by Harley Race in 1975. The title was then adopted by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 after the NWA ceased to exist. The champion upon WWF’s adoption was Pat Patterson, who had won the title from Ted DiBiase a month earlier. As a result of Patterson’s wins over DiBiase and Stan Stasiak, he became recognized as the inaugural champion of the WWF.
In 2002, the title was unified with the WCW United States Championship when then-champion Edge defeated then-champion Tajiri on an episode of SmackDown. This resulted in the title being renamed to its current name, the WWE United States Championship. The title has since been defended in all three of WWE’s main brands: Raw, SmackDown and NXT.
WWE Tag Team Championship
The WWE Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship contested for in WWE. As the name suggests, it is for tag teams composed of two wrestlers, which currently consist of one wrestler from Raw and one from SmackDown. It is one of the three highest-ranked titles in WWE along with the Universal Championship for singles wrestlers on Raw and the WWE Championship for singles wrestlers on SmackDown.
The current champions are The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods), who are in their record fourth reign as a team. They are also the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history, surpassing Demolition’s previous record of 16 combined reigns (individual reigns were not tracked until after Demolition’s final reign).
WWE Women’s Championship
The WWE Women’s Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It is currently held by Charlotte Flair. The title was originally established as the WWE Women’s Championship in 1983, with the winner of a tournament to crown the first champion, The Fabulous Moolah. Wendy Richter won the tournament and became the inaugural champion. In 1986, the title was reactivated and awarded to The Fabulous Moolah after she defeated Leilani Kai in The Fabulous Moolah’s Retirement Match. The title was deactivated again in 1990, but was brought back as the WWF Women’s Championship in 1993 when Sensational Sherri defeated Alundra Blayze to win it. In 1998, the title was renamed WWF Women’s Championship until it becameRaw Women’s Championship in 2016 following WWE brand extension.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The WWE Cruiserweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two separate titles that share the name “Cruiserweight”, with the other being a title for wrestlers 205 lb (93 kg) and under, which had been abandoned in September 2007 but was later reactivated as the Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016. The current champion is “The Man of the Hour” Lio Rush, who is in his first reign.
The title was originally established as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) on February 15, 1991, with Brian Pillman becoming the inaugural champion. It remained active until WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon and merged into WWE in 2001. The title was then reactivated as WWE’s original Cruiserweight Championship on September 14, 2016, at Backlash following its reintroduction at The CW Network television tapings on July 13–14.
As a result of the 2017 Superstar Shake-up, the championship was reassigned to SmackDown. In October 2019, at Hell in a Cell, WWE announced that due to 205 Live becoming a discontinued brand, all future cruiserweight championship matches would take place on Friday Night SmackDown and NXT UK; as such, starting from November 1 onwards (the date of 205 Live’s discontinuation), only wrestlers assigned to either brand can challenge for or hold the title.
