Who is the Heavyweight Champion of WWE?
The current WWE Heavyweight Champion is Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and has held the WWE title since August 2018.
WWE Champions
The WWE Champion 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 flagship championships, along with the WWE 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 first reign.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The WWE World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is one of two top championships in WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 Brand Extension. The current holder is Brock Lesnar, who is in his first reign.
The title was established under WWE’s then-parent company, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), in 1963 as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship, following the promotion seceding from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was subsequently renamed several times throughout its history, including the WWWF Heavyweight Championship in 1972 and then to its current name in 2002 when WWE purchased WCW and held both world titles until unification at Vengeance in December of that year. The title has been defended across different continents including Europe and Africa.
In addition to Lesnar, other notable winners that have held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for long reigns include Triple H with seven reigns totaling 2803 days, Hulk Hogan with six reigns totaling 2110 days, Bruno Sammartino with two reigns totaling 1160 days (the longest combined reigns in wrestling history), Bob Backlund with two reigns totaling 1069 days, John Cena with six different reigns totaling 1004 days and Pedro Morales with three different Reigns totaling 1013 days (the most combined days as champion). Reality television star Donald Trump’s single day as champion remains the shortest in history.
WWE Universal Championship
The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two world titles for WWE’s main roster, along with the WWE Championship on the Raw brand. The current universal champion is Brock Lesnar, who is in his second reign.
The title was established as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on October 20, 2013, after Raw and SmackDown’s split into separate rosters. The inaugural champion was Randy Orton, who defeated Daniel Bryan at that night’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view (PPV). Samoa Joe became the most recent champion on August 19, 2019 at SummerSlam after defeating Reigns and Strowman in a triple threat match.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
The WWE Intercontinental 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 secondary titles in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship. The current champion is AJ Styles, who is in his second reign.
The title was introduced into WWE in 1979, and its lineage can be traced back to the original Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship – better known as the World Middleweight Championship – which was created by the International Wrestling Association (IWA) in 1948. The IWA ceased operations in 1977, and the title was abandoned until WWE reintroduced it in 1979 as a secondary title on SmackDown; with its lineage being established as lineage from the original World Middleweight Championship.
In 2002, the championship was unified with its Raw counterpart, now known as simply the World Championship following changes to WWE’s top two titles’ names and statuses (with WWE then unifying their two world titles), when then-Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam defeated then-World Champion Kane at Vengeance; Rob Van Dam became exclusive to Raw while Kane became exclusive to SmackDown. The title remained inactive until it was revived again for SmackDown in May 2003. It has remained exclusive to SmackDown since then (except for one occasion), with varying names and appearances over its history but retaining its status as a tertiary singles championship of WWE.
The title was first won by Pat Patterson, who won a tournament to crown the inaugural champion on September 1, 1979. Ken Patera held it for 165 days before losing it to Pedro Morales, who became WWE’s first Triple Crown winner after also winning the WWE Tag Team Championships and WWWF World Heavyweight Championship. Morales would be inducted into both the 2014 and 2015 class of Legacy Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame: He retained his championship across three different decades (the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s), which is a record in professional wrestling. In total there have been 92 separate Intercontinental Champions,[4][5] who have had 115 recognized individual reigns[4][5] – making it one of if not most prestigious championships within professional wrestling. Three wrestlers – Don Muraco, Tito Santana & Pedro Morales – share what many wrestlers consider an unprestigious record: They are tied for holding this title across three decades each: Morales did so between 1977–1980 & 1981–1983 while Santana did so between 1981–1984 & 1985–1989 while Muraco did so between 1982–1984 & 1985–1987.[6] There were two vacancies throughout this title’s history: Once due to Mr.—Patterson’s retirement due to injury on December 10, 1979;[7] And another—which resulted from Chyna being stripped off her title for having violated WWF’s policy forbidding female wrestlers from physically competing against male wrestlers—on September 27th 2000.[8]
WWE United States Championship
The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE’s main roster, as well as WWE’s national promotion in the United States, behind only the WWE Universal Championship. The title was established as the top title of the SmackDown brand in 2003, and was then Raw’s secondary title until August 2016.
The current champion is Andrade, who is in his first reign. He won the championship by defeating Rusev at WrestleMania 35.
World Heavyweight Champions
Brock Lesnar is the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He won the title on August 21, 2016, at SummerSlam, defeating Randy Orton to become a record-tying 13-time world champion (tied with Triple H). Lesnar has held the title for a total of 222 days, as of February 12, 2018.
World Heavyweight Championship
The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship match in WWE. The title was established under the WWE SmackDown brand in 2002, but was moved to the Raw brand in 2006. In 2013, the title was retired and replaced with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The first ever World Heavyweight Champion was The Rock, who won the title at Survivor Series on November 17, 2002. The most recent champion is Brock Lesnar, who defeated Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules on May 19, 2019.
Here is a complete list of all the WWE World Heavyweight Champions:
-The Rock (2002)
-Brock Lesnar (2019)
WWE Championship
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 championships, dating back to 1963.
As the name suggests, the WWE Championship can be defended anywhere in the world. The first-ever champion was Bruno Sammartino, who held the title for an unprecedented 2,803 days from 1963 to 1971. Other notable champions have included “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Brock Lesnar and current champion Drew McIntyre.
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was introduced at ECW’s The Night the Line Was Crossed pay-per-view event on February 7, 1992, and vacant until Shane Douglas defeated then two-time ECW Television Champion Jerry Lawler to unify the titles on August 27, 1994, at Hardcore Heaven.
The title was deactivated when ECW went out of business in 2001. In 2006, WWE reactivated the championship to be used for its revived ECW brand until it was phased out in 2010 in favor of WWE’s Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. The final holder of the title was Christian, who won it in an Eight-man elimination match at Extreme Rules on June 7, 2009.
When Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) debuted in 1992, they introduced their flagship world championship, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
In order to make their product competitive with other companies such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), owner Paul Heyman decided that his company needed a prestige world title similar to WCW’s NWA World Heavyweight Championship and WWF’s WWF World Heavyweight Championship. After winning a tournament at The Night the Line Was Crossed pay-per-view on February 7, 1992 for vacant title, Shane Douglas became the inaugural champion by defeating then two-time reigning Television Champion Jerry Lawler in the finals.
ECW originally used the NWA World Title belt before creating their own belt to represent the championship. While a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, ECW operated under the NWA banner and rules; as a result, they were able to recognize Larry Zbyszko as a former NWA Champion when he joinedECW in 1995. When Taz joined ECW in 1996 and won the Television Championship from Mikey Whipwreck at Heat Wave that year using both an armbar submission and a Tazmission chokehold (a move banned under NWA rules), he simultaneously became both ECW Champion and Television Champion; this led to him vacating one of the titles due to double championship reigns being against NWA policy. In June 1997 at Hardcore Heaven, then champion Bam Bam Bigelow broke with tradition by instead pinning Taz with his feet on top of the ropes rather than going for a cover with his shoulders down on the mat; this made Taz only a one-time champion under traditional rules. In response to this event (as well as an attempt by Bigelow’s manager Mrs. Proudfoot to spray paint his back after he lost) Taz kidnapped Mrs. Proudfoot and shaved her head bald as revenge.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the original world title of the World Championship Wrestling promotion, which existed from 1991 to 2001.
The title was created in 1991 by former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger, who defeated previous champion Sting to win the vacant title. The inaugural champion was crowned on July 14, 1991 at The Great American Bash.
In 2000, the championship belt design was updated. The new design had a large center circular section with smaller square sections metal along the top and bottom of the center portion. There were also metal spikes protruding from all over the belt. This design would be used until WCW ceased operations in 2001.
WWE Champions
WWE has a long history of Champions. The current Heavyweight Champion of WWE is Drew McIntyre. He has held the title since April 5, 2020.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The WWE World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand. It is one of two top championships in WWE, alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft. The current champion is AJ Styles, who is in his second reign.
The title was established under WWE’s former name, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), in 1963 with Buddy Rogers becoming the inaugural champion. In 2002, following the promotion’s rebranding as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), it became exclusive to SmackDown. As a result of the 2009 WWE draft, it was contested for and exclusively defended on both Raw and SmackDown; however, in mid-2010, it became exclusive to Raw again as a result of another draft. The title has switched hands a total of 22 times among 17 different wrestlers.
WWE Universal Championship
The WWE Universal Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two world titles for WWE’s main roster, along with the WWE Championship on SmackDown. The current champion is Brock Lesnar, who is in his first reign.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of two secondary titles in WWE, alongside the United States Championship on the SmackDown brand. The current champion is Big E, who is in his first reign.
The title was introduced into WWE in 1979, but was established under its current name in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1983. With a few exceptions, it has since served as a tertiary title behind WWE’s two top prizes, the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship. The inaugural champion was Pat Patterson.
In 2017, The Miz became the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion in history, holding the title for 240 days. He broke Pedro Morales’ record of 221 days set in 1971–72. As of February 25, 2021, there have been 52 different champions overall – with Big E being the most recent; he is also currently tied with Batista for having won it four times each.
WWE United States Championship
The WWE United States 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 secondary titles for the SmackDown brand, along with the WWE Intercontinental Championship on Raw.
The current champion is AJ Styles, who is in his second reign. He defeated Kevin Owens at Clash of Champions on September 25, 2019, to win the title.
The title was established as the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (not to be confused with the current NWA World Heavyweight Championship) by Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in 1975. It began as a regional title before being adopted in 1981 by JCP’s successor company, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The United States Championship was then unified with the Intercontinental Championship in 2001 by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF), creating the Undisputed WWF Intercontinental and United States Champion, which would eventually be merged into simply the Undisputed WWF Championship.[4][5] In 2002 after the first brand extension, it became exclusive to SmackDown and Raw also split apart from each other; however it remained one title until 2003 when SmackDown created two world titles. As a result of this double main event status, it was contested under match types usually associated with either brand. In June 2006, WWE ceased using its full name of “World Wrestling Entertainment”, and began using “WWE” instead; as a result, “SmackDown” became simply “Smackdown!”. As a result of this change, “Smackdown!” also changed its united states title to simply “United States Championship”. The championship was again unified with the Intercontinental Championship on July 17 at The Great American Bash when then-United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter defeated then-Intercontinental Champion John Morrison; however, later that same night then-WWE Champion Edge defeated then-World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker in an interpromotional match to unify both brands’ world titles into one Undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Championship,[6] making both secondary titles vacant once again.
World Heavyweight Champions
The World Heavyweight Champion is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is one of the two top championships of WWE, alongside the WWE 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 first reign.
World Heavyweight Championship
The World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It was established by WWE in 2002 after WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The title was then unified with the WWE Championship, which WWE had established in 1963.
The title became vacant in August 2014; Wrestler Brock Lesnar won the championship at the 2014 SummerSlam event, making him the final champion. There were a total of seven reigns shared between six wrestlers, and two vacancies of the title.
In May 2016, WWE announced that all future references to “World Heavyweight Champion” would be discontinued; however, the company did not outright state that the title was retired.
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 WWE’s three world titles, alongside the WWE Universal Championship on Raw and the NXT Championship on NXT.
The current champion is Drew McIntyre, who is in his second reign. He won the title by defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36.
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship originally used in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the world title of the ECW promotion, which closed in 2010. The title was established under ECW in 1994, but its heritage harkens back to the National Wrestling Alliance’s Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion of the early 1990s.
The championship was created as the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship with Jimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25, 1992. The title remained active until April 11, 2001 when it was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship by then ECW owner Paul Heyman as his final act before WWE took over control of ECW. Heyman has stated that had WWE owned ECW when he purchased it in 2001, he would have still unified the titles. Both titles were then defended on ECW programming until the dissolution of ECW as a company in 2010.
ECW originally used National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) branding for their promotion and thus their titles were required to be defend outside of ECW events. In June 2006, WWE reactivated both the “ECW” and “World Heavyweight” brands following their successful One Night Stand reunion pay-per-view; this resulted in two separate top tier championships being defended under those brands—the WWE Championship on SmackDown! and the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw—with no requirement for either champion to defend outside of their brand’s respective television show or pay-per-view event.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the original world title of the World Championship Wrestling promotion, established by Jim Crockett, Jr. in 1991. The title was active until 2001, when WCW was sold to the Vince McMahon-owned World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) organization.
As a result of the purchase, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship, which resulted in the WCW title being retired in favor of the Undisputed WWE Championship. The Undisputed title continued until 2002 when it split into two separate titles: the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Undisputed Championship. The former was then referred to as simply the “World Heavyweight Championship”, while the latter became exclusive to SmackDown!, creating two world titles across WWE’s brands.
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship pursued by Sting at Starrcade 1997
Following this change, WCW steadily decreased in popularity through 1999 and 2000. In mid-2000, Eric Bischoff reactivated the Big Gold Belt as a secondary title to be featured on Nitro; however, after just three weeks it became apparent that fan interest in revisiting older championship belts was minimal at best. As a result, on April 11, 2000 at Spring Stampede, then-WCW President Sting declared that from that point forward, only one world championship would be active in WCW; consequently vacating both the United States Heavyweight and World Heavyweight Championships. The final holder of
the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was Booker T who defeated Scott Steiner at Sin on January 14, 2001.WCW ceased operations seven days later on January 23 with no legitimately recognized world champion having been crowned by its conclusion.
