Who Was The Last WWE World Heavyweight Champion?
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The last WWE World Heavyweight Champion was Brock Lesnar, who won the title at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. Lesnar held the title for almost a year before losing it to Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 31 in 2015.
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 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 current champion is Kofi Kingston, who is in his second reign.
History of the 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 world titles for WWE’s main roster, 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.
The title was established under WWE’s then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) banner in 1963 with Bruno Sammartino becoming the inaugural champion. Sammartino’s reign is recognized as the longest in the title’s history, lasting 2,803 days between May 17, 1963 and January 18, 1971. When Sammartino lost to “Superstar” Billy Graham due to outside interference, it caused a public outcry which prompted then-WWF owner Vince McMahon Sr. to award him a rematch under “winner take all” conditions at Madison Square Garden on April 30, 1971; McMahon had lost faith inSamartino and believed he could not regain it based on fan reaction to his losing the title. The title has been referred to as the “most prestigious” wrestling title in existence and has been held by some of professional wrestling’s most prominent names including Bob Backlund, Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan; it has also been involved in some of pro wrestling’s most controversial storylines including WWF’s steroid trial as well as Hart’s 1997 Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series.
In 2002 after then-WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar retained his championship against The Rock at SummerSlam that year due to outside interference from Vince McMahon revealing himself as the special guest referee, McMahon awarded a new championship to Kurt Angle because he claimed that Lesnar had held onto the championship too long without defending it and declared that “a champion should be seen weekly”. Angle became embroiled in a rivalry with Lesnar ranging throughout most of 2003 which saw multiple times where both men held both world titles until Angle lost Lesnar’s championship at WrestleMania XIX in March 2003; McMahon subsequently presented him with a new Undisputed Championship belt later that evening which he renamed simply to “the WWE Championship”, unifying both titles over five months after their creation.
The title was renamed twice thereafter—firstly to simply “WWE World Heavyweight Championship” on June 7, 2006 following WWE acquiring full ownership of WCW (World Championship Wrestling); while keeping its lineage intact, this effectively made it WWE’s sole world heavyweight championship at that point—and again in July 2016 when SmackDown separated from Raw as part of the latter’s brand extension and became exclusive to Tuesday nights on USA Network following a drafted supershow pay-per-view event titled Battleground where then-champion Dean Ambrose successfully defended his championship against Dolph Ziggler: Ambrose was drafted to Raw during said draft itself but still retained his championship and thus became Intercontinental Champion upon his debut there later that night; consequently upon returning
to SmackDown two weeks later with no mention of him ever vacating or losing his championship upon departure from Raw nor any specific ruling regarding what would happen should he appear on both brands again while being champion (as had happened before), he was officially recognized as still being champion but never defended nor referred to as such until Battleground where he finally dropped the title due its lineage being exclusive to Raw while also becoming exclusive Intercontinental Champion upon his return there.
List of WWE World Heavyweight Champions
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 world titles for WWE’s main roster, 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 Brock Lesnar, who is in his first reign.
WWE World Heavyweight Champions
-Brock Lesnar (1st reign)
-Kofi Kingston (1st reign)
-Daniel Bryan (2nd reign)
-AJ Styles (2nd reign)
-The Miz (2nd reign)
-Seth Rollins (1st reign)
The Last WWE World Heavyweight Champion
On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. This marked the end of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, as the title was retired and replaced with the WWE Universal Championship.
Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and college football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time WWE Champion, making him a five-time world champion in WWE. He has headlined numerous pay-per-view events for WWE, most notably SummerSlam in 2002 and WrestleMania XIX in 2003.
Lesnar won the UFC Heavyweight Championship from Randy Couture at UFC 91 in 2008, making him the then youngest champion in UFC history at the age of 28. In his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Lesnar compiled a record of 5–3 (.625). In 2009 and 2010, he won consecutive WWE Universal Championships—becoming the first person to have held both titles—and was featured on the cover of muscle & fitness magazine as its headline star for its May 2010 issue.
Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns was the last WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He held the title for 140 days, before losing it to Seth Rollins at Battleground on July 19, 2015.
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins was the last WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He held the title for 190 days, before losing it to Roman Reigns at WWE Money in the Bank 2015.