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| WWE Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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 The WWE Championship belt (April 11, 2005 – present) |
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| Current champion(s) |
Triple H | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | April 27, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | SmackDown | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date created | April 29, 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Past design(s) |   |
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The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. It is the original world title of WWE. Currently, it is the highest ranked championship on the SmackDown brand.
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The WWE Championship was originally known as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Championship. Following the title's introduction in 1963, Buddy Rogers became the inaugural champion on April 29. The World Wide Wrestling Federation joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1971 and was renamed the World Wrestling Federation in 1979. During this time, the title was referred to as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Heavyweight Championship. It became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship when the promotion left the NWA in 1983. The title began to be referred to as the WWF Championship in 1998.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled. Following this, it was agreed to unify the title with the WCW Championship at Vengeance 2001. At the event Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WCW/World Championship and the WWF Championship respectively. As a result, Chris Jericho was named the last WCW World Champion[1] and became the first Undisputed Champion in the World Wrestling Federation.[2]
Following the WWF/WWE name change and the WWE Brand Extension, the Undisputed Championship was defended on the Raw and SmackDown brands simultaneously while other titles became exclusive to either brand. However, when Brock Lesnar won the Undisputed Championship he was signed by SmackDown General Manager, Stephanie McMahon, to appear and defend the title only on the SmackDown brand, which left the Raw brand without a world title. As a result, Raw General Manager, Eric Bischoff, disputed the title's "Undisputed" status and introduced the World Heavyweight Championship, commissioning it to be the main world title of the Raw brand. Immediately afterwards, the Undisputed Championship returned to being the WWE Championship. The title remained on the SmackDown brand from August 26, 2002 until June 6, 2005 as a result of the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. The WWE Champion, John Cena, was drafted to the Raw brand with the WWE Championship, which left the two main world titles in WWE on that brand until the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, was drafted to the SmackDown brand with the World Heavyweight Championship on June 30, 2005.
The title again switched brands on June 23, 2008 during the 2008 WWE Draft, when the champion, Triple H, was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Because of this the title is once again the top SmackDown Championship after being the main title on RAW for the past three years.
Special custom belts have been created for at least five different champions: "Superstar" Billy Graham (red leather strap), the Ultimate Warrior (white, blue and purple leather straps), "Stone Cold" Steve Austin ("Smokin' Skull" belt), John Cena ("Spinner" belt) and Edge ("Rated-R Spinner" belt). A belt with an exceptionally long strap was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, however he never wore it as champion. Similarly, Edge had originally designed an entirely different custom belt than the "Rated R Spinner" design he used for his second reign, however the plans were scrapped due to time constraints.[3] The "Spinner" belt's design has since become the WWE Championship's primary design, having also been used by Edge, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton and Triple H, although the center piece no longer spins.
The current champion is Triple H, who is in his seventh reign. He won the title by defeating John Cena, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and former champion Randy Orton in a Fatal-Four Way Elimination match at Backlash in Baltimore, Maryland on April 27, 2008.[4] This being his seventh reign,[4] Triple H now shares the record with The Rock for the most WWE Championship reigns in history.[5]
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