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The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The title is currently assigned to WWE's Raw program and brand. The title was established in 2002 after the Raw and SmackDown programs became different brands under WWE, and as a result became the highest ranked championship on Raw. As a part of different storylines, the title switched WWE programs on two occasions; in 2005, the title was moved to the SmackDown brand, though, it was moved back to Raw in 2008.

The first recognized champion was Triple H, who was awarded the title by Eric Bischoff, the Raw General manager at this time. Triple H has also won the championship the most record times, with 5. Batista's first reign as champion resulted in the longest reign in the title's history, extending 282 days. As of October 2008, the champion is Chris Jericho, who won the title at Unforgiven.

History

The World Heavyweight Championship was introduced in 2002 with Triple H becoming the inaugural champion on September 2. It was created after Brock Lesnar won the WWE Undisputed Championship and 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. The new title was represented by the Big Gold Belt, an iconic championship belt that had previously represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and later the WCW Championship. Eric Bischoff awarded the new title to Triple H due to him previously being Brock Lesnar's next scheduled opponent for the WWE Undisputed Championship, also citing the fact that he was the last champion to use the Big Gold Belt as part of his previous Undisputed Championship reign. In March 2003, the Big Gold Belt was replaced with a similar design featuring the WWE logo at the top of the center plate.

The World Heavyweight Championship remained on the Raw brand 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. This prompted SmackDown General Manager, Theodore Long, to attempt to introduce a third world title called the "SmackDown Championship". However this was deemed unnecessary when the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, was drafted to the SmackDown brand with the World Heavyweight Championship on June 30 2005. The title remained on the SmackDown brand until June 30 2008, when Money in the Bank contract holder, CM Punk, who was a Raw superstar, cashed in his contract, and defeated the champion, Edge, who was a SmackDown superstar. As a result, the title was reinstated to the Raw brand.

Lineage and terminology

WWE officially states the World Heavyweight Championship is not the same title as the WCW Championship or NWA World Heavyweight Championship before it, but rather a new title that does not inherit their championship history. The World Heavyweight Championship is the successor to both titles, traced from them just as the WCW Championship was traced from and succeeded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

WWE uses the terms "world championship" or "world heavyweight championship" in general for all acknowledged world titles rather than just this World Heavyweight Championship in particular. As a result, the World Heavyweight Championship's name can occasionally cause some confusion and create an allusion to previous titles even though it is made clear that Triple H is the first holder of this World Heavyweight Championship. In a speech, he noted Ric Flair as being a previous world heavyweight champion. However, while Ric Flair is a 16-time world heavyweight champion as recognized by WWE, he has not won this World Heavyweight Championship in particular. The reference was to him previously winning the NWA World Heavyweight, WCW, and WWE Championships a combined total of sixteen times.

Current champion

The current champion is Chris Jericho, who is in his first reign. He won the championship as the replacement for then-champion CM Punk in the Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven 2008 on September 7 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio.

See also

• List of World Heavyweight Champions
• List of World Heavyweight Championship reigns by length

References

External links

• WWE World Heavyweight Title History