Undisputed championship (professional wrestling)
An undisputed championship is a
The first undisputed champions
The reported first undisputed champion was George Hackenschmidt,[2] who won a series of tournaments in Europe, including a world championship tournament to win the original World Heavyweight Championship. Amongst the other tournaments he won were the annual major tournaments in Paris, France; Hamburg, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Berlin, Germany. Hackenschmidt also defeated European Greco-Roman Champion Tom Cannon on September 4, 1902, in Liverpool, England to become the first undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.[2]
The only other reigning champion with claim to the belt at the time was Tom Jenkins the American Heavyweight Championship, which unified the American Greco-Roman Championship with the American Catch-As-Catch Can Championship. Jenkins was eventually defeated by Frank Gotch, who took over as the only man with a potentially legitimate claim to being "the true champion".[3]
Hackenschmidt and Gotch finally met in the ring on April 3, 1908, in Chicago, Illinois. Gotch defeated Hackenschmidt to win the World Heavyweight Championship, then abandoned the American Heavyweight Championship in a process similar to today's championship unification. Gotch wrestled for several years before retiring as undisputed champion[4]
Other wrestlers who were recognized as the only major World Champion following Gotch's retirement[5] were Earl Caddock, Joe Stecher, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Stanislaus Zbyszko, and Wayne Munn.[6] The championship became disputed in the late 1920s, and remained that way for over 20 years, when several major World Heavyweight Championships split from the primary title (namely, Boston's American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship, the National Boxing Association (later, National Wrestling Association) World Championship of Wrestling, and the New York State Athletic Commission World Heavyweight Championship). Other governing bodies would create their own version of the World Championship in the 1930s and 1940s, as well.[7]
Lou Thesz and the National Wrestling Alliance
After Gotch's retirement,[6] several other men proceeded to hold the then World Heavyweight Championship, including periods of time where the National Wrestling Association formed a second World Heavyweight Championship to contend with the formerly undisputed belt. From that point onward, there was no undisputed champion, as multiple men laid claim to the title without ever backing it up by defeating multiple other contenders.[7]
This all changed in July 1948, when the
In light of having unified three of the major world heavyweight championships of his time (as well as numerous other lesser-prestige titles) and defeating the reigning AWA World Heavyweight Champion in a non-title match (a major title that was abandoned soon after), Thesz became the
This, however, would change over the years and decades to come as professional wrestling grew and evolved. The
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
When the AWA folded in 1991 with
WWF took full advantage of their situation, unifying the WCW Championship "World Championship" (formerly the WCW World Heavyweight Championship) and WWF Championship at Vengeance in 2001, with Chris Jericho becoming the first Undisputed WWF Champion (and the first undisputed champion in over 50 years in professional wrestling in general). The championship was then represented by the belts of its two predecessors until a singular belt design was commissioned. By May 2002, the WWF had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment and the Undisputed WWE Championship, as it was now called, became the top championship of the promotion.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]
With the purchase of WCW during the previous year, WWE's roster had doubled in size and with newly obtained properties and a desire to further expand, the promotion was essentially divided in what became known as the
In 2011, the WWE Championship was temporarily referred to as "undisputed" again. After a storyline in which John Cena and CM Punk both claimed the WWE Championship, the two faced off at the 2011 SummerSlam, resulting in a single title holder.[22] This was not, however, the same as the undisputed title that existed between 2001 and 2002, as the World Heavyweight Championship was unaffected.
Immediately following SummerSlam 2011, the brand extension officially ended, meaning that both the WWE Champion and the World Heavyweight Champion could appear on both Raw and SmackDown. In November 2013, then World Heavyweight Champion John Cena made a challenge to then WWE Champion
In June 2016, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship reverted to being called the WWE Championship before WWE reintroduced the brand extension the following month. The WWE Champion was drafted to SmackDown and it was renamed the WWE World Championship though reverted to WWE Championship in December 2016. In response, Raw created their own world championship, the WWE Universal Championship.[27]
At
On the May 20, 2022, episode of SmackDown, the
Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH)
On December 10, 2021 Ring of Honor wrestler Bandido vacated the ROH World Championship after he tested positive for COVID-19.[31] Another ROH wrestler by the name of Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal to win the vacant championship at Final Battle of year 2021. Former champion Bandido still had the original ROH World Championship title belt, while Gresham won the replacement (second) ROH World Championship title belt, so it was announced that the two will face at Supercard of Honor XV to determine who will be the Undisputed ROH World Champion.[32] At Supercard of Honor XV Gresham defeated Bandido to become the Undisputed ROH World Champion.[33][34][35][36]
On April 1, 2022 a female star Deonna Purrazzo was unable to defend the ROH Women's World Championship at an upcoming ROH pay-per-view by the name of Supercard of Honor XV so two ROH Women of Honor female stars by the names of Mercedes Martinez and Willow Nightingale were announced by Tony Khan to compete against each other to determine who will be the interim champion. On that night Martinez defeated Willow Nightingale to determine an interim champion.[37][38] On May 4, 2022 at an All Elite Wrestling event Martinez defeated Deonna Purrazzo to become the Undisputed ROH Women's World Champion.[39]
See also
- Championship unification
- List of early world heavyweight champions in professional wrestling
References
- ^ Carlson, Scott. "WWE Clarifies Status Of One Of Its 'Undisputed' Titles". Whatculture.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Slagle, Stephen Von. "George Hackenschmidt Becomes The First Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion". Historyofwrestling.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "TOM JENKINS WINS THE UNDISPUTED AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP". Historyofwrestling.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Moon, Pete. "Gotch Vs Hackenshmidt (April 3rd 1908) | On This Day". Prowrestlingpost.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "FRANK GOTCH". Foxsports.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ a b SCHADLER, KYLE. "Wrestling Gold: The History of the Original World Heavyweight Championship". Www.syndication.bleacherreport.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Unknown, The PA Team. "Wrestling Rewind: Undisputed". Www.punditarena.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Dunning, Kyle. "History Of The WWWF/WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Championship". Www.ewrestlingnews.com. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ SCHADLER, KYLE. "Abandoned: The History of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship". Www.syndication.bleacherreport.com. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ SCHADLER, KYLE. "Abandoned: The History of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship". Www.syndication.bleacherreport.com. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ "VENGEANCE 2001 RESULTS". Wwe.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Canton, John. "WWE Vengeance 2001 Review". Tjrwrestling.net. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "WWF Vengeance 2001: One Undisputed Champion". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Holder, James. "Chris Jericho – King Of The World, WWE's First Undisputed Champion". Itrwrestling.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "CHRIS JERICHO REVEALS HOW HE FOUND OUT HE WAS WINNING THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONSHIP". Wrestletalk.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "Chris Jericho Becomes First Undisputed Champion of Professional". Corporate.wwe.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ HOOPS, BRIAN. "Daily Pro Wrestling History (12/09): Chris Jericho becomes first WWE Undisputed Champion Jericho defeated The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the same night". F4wonline.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "The 2002 Draft". Reddit.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "The Brand Extension Draft". M.imdb.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "World Heavyweight Championship". Wwe.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ REPORT, BLEACHER. "WWE: Where Does the World Heavyweight Championship Stand After 10 Years?". Www.syndication.bleacherreport.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "SUMMERSLAM". Wwe.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "WWE TLC 2013 results". Wwe.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ SNOWDEN, JONATHAN. "WWE TLC 2013 Results: Grades, Highlights and Analysis". Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Nemer, Paul (2002-09-02). "Full WWE RAW Results – 9/2/02". WrestleView. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
- ^ "WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP". WWE.com. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ^ "Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley reveal the new WWE Universal Title: Exclusive, Aug. 21, 2016". YouTube.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ GUZZO, GISBERTO. "Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Crowned At WrestleMania 38". Fightful. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Fassett, Ryan. "SmackDown Recap 5/20: Who Are The Unified Tag Champions?". Bleedingcool.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Powell, Jason (April 1, 2023). "WrestleMania 39 results: Powell's live review of night one with Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles, Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley for the Smackdown Women's Title, Austin Theory vs. John Cena for the U.S. Title, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
- ^ Middleton, Marc (December 9, 2021). "Bandido Pulled From ROH World Title Match At Final Battle". Wrestling Inc. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ Thompson, Andrew. "Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido announced for ROH Supercard of Honor". Postwrestling.com. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
- ^ Powell, Jason (December 11, 2021). "ROH Final Battle results: Powell's live review of Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven vs. Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe for the ROH Tag Titles, Rok-C vs. Willow for the ROH Women's World Championship, Josh Woods vs. Brian Johnson for the ROH Pure Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (April 1, 2022). "4/1 ROH Supercard of Honor results: Powell's live review of Bandido vs. Jonathan Gresham for the undisputed ROH Championship, The Briscoes vs. FTR for the ROH Tag Titles, Rhett Titus vs. Minoru Suzuki for the ROH TV Title, Josh Woods vs. Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Rules Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
- ^ Taylor, Sanchez. "JONATHAN GRESHAM CROWNED UNDISPUTED ROH WORLD CHAMPION". Wrestletalk.com. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Padula, Dominic. "#AndNEW: Jonathan Gresham Unifies ROH World Championship". Lastwordonsports.com. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (January 3, 2022). "After #CodyRhodes became 3x TNT Champ vs @sammyguevara Christmas night, the Spanish God made a New Year's resolution to regain the Title. This Saturday LIVE @ 8 pm ET/7 pm CT on TNT at the inaugural Battle of the Belts, the rematch: TNT Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Sammy Guevara!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 3, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Powell, Jason (April 1, 2022). "4/1 ROH Supercard of Honor results: Powell's live review of Bandido vs. Jonathan Gresham for the undisputed ROH Championship, The Briscoes vs. FTR for the ROH Tag Titles, Rhett Titus vs. Minoru Suzuki for the ROH TV Title, Josh Woods vs. Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Rules Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (May 4, 2022). "5/4 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Rey Fenix vs. Dante Martin and Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Fish in Owen Hart tournament qualifiers, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mercedes Martinez to unify the ROH Women's Championship, Wardlow vs. MJF's mystery opponent, Chris Jericho vs. Santana". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 5, 2022.