World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)
World Heavyweight Championship | |
---|---|
Seth "Freakin" Rollins |
The World Heavyweight Championship is a men's
The title's creation came as a result of Roman Reigns and the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. After Reigns became undisputed champion in April 2022, he defended the tandem title across both brands, but these defenses were infrequent due to the terms of his contract. With the announcement of the 2023 WWE Draft, the World Heavyweight Championship was unveiled on the April 24, 2023, episode of Raw and subsequently became exclusive to Raw after Reigns and the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship became exclusive to SmackDown.
The title is distinct from WWE's previous World Heavyweight Championship that was contested from 2002 until 2013 when it was unified into the WWE Championship. The two titles share the same name, but do not share the same lineage.[1]
History
On the April 24, 2023, episode of
During the
The participants for the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament were revealed on May 7 on WWE's
Inaugural World Heavyweight Championship tournament (2023)
Belt design
The World Heavyweight Championship belt has a design that pays homage to the historic Big Gold Belt, which was used for WWE's previous World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013). It also features tributes to previous designs of the company's original world championship, the WWE Championship (1963–present).[13]
Like the historic Big Gold Belt, the title has three large gold plates on a black leather strap. All three plates include traditional filigree with each plate outlined in a rope trim to represent the three ropes of a wrestling ring. Like the majority of WWE's other championship belts, the side plates include a removable round center section which can be replaced with the reigning champion's logo in lieu of the nameplate that was found on the original Big Gold Belt; the default side plates feature a gold WWE logo over a globe (customizable side plates were introduced with the 2013–2014 version of the WWE Championship belt).[13]
At the center of the center plate, there is a large globe that has WWE's logo over top of it. The WWE logo is silver with black filled in the blank spaces of the globe. The globe itself represents that the title is defended around the world. Above the globe is a banner with the text "WORLD" written in silver with a banner below the globe that says "CHAMPION", also in silver. Also on the center plate are three lions, which represent the McMahon family crest (as WWE was founded and owned by the McMahon family until September 2023); there is a full-bodied lion on each opposing side of the globe facing outwards while the third is a lion's head at the very bottom of the center plate (the McMahon family crest was previously included on the side plates of the WWE Championship belts from 1998 to 2005). At the top of the center plate right above the "WORLD" banner is a crown, a nod to Bruno Sammartino's WWE Championship belt during his long reign (there was also a crown on the Big Gold Belt). Right above the crown is an eagle, which is an homage to the various WWE Championship belts that included an eagle up until 2013, most notably the Winged Eagle championship belt design (1988–1998). There are a total of 60 diamonds across the three plates; these were in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of WWE, as the company was founded in April 1963 and the title was unveiled in April 2023.[13]
Reception
The creation of the World Heavyweight Championship was met with mixed reception. Some liked the idea of the title, feeling that it would give new opportunities for several wrestlers, but others were critical.
WWE commentator Corey Graves said that having the title was great as it would allow Raw and SmackDown to identify as separate brands (as brand division had been lax over the preceding year), but he claimed that until Reigns was defeated, anyone holding the World Heavyweight Championship would feel inferior to Reigns.[17] Scherer also felt that whoever would finally beat Reigns, the impact would be lessened due to the existence of the World Heavyweight Championship.[18] Prior to competing in the tournament final, runner-up AJ Styles said that it was hard to argue that the new title was not secondary compared to Reigns' undisputed championship.[19] WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle also praised the design of the belt, but acknowledged the notion that it felt like a secondary title compared to Reigns' titles.[20]
Reigns
As of March 28, 2024.
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
WWE: Raw | ||||||||||
1 | Seth "Freakin" Rollins
|
May 27, 2023 | Night of Champions | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
|
1 | 306+ | The title was established and designated to Undisputed WWE Universal Championship became exclusive to SmackDown following the 2023 WWE Draft. Rollins defeated AJ Styles in the tournament final to become the inaugural champion.
|
[21][11] |
See also
References
- ^ "World Heavyweight Title". WWE.
- Pro Wrestling Torch. Archivedfrom the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ComicBook.com. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 5, 2023). "Triple H: World Heavyweight Title Tournament Will Begin On 5/8 WWE Raw, Continue On 5/12 SmackDown". Fightful. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
- ComicBook.com. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ Keller, Wade (May 8, 2023). "WWE Raw Results (5-8-2023): Keller's report with analysis of World Title Tournament matches, Backlash fallout, Trish". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
- ^ Powell, Jason (May 12, 2023). "5/12 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Roman Reigns' return, AJ Styles vs. Edge vs. Rey Mysterio, and Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus tournament matches, winners meet for a spot in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (May 27, 2023). "Seth Rollins Becomes Inaugural WWE World Heavyweight Champion At WWE Night Of Champions". Fightful. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
- ^ a b Powell, Jason (May 27, 2023). "WWE Night of Champions results: Powell's live review of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles, Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
- Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ a b c WWE (May 3, 2023). Get a closer look at the new World Heavyweight Championship. YouTube. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- ^ a b Rodriguez, David Gonzalez (April 28, 2023). "Tommy Dreamer thinks WWE's new championship looks like a consolation prize". Solowrestling.com (in Spanish). Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- ^ a b Rodriguez, David Gonzalez (May 9, 2023). "Booker T doesn't think the new WWE Championship is a consolation prize". Solowrestling.com (in Spanish). Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- PWInsider. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ Jimenez, Mario (April 30, 2023). "Corey Graves believes the new world heavyweight champion will look inferior to Roman Reigns". Solowrestling.com (in Spanish). Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- PWInsider. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
- 411Mania. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
- ^ Ranft, Shaun (May 25, 2023). "Kurt Angle Likes The New WWE World Heavyweight Title, But Says It's Definitely Secondary". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
- ^ Miller, Gregory (April 24, 2023). "Triple H introduces the World Heavyweight Championship". WWE. Retrieved April 24, 2023.