World Heavyweight Championship (professional wrestling)

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The World Heavyweight Championship is the name given to a number of unrelated titles in professional wrestling. Although numerous titles in many different promotions have used the term "World Heavyweight Championship", it is almost exclusively used as a moniker for the title that is under competition between the main event wrestlers. Despite the name, the territorial nature of early professional wrestling meant that few promotions could actually claim the "World" part of the title, in the sense that the title could potentially be defended against any challenger anywhere in the world. Thus, few belts are considered to be "world championship" belts.

The presence of a title considered to be a World Heavyweight Championship is one of the factors that makes its promotion one of the major promotions in professional wrestling. However, it is to be noted that numerous major promotions have top championships that are not considered world (nor heavyweight) championships, and the presence of a world championship in a promotion's shows does not instantly make a promotion a major one, as a World Heavyweight Championship may be shared between several promotions.

Contents 1 Early history 2 Nomenclature of World Heavyweight Championships 3 List of World Heavyweight Championships 3.1 Prominent active World Heavyweight Championships 3.2 Other active World Heavyweight Championships 3.3 Inactive World Heavyweight Championships 4 See also 5 External links 6 Notes

[edit] Early history

Main article: List of early world heavyweight champions in professional wrestling

Most of the recognized World Heavyweight Championships today are derived from the version held by Georg Hackenschmidt in 1905 and Frank Gotch in 1908. In particular, many of the titles considered major today have some connection to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, created in 1948. In particular, all four of North America's largest promotions in the 1990s and 2000s (WWE, WCW, ECW, and TNA) have or had top belts that were spun off from the NWA lineage.

[edit] Nomenclature of World Heavyweight Championships

The term "World Heavyweight Championship" can apply to any major belt in general, or to a specific belt in particular. This often creates confusion, as is the case of Ric Flair, who is billed as a 16-time World Heavyweight Champion but does not have 16 reigns of the World Heavyweight Title that is defended on WWE under its Raw brand.

The name of the promotion is often preceded to the phrase "World Heavyweight Championship" as the championship's complete name (as in the WWE World Heavyweight, WCW World Heavyweight, or ECW World Heavyweight Championships) - however some are correctly known simply as the "World Heavyweight Championship" without qualification, possibly because they are competed for in promotions where an existing World Heavyweight Championship is present (as was the case of the American Wrestling Association in the 1960s and 1970s and World Wrestling Entertainment today). The NWA Championship is often quoted as the "World's Heavyweight Wrestling Championship", and the physical title belt itself carries this moniker.

Numerous promotions have claimed their top championship belts as "World Heavyweight Championships" but are not considered to be world titles. Unfortunately, due to no official universally accepted method of determining what constitutes a world title, there is no way to determine who truly has world title status.

Meanwhile, other belts have recognition as a "world championship" despite not being a "World Heavyweight Championship". These other world titles often include various other classifications, including weight classes (e.g., World Cruiserweight Championship) or stipulations (e.g., World Television Championship).

Often, subordinate belts to world titles are designated as national, international, or regional titles. Examples of this include:

• The WWE Intercontinental Championship (an international title subordinate to the World Heavyweight Championship),
• The NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (a regional title subordinate to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship),
• The WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (a national title subordinate to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship)
• The WWE United States Championship (a national title subordinate to the WWE Championship).

[edit] List of World Heavyweight Championships

[edit] Prominent active World Heavyweight Championships

• WWE Championship - A World Wrestling Entertainment title. It spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1963 when Capitol Wrestling Corporation left the National Wrestling Alliance and created the World Wide Wrestling Federation. The WWWF joined the National Wrestling Alliance again in 1971 and the title was demoted to regional status until 1983 when the WWWF left the NWA and became the World Wrestling Federation. The WWF World Heavyweight Championship as it was known after 1983 was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2001 and was temporarily known as the WWE Undisputed Championship after the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment. It is now known simply as the WWE Championship. The WWE Championship is currently defended on SmackDown having come to the brand from Raw following the 2008 WWE Draft. The current WWE Champion is Jeff Hardy.
• World Heavyweight Championship - A World Wrestling Entertainment title. It spun off from the WWE Undisputed Championship as the successor to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which also spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.^[1] The title was made for the WWE's Raw brand when the WWE Championship was made exclusive to their SmackDown brand. The title was moved to the SmackDown brand as a result of the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery, but returned to the Raw brand in 2008. The current World Heavyweight Champion is John Cena.
• ECW Championship - A World Wrestling Entertainment title and originally an Extreme Championship Wrestling title. It spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when Shane Douglas, after being crowned the NWA champion, rejected the NWA title in favor of the newly declared ECW World Heavyweight Championship. It was deactivated after Extreme Championship Wrestling shut down from 2001 through 2006, but was revived by WWE for their ECW brand. It is now known simply as the ECW Championship. The current ECW Champion is Matt Hardy.
• TNA World Heavyweight Championship - A Total Nonstop Action Wrestling title. It was created as a result of the NWA stripping the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from TNA wrestler Christain Cage on May 13, 2007. The current TNA World Heavyweight Champion is Sting.
• NWA World Heavyweight Championship - A National Wrestling Alliance title. It claims lineage of Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 and Frank Gotch's 1908 version, defended in multiple territories and promotions since 1948, used in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from June 2002 to May 2007. The current champion is Blue Demon Jr.

[edit] Other active World Heavyweight Championships

• 1PW World Heavyweight Championship – The top championship on the British promotion 1 Pro Wrestling. Claimed its status as a World Heavyweight title after it was defended in the United States. Was retired due to 1PW's original liquidation, but re-activated upon the return of the promotion, three months later.
• AAA World Heavyweight Championship - The recently created title for Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. Promoted as the company's top title, it claims to be the first world title out of Mexico.
• CMLL World Heavyweight Championship - A heavyweight Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre title since 1991. Unlike other world titles such as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, it is not the main championship in the promotion due to the greater number of lighter weight wrestlers.
• CZW World Heavyweight Championship - Combat Zone Wrestling's top title. Claims its status as a World Heavyweight title after it was defended in Japan, Germany, England, Mexico, Ireland and Italy - as well as America. The championship changed hands in all of those countries except Japan.
• FIP World Heavyweight Championship - Full Impact Pro Wrestling's top title. Became a World Heavyweight Championship following a defence of the title by Roderick Strong against British wrestler Pac at a Ring Of Honor show in Liverpool, England.
• IWA World Heavyweight Championship - The top title in the International Wrestling Association. The championship was established in 2000.
• PWG World Championship - The top championship in the Southern California promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Claims its status as a World Heavyweight title after it was defended in Kent, England and Essen, Germany on the European Vacation tour of 2006. It has since been defended in Takamatsu, Japan by then champion El Generico with the Dragon Gate promotion.
• ROH World Championship - Established in 2002 with the development of the new Ring of Honor promotion, today considered the third most important promotion in the United States. Claims World Title status since 2003 when it was defended in England. It has since been defended in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan.
• WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship - The top title in the World Wrestling Council. The championship was established in July 1982 as the WWC World Heavyweight Championship.

[edit] Inactive World Heavyweight Championships

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1991-2001) - A World Championship Wrestling title. It spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when NWA Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the first WCW World heavyweight champion in January 1991, during which WCW was in the process of separating from the NWA. Flair held both titles briefly before leaving WCW over a creative dispute in July of that year. The title was unified with the WWE Championship in 2001. Chris Jericho was the final WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1960-1991) - An American Wrestling Association title. The title was deactivated in 1991 when the AWA shut down. A new promotion started in 1996 called AWA Superstars of Wrestling claimed to have rights to the AWA World Heavyweight Championship when their AWA Superstars World Heavyweight Championship began claiming the same lineage to the original AWA title. The legality of this was in question however as World Wrestling Entertainment owns all AWA trademarks and its video library. Following a lawsuit in 2007, the new promotion was forced to be renamed to Wrestling Superstars Live and can no longer infringe upon the AWA trademarks. Larry Zbyszko was the final AWA World Heavyweight Champion.
• CWA World Heavyweight Championship (1973-2000) - Active between 1973 and 2000 in the Catch Wrestling Association, the CWA World Heavyweight Championship changed hands in four countries and three continents, with both Europeans and North Americans holding the title.
• MWA World Heavyweight Championship (1940-1948) - The top title in the Midwest Wrestling Association. It was the direct predecessor to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The title was created in January 1940 and lasted until the MWA joined the newly formed National Wrestling Alliance in October 1948. The MWA World Heavyweight Champion, Orville Brown, was then recognized as the first World Heavyweight Champion in the National Wrestling Alliance.^[2][3]
• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1929-1949) - Recognized by the National Wrestling Association, not to be confused with the National Wrestling Alliance. It was unified with the National Wrestling Alliance's World title.
• WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (1993-1994) - After severing all ties with the NWA, WCW changed the name of the NWA World heavyweight title to the WCW International World heavyweight title, declaring it to be the World heavyweight title of WCW International, one of its fictional subsidiaries. It was unified with the WCW World heavyweight title in 1994.
• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2001-2003) - The WWA World heavyweight title was the premiere title for World Wrestling All-Stars, a short-lived company that claimed World Title status due to the fact it was defended outside of its country of origin more than in it. It was unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2003.
• XPW World Heavyweight Championship (1999-2003) - The top title in Xtreme Pro Wrestling. It was established in October 1999 and retired in March 2003 when the promotion folded.

[edit] See also

• PWI's List of Wrestling World Heavyweight Title Reigns
• Championship (professional wrestling)
• List of early world heavyweight champions in professional wrestling

[edit] External links

• Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship Histories

[edit] Notes