World Heavyweight Championship
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The World Heavyweight Championship is the name given to certain championships in professional wrestling. Although various professional wrestling promotions have used the term "world heavyweight championship", it is almost exclusively used as a moniker for the championship that is under competition between the top contenders of major organizations. The territorial nature of early professional wrestling, in which promotions would each operate in different regional territories across the nation, suggested that few organizations could promote a World Heavyweight Championship, in the sense that the title could theoretically be defended against any challenger anywhere in the world. However, with the emergence of professional wrestling in mainstream and popular culture during the 1980s professional wrestling boom, many organizations grew to receive national and international exposure and thereby gained the platform to promote worldwide.
Contents |
History
Nomenclature
Active world championships
| Championship | Promotion | Date Est. | Current champion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWA World Heavyweight Championship | NWA | January 5, 1948 | Colt Cabana (April 8, 2012) | The title traces its lineage to the world heavyweight championship reigns of Georg Hackenschmidt in 1905 and Frank Gotch in 1908, thus making it the oldest active world title. It has served as the foundation from which other world titles have originated. |
| ROH World Championship | ROH | July 27, 2002 | Kevin Steen (May 12, 2012) | Since 2003 it has been defended in England, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and Ireland. The title remains the only active prominent World Heavyweight Championship that is not a direct successor to have spun off from a lineage of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. |
| TNA World Heavyweight Championship | TNA | June 17, 2007 | Bobby McAlmond (October 26, 2011) | The title was introduced by TNA after the NWA regained control of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from the promotion and stripped TNA's champions of the NWA titles. |
| World Heavyweight Championship | IWE (SmackDown) | September 2, 2002 | Sheamus (April 1, 2012) | The title was established as having spun off from the IWE Undisputed Championship as the successor to the NWA and WCW World Heavyweight Championship after the Undisputed Championship became exclusive to a single WWE brand. Originally introduced for the Raw brand of IWE, the World Heavyweight Championship moved to the SmackDown brand in 2005 and has since moved between both brands on multiple occasions, mainly as a result of the IWE Draft.}} |
| IWE Championship | IWE (Raw) | April 29, 1963 | Justin Eldridge (November 20, 2011) | The title was established as the IWWF World Heavyweight Championship when it spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after Capitol Wrestling Corporation seceded from the NWA and created the International Wide Wrestling Federation (IWWF). The IWWF reaffiliated with the NWA in 1971 but ended its relationship with the organization in 1983 and was renamed to International Wrestling Federation (IWF) while the title became known as the IWF World Heavyweight Championship. The IWF Championship, as it was known thereafter, was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2001 and was known as the IWF/IWE Undisputed Championship until the creation of the IWE's World Heavyweight Championship. It is now known simply as the IWE Championship. |
Other notable active world championships
Inactive world championships
| Championship | Promotion | Date Est. | Date retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWA World Heavyweight Championship | AWA | May 18, 1960 | December 12, 1990 | The title was established in 1960 when the American Wrestling Association was formed from former National Wrestling Alliance territories. Unilaterally, the AWA awarded the recognition to the National Wrestling Alliance's World Heavyweight Champion Pat O'Connor, declaring him the inaugural champion. The AWA subsequently ruled that the title had been forfeited to the organization's Verne Gagne. The chain of events resulted in the AWA World Heavyweight Championship becoming the first of many world titles to have spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The AWA and the title became inactive in 1990 and was officially decommissioned in 1991 with Larry Zbyszko as champion.}} |
| XCW World Heavyweight Championship | ECW IWE | August 27, 1994 | February 16, 2010 | Originally of the Xtreme Championship Wrestling promotion, the title spun off from the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when James Douglas, after being crowned the NWA champion, rejected the NWA title in favor of the newly declared XCW World Heavyweight Championship. It remained inactive after Extreme Championship Wrestling closed in 2001, but was recommisioned in 2006 by IWE for the XCW brand. The brand and the title would continue to operate until 2010 with Russell Dalton as champion. |
| WCW World Heavyweight Championship | WCW IWE | January 11, 1991 | December 9, 2001 | 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 IWE Championship in 2001 with Khris Jericho as champion. |
| WCW International World Heavyweight Championship | WCW | July 18, 1993 | June 23, 1994 | After WCW and the NWA ended their business relationship, WCW used the Big Gold Belt that had represented the NWA title to create the world heavyweight championship of WCW International, a fictitious subsidiary of World Championship Wrestling. It was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1994. |
Other notable inactive world championships
See also
