World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)

World Heavyweight Championship
Three-time Champion CM Punk
Details
Promotion	WWE
Date established	September 2, 2002
Date retired	December 15, 2013 (unified with the WWE Championship)
Statistics First champion(s) Triple H Final champion(s) Randy Orton Most reigns Edge (7 reigns) Longest reign Batista (282 days)[a 1] Shortest reign Randy Orton (1 minutes)[a 2] Oldest winner The Undertaker (44 years, 334 days) Youngest winner Randy Orton (24 years, 136 days) Heaviest champion Big Show (441 lb (200 kg)) Lightest champion Rey Mysterio (175 lb (79 kg))

The World Heavyweight Championship was one of the top professional wrestling championships in WWE, along with the WWE Championship. It was created on Raw to match SmackDown's WWE Championship in August 2002. Some of the past champions include Edge, Triple H, The Undertaker, Booker T, Batista, and Kurt Angle.

The World Heavyweight Championship was brought to Raw by then-General Manager Eric Bischoff after WWE Champion Brock Lesnar became exclusive to SmackDown. Bischoff awarded the championship to Triple H, but he had to defend it against his then-best friend, Ric Flair. Triple H was successful and has held the championship on five different occasions. Other holders of this prestigious championship include John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and more.

The last champion was Randy Orton. He beat then-champion John Cena on December 15, 2013 at TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs. He was already WWE Champion when he won the championship and unified the World Heavyweight Championship with the WWE Championship to make the "WWE World Heavyweight Championship".^[1] The World Heavyweight Championship was retired the next day.^[2]

In 2023, a new World Heavyweight Championship was made, but it does not continue the history of the old title.^[3]
Cite error: There are <ref group=a> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=a}} template (see the help page).

1. ↑ "WWE Champion Randy Orton def. World Heavyweight Champion John Cena (Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match)". WWE. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
2. ↑ "Retired championships". WWE. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2013-12-19.
3. ↑ "World Heavyweight Championship". WWE. Retrieved 2024-12-07.