Claim: John Cena has won a title.

The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the SmackDown brand . It is one of two world titles in the WWE , alongside the WWE Universal Championship that was created for the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft . The title is currently held by Jinder Mahal , who is in his first reign .   The original world championship of the promotion , it was established by the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation -LRB- WWWF -RRB- on April 25 , 1963 as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship , following the promotion seceding from the National Wrestling Alliance -LRB- NWA -RRB- . The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers . Since its inception , the title has undergone many name changes due to company name changes and title unifications . It is the oldest championship currently active in the WWE , and is presented as being the promotion 's most prestigious title , with many matches for the title having headlined pay-per-view events -- including WWE 's flagship event WrestleMania .   From its inception until 2001 , it was promoted as WWE 's sole primary championship . An additional world title , the WCW Championship , was added after the then-World Wrestling Federation 's purchase of World Championship Wrestling in early 2001 . The titles were later unified as the Undisputed Championship . After the first brand extension in 2002 and the promotion becoming the WWE , the championship became exclusive to SmackDown , and the World Heavyweight Championship was created for Raw . ECW became a third brand in 2006 , adding the ECW World Heavyweight Championship . Over the course of the first brand extension , the WWE Championship switched between brands , usually as a result of the annual draft . The ECW Championship was deactivated in 2010 , and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship in 2013 . The championship was again the sole world title of WWE until the reintroduction of the brand extension in 2016 .