World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)

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". The World Heavyweight Championship was retired the next day.

In 2023, a new World Heavyweight Championship was made, but it does not continue the history of the old title.

Reigns

 Footnotes 

 References 

 Other websites 
WWE World Heavyweight Title History

Category:World Wrestling Entertainment championships
Category:2002 establishments
Category:2013 disestablishments