WWE Championship

The **WWE Championship** is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, currently defended on the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles for WWE's main roster, alongside the WWE Universal Championship on SmackDown. The current champion is Brock Lesnar, who is in his sixth reign.

 Promotion
 Current champion(s)
 * WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1963–1971)
* WWWF Heavyweight Championship (1971–1979)
* WWF Heavyweight Championship (1979–1983)
* WWF World Heavyweight Championship (1983–1989)
* WWF Championship (1989–2001)
* Undisputed WWF Championship (2001–2002)
* Undisputed WWE Championship (2002)
* WWE Undisputed Championship (2002)
* **WWE Championship**(2002–2013, 2016–present)
* WWE World Heavyweight Championship (2013–2016)

 Longest reign
 Shortest reign
 Oldest champion
 Youngest champion
 Heaviest champion
 Lightest champion

The original world championship of the promotion, it was established by the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation(WWWF) on April 25, 1963, as the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, after the promotion seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). 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 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. In professional wrestling in general, it is considered to be one of the most prestigious championships of all time.

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 split in 2002 and the promotion being renamed to 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 Championship. That title was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified into the WWE Championship in 2013. The championship was again the sole world title of WWE until the introduction of the Universal Championship with the 2016 brand split. During both brand splits, the WWE Championship has switched brands, usually as a result of the WWE Draft; in 2019, the title moved to Raw after reigning champion Brock Lesnar quit SmackDown following the events of Crown Jewel.

## Reigns

Main article: List of WWE Champions

Six-time and current champion Brock Lesnar

The WWE Championship was the first world championship introduced into the promotion in 1963. The inaugural champion was Buddy Rogers, and there have been 54 different official champions overall and 11 vacancies.The longest reigning champion is Bruno Sammartino, who held the title from May 17, 1963, to January 18, 1971, for a total of 2,803 days (7 years, 8 months, and 1 day); Sammartino also holds the record for longest combined reign at 4,040 days. André the Giant is the shortest reigning champion, officially holding the title for 1 minute, 48 seconds. The youngest champion is Brock Lesnar, who won the title at the age of 25, while the oldest champion is Mr. McMahon, who won it at the age of 54. John Cena holds the record for most reigns with 13.

Brock Lesnar is the current champion in his sixth reign. He won the title by defeating previous champion Big in a Winner Takes All match for both the WWE Championship and Universal Championship, which Reigns defended, on April 3, 2022, at WrestleMania 38 Night 2 in Arlington, Texas.