WWE Championship

The WWE Championship was first introduced on the first episode of Smackdown, where it was decided in a six man Hell in a Cell match, featuring The Rock, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler, which Orton won. It is the current world championship on Smackdown.

## History

The WWE Title debuted as the world title of SmackDown on the first episode of SmackDown. The Viper Randy Orton became the first WWE Champion but lost the belt one week later to The Rock. The Rock would lose the belt back to Orton in Orton's rematch at Judgment Day. After the match, Orton declared that the Age of Orton had begun on SmackDown. Orton would engage in a war with Batista, defeating the Animal at King of the Ring and on SmackDown, in a Last Man Standing Match. After Cesaro became the new King of the Ring, he went on to beat Orton for the belt at Summerslam. Cesaro's reign wouldn't last long, as he lost in his first defense to the Phenomenal One, AJ Styles at No Mercy.

AJ formed a brief alliance with Orton to keep Cesaro out of the title picture, though it back-fired on the champion as Cesaro and his partner, Tyson Kidd would make it a fatal-four-way match at Survivor Series. At the event, Kidd would win his first world title, submitting Styles with a Dungeon Lock as Cesaro and Orton brawled on the outside. After engaging in a war of words, Kidd and Styles would meet in a rematch at Armageddon, where Kidd emerged victorious again. Tyler Breeze won a six-man ladder match to gain number one contendership at the final SmackDown of 2016. In the Slammy Award-winning Moment and Match of the Year, Breeze shocked everyone by defeating Kidd with an Unprettier to claim the title.

Prince Pretty was a fairly unsuccessful champion, as he lost the belt in his first defense at Royal Rumble, in a triple threat match where AJ Styles pinned Tyson Kidd. Styles would make his first defense at Elimination Chamber, where he defeated The Rock with help from Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. With The Club behind him, Styles defeated Shawn Michaels in a dream match at WrestleMania, proving himself to be one of the best. AJ's next challenger would be Brock Lesnar, who defeated Cesaro and Roman Reigns to earn the opportunity. Styles and Lesnar would square off at Backlash, and in a bit of a shocker, the champion retained. AJ would be staring down the barrel of a loaded gun one month later at Money in the Bank, when the vengeful Triple H returned, after sustaining a nasty neck injury at the hands of Styles. Despite giving everything he had, "The Game" could not capture the WWE Championship, and has not been seen since. The Club would soon face a new challenge in the likes of sadistic Wyatt Family. The two near unstoppable forces would collide in a match at Battleground  where the WWE and SmackDown Tag Team Championships were on the line. They needed a cheap shot with a chair to do it, but The Club would completely take over SmackDown, winning all the gold. Earlier in the show, John Cena defeated Kenny Omega and Cesaro took out Roman Reigns in a grudge match, and the two men would be named dual number one contenders. At Summerslam, Cena would win his first world championship in Universe Mode, putting "The Swiss Superman" down with an AA.

After John Cena and AJ Styles put on a classic at No Mercy which saw Cena retain his title, his next challenger was Bray Wyatt, who tormented Cena for weeks on SmackDown Live. Cena retained again at Halloween Havoc , setting up a clash with former champion Cesaro at Survivor Series . But before the match could happen, Drew McIntyre attacked both men, helping his new friend Tyler Breeze become the first man to successfully cash in Money in the Bank on Cena to become the new champion. After successful championship defenses against Cesaro at Armageddon and John Cena at the Royal Rumble , Elimination Chamber saw Brock Lesnar become the next number one contender. Breeze did not want to face "The Beast" one on one, and managed to get McIntyre added to the match. This plan backfired, as the "Scottish Pyschopath" pinned Breeze with a Future Shock DDT to become champion at WrestleMania .

Drew McIntyre faced down many challengers, and proved his dominance in the ring, time and time again. He defeated Samoa Joe at Backlash  and Brock Lesnar at Judgment Day , two of the most feared competitors in all of Henry's Universe Mode. Drew destroyed Bobby Roode at Money in the Bank , and even the returning legend Rey Mysterio could offer little resistance at Batttleground . But McIntyre's greatest challenge awaited at Summerslam , as he faced Daniel Bryan in a testing battle, but left with the championship still in his possesion. Sami Zayn would betray his friend Kevin Owens to get a shot at the championship, but Owens would return the favor, allowing McIntyre to defeat Zayn at Clash of Champions . And now, Daniel Bryan was back, and determined to win the world title in his last chance. In Bryan's home state of Washington, "The American Dragon" finally ended McIntyre's incredible reign at Halloween Havoc .

Daniel Bryan would begin his reign as champion facing Kevin Owens at Survivor Series , but we would not get a clean match, as Sami Zayn returned to brawl with Kevin Owens and end the match in chaos. Bryan was more upset than anyone that he didn't get to retain his title in a decisive fashion, and demanded a triple threat match with both Owens and Zayn. But this decision would cost him at Starrcade, as Owens took Bryan out of the match, before pinning Zayn to win his first world title. After such a long road to capture the championship, it was a devastating blow for Bryan. He would face Owens in a singles match at Royal Rumble, but came up short there. Zayn would win the 30-Man Rumble match later on that night, leading Owens to take drastic action to protect his title, injuring his former best friend on SmackDown. As punishment, he was forced to defend his title in a fatal four-way match against AJ Styles, John Cena and Samoa Joe, but managed to escape that match at Fastlane with his title reign intact. But following the match, he would set upon by a returning Zayn, who wasn't medically cleared to compete but didn't care. This led to a No Holds Barred match in the main event of WrestleMania III, where Sami vanquished his demons, defeating Owens and winning his first world title.

After the last couple title reigns, which were more brief and didn't include tons of title defenses, Sami Zayn's would be the one that lasted. Zayn toppled Samoa Joe at Judgment Day, an incredible accomplishment with Joe on an absolute tear at the time. But his next challenge would be even greater, as after Daniel Bryan and John Cena fought to a draw, both former champions were gunning for the title. Zayn formed a brief alliance with Bryan, but at Money in the Bank, ended that partnership by utilizing a chair to pin Bryan and keep his belt. After two tough title matches, it seemed that, at least on paper, Zayn's next title defense would be much easier. Johnny Gargano had become number one contender, and galvanized by watching former parnter Tommaso Ciampa become NXT Champion at Takeover: New Orleans, was now determined to become "Johnny Champion". But even despite putting forth a tremendous effort, Gargano came up short to Zayn at The Bash in a Match of the Year candidate. Earlier at that event, Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena in an Iron Man match to become number one contender. Bryan and Zayn had had plenty of run-ins in the past, and would now face off in singles action at Summerslam. It was another great match, but ended in frightening fashion, with Sami forcing a ref stoppage by repeatedly striking Bryan in the head. With the crowd turning against him, Zayn was quickly on the receiving end of karmic justice, when CM Punk made his return to Universe Mode!

Now a heel, Zayn would face the newly returned Punk on the September 24th edition of SmackDown, only for The Undertaker to interfere, attacking both men and making his intentions known. In a number one contender's match, Zayn attacked 'Taker, causing Punk to be disqualified. This led to Sami vs Undertaker in a title match at Halloween Havoc, where the champion cheated his way to another title retention. Now, finally, we could get Zayn vs Punk in a clean match. At Survivor Series, worn down after so many incredible title defenses and close calls throughout the year, Sami fell to Punk in another absolute classic. But there would be no time for celebration for the "Straight Edge Savior", as Bobby Roode cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to become champion, right near his hometown!