Origin . His first reign is the longest at over seven years (2,803 days) and he has the longest combined reign (4,040 days); he is pictured here in his second reign (1973–1982 belt design) when the title was known as the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. The title was introduced in 1963 with
Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. Its backstory began in the
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member
professional wrestling promotions. In the 1950s,
Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, its executives held a controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when
Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship in a one-fall match. Claiming the title can only be contested in a traditional two-out-of-three falls match, CWC disputed the title change, and thus seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in
Rio de Janeiro, supposedly defeating
Antonino Rocca in the finals. After several years, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA once again; one of the caveats of rejoining is that the championship would no longer be recognized as a "world championship", and only as a regional heavyweight championship. In 1979, the WWWF was renamed
World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and then after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the title regained its "world championship" status and was renamed the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Although the full name appeared on the championship belts until 1998, the name was often abbreviated to WWF Championship, which became its official name in 1998.
Monday Night War and unification In 1991,
World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a member of the NWA, established the
WCW World Heavyweight Championship to replace the NWA's world title. In 1993, WCW seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the WWF. Both organizations grew into mainstream prominence and were eventually involved in a
Nielsen ratings war, dubbed the "
Monday Night War". Near the end of the ratings war, WCW began a financial decline, which culminated in WWF
purchasing WCW in March 2001. As a result of the purchase, the WWF acquired, among other assets, WCW's championships. Thus, there were two world titles in the WWF: the original WWF Championship and the WCW Championship, which was eventually renamed the "World Championship". shown holding the
WCW Championship in his right hand, and the WWF Championship. Together, these two titles were used in tandem to represent the
Undisputed WWF Championship from December 9, 2001, to April 1, 2002. In December 2001, the two championships were
unified at
Vengeance. At the event,
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated
Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Championship, while
Chris Jericho defeated
The Rock for the World Championship. After this, Jericho then defeated Austin, unifying the WWF and World Championships, and becoming the first Undisputed WWF Championship; the Undisputed championship retained the lineage of the WWF Championship and the World Championship was retired. Subsequently, the Big Eagle Belt (formerly representing the WWF Championship) and the
Big Gold Belt (formerly representing the World Championship) were used in tandem to represent the
Undisputed Championship. Jericho held the championship for four months until he lost it at
WrestleMania X8 against
Triple H, who was soon after presented with a single championship belt. The holder of the Undisputed Championship was the only male wrestler allowed to appear on both shows. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the championships were renamed accordingly. At first, the championship remained unaffiliated with either brand as wrestlers from both brands could challenge the champion. Following the appointment of
Eric Bischoff and
Stephanie McMahon as
General Managers of
Raw and
SmackDown, respectively, Stephanie McMahon convinced then-Undisputed Champion
Brock Lesnar to become exclusive to the SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. On September 2, Bischoff disputed Lesnar's status as champion, stating Lesnar was refusing to defend his title against the designated No. 1 contender, Triple H, and awarded the latter with the newly created
World Heavyweight Championship. Immediately afterward, Lesnar's championship dropped the epithet "Undisputed" and became known as the WWE Championship. Over the course of the first brand split, the WWE Championship was used as the world title of the SmackDown brand twice and of the Raw brand three times. In all but two cases, the WWE Championship switched brands as a result of the annual
WWE draft. In June 2006, WWE established
ECW as a third brand, on which former
Extreme Championship Wrestling stars and newer talent competed. When ECW's
Rob Van Dam won the WWE Championship at
ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, the championship briefly became a world title of the ECW brand; the
ECW World Heavyweight Championship was subsequently reactivated for the ECW brand upon Van Dam's title win. Van Dam held both titles until he lost the WWE Championship to Raw's
Edge the following month. The ECW brand was disbanded in 2010, subsequently deactivating the ECW Championship. In April 2011, WWE ceased going by its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an
orphaned initialism, and the first brand split ended that August. Just prior to the end of the first brand split, a
storyline saw
CM Punk vowing to leave the company with the WWE Championship when his contract expired on July 17, 2011, the date of the
2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view. At the event, Punk succeeded in defeating the defending champion
John Cena to win the title, and left the company with the physical championship belt. Subsequently, the championship was vacated and
Rey Mysterio won an eight-man tournament by defeating
The Miz in the finals to be crowned the new WWE Champion, only to subsequently lose it later that night to Cena, for the latter's record ninth reign. Punk then returned to WWE with his own championship belt, disputing Cena's claim to the title. The two WWE Champions wrestled each other at
SummerSlam in what was billed as a match for the "Undisputed WWE Championship"; Punk defeated Cena (the
de facto interim champion) to solidify his claim on the title, but
Alberto Del Rio immediately cashed in his
Money in the Bank contract to capture the undisputed championship.
Reunification and second brand split , shown with the 2013–2014 version of the WWE Championship belt (in his right hand) and the
World Heavyweight Championship, which were used in tandem to represent the
WWE World Heavyweight Championship from December 2013 to August 2014 Following the end of the first brand split in August 2011, both the WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion could appear on both
Raw and
SmackDown. In November 2013, the night after
Survivor Series, reigning World Heavyweight Champion John Cena made a challenge to reigning WWE Champion
Randy Orton to determine WWE's undisputed world champion. Orton defeated Cena in a
TLC match at the
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on December 15, 2013, to unify the titles. Subsequently, the unified championship was renamed WWE World Heavyweight Championship and retained the lineage of the WWE Championship; the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. Orton and subsequent champions held both championship belts until a single championship belt was given to reigning champion Brock Lesnar in August 2014. In light of the return of the brand split the following month, Ambrose was moved to SmackDown as part of the
2016 WWE Draft. Ambrose then retained his title at
Battleground on July 24 against Raw draftees
Seth Rollins and
Roman Reigns, making the title exclusive to SmackDown. On the July 25 episode of
Raw, to address the lack of a world title for the brand, the
WWE Universal Championship was created;
Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at
SummerSlam. After the unveiling of the Universal title, the WWE Championship was renamed WWE World Championship, but reverted to WWE Championship in December 2016 during
AJ Styles' first reign. The title changed hands for the first time outside of North America when AJ Styles defeated
Jinder Mahal to win his second WWE Championship in
Manchester, England on the November 7, 2017, episode of
SmackDown. This was also the first time in nearly 15 years that the championship changed hands on an episode of
SmackDown; the last time was in 2003 when Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle for the title. At
Crown Jewel on October 31, 2019, SmackDown wrestler
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt won the Universal Championship, thus transferring the title to SmackDown. Also at that event, after reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar had defeated
Cain Velasquez to retain the title, he was attacked by Raw's
Rey Mysterio, who Lesnar had attacked a few weeks prior. The following night on
Friday Night SmackDown, Lesnar quit SmackDown and went to Raw to continue his feud with Mysterio, thus transferring the WWE Championship to Raw.
Universal Championship coexistence with the Undisputed WWE Championship belt (2023–present), which originally represented both the WWE and
Universal Championships as the
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. After Reigns lost the title to
Cody Rhodes in April 2024, the Universal Championship was officially retired, and the belt now solely represents the WWE Championship. At
WrestleMania 38 Night 2 on April 3, 2022, SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in a
Winner Takes All match to claim both world championships and then become recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. WWE promoted Reigns as a double champion, defending both titles together across both brands as the
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. On the April 24, 2023, episode of
Raw, WWE Chief Content Officer
Triple H announced that regardless of what brand Reigns was drafted to in the
2023 WWE Draft, he and his undisputed championship would become exclusive to that brand. Triple H subsequently unveiled a
new World Heavyweight Championship for the opposing brand, which was won by Seth Rollins at
Night of Champions. As Reigns was drafted to SmackDown, the World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to Raw. On the June 2, 2023, episode of
SmackDown, Triple H presented Reigns with a new singular championship belt to represent the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Amidst confusion of the lineages,
Fightful reported that WWE confirmed to them that the two championships were still in fact separate lineages, represented by one belt. This was also represented on
WWE.com, with both Reigns and
Cody Rhodes, who defeated Reigns at
WrestleMania XL, being listed as champions of both individual titles; however, after Rhodes defeated Reigns, the title began to be referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship. The following year, after John Cena defeated Rhodes at
WrestleMania 41, the Universal Championship's lineage was amended, retiring the title with Reigns recognized as its final champion. Reflecting the combined lineage of the WWE and Universal titles and for marketing purposes, the WWE Championship continues to be referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship. == Brand designation history ==