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List of World Heavyweight Champions (WWE, 2002–2013)

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The Undertaker, shown here in his second reign, is a 3-time and current World Heavyweight Champion.

The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It is the world title of the SmackDown brand and one of three in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship and ECW Championship.

The World Heavyweight Championship was established by WWE in 2002 after WWE had bought out World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the bankrupt Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and split its roster into two franchises, Raw and SmackDown, in a brand extension. As a result of this, WWE's original world title, the WWE Championship (then known as the Undisputed Championship), was exclusively assigned to the SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. Soon afterward, a new World Heavyweight Championship was introduced to the Raw brand by former WCW President and then-General Manager of the Raw brand Eric Bischoff. The title has switched programs on five occasions. The first occurred in 2005 when then-champion Batista was drafted to the SmackDown brand with the title. Then in 2008, SmackDown's Edge was defeated for the title by Raw's CM Punk, thus moving the championship to Raw, but a year later in 2009, Edge won the title in an Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out, which returned the title to SmackDown. Then at WrestleMania XXV, Raw's John Cena defeated Edge and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match for the championship, but less than a month later, the title returned to SmackDown once again when Edge defeated John Cena at Backlash. As affirmed by WWE, the World Heavyweight Championship is not a continuation of the WCW or NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but rather a successor to both titles after indirectly having spun-off from the WCW Championship, by way of the WWE Undisputed Championship, just as the WCW Championship spun-off from and succeeded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. For a list of champions who have held those titles, see List of WCW World Heavyweight Champions and List of NWA World Heavyweight Champions respectively.

World Heavyweight Championship reigns are determined either by professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines or were awarded the title due to scripted circumstances. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches for the championship. The inaugural champion was Triple H, who was awarded the title by Bischoff in September 2002, while as of December 2024, The Undertaker is the champion in his third. Overall, there have been 34 reigns with Triple H and Edge holding the most reigns at five each.

Title history

# Order of reigns in history.
Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed.
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
+ Indicates the current reign is changing daily.
# Wrestlers Reign Date Days
held 		Location Event Notes Ref
1 Triple H 1 September 2, 2002 76 Milwaukee, WI Raw Triple H was awarded the championship by the on-screen General Manager Eric Bischoff, making him the inaugural champion in the process. Triple H defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Kane on October 20, 2002 at No Mercy to unify the Intercontinental Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship.
2 Shawn Michaels 1 November 17, 2002 28 New York, NY Survivor Series (2002) This was the first ever Elimination Chamber match.
3 Triple H 2 December 15, 2002 280 Sunrise, FL Armageddon (2002)
4 Goldberg 1 September 21, 2003 84 Hershey, PA Unforgiven (2003)
5 Triple H 3 December 14, 2003 91 Orlando, FL Armageddon (2003)
6 Chris Benoit 1 March 14, 2004 154 New York, NY WrestleMania XX
7 Randy Orton 1 August 15, 2004 28 Toronto, ON SummerSlam (2004)
8 Triple H 4 September 12, 2004 85 Portland, OR Unforgiven (2004)
— Vacated — December 6, 2004 0 Charlotte, NC Raw The championship was vacated after a double fall occurred in a Triple Threat match involving Triple H, Edge, and Chris Benoit.
9 Triple H 5 January 9, 2005 84 San Juan, PR New Year's Revolution (2005) Triple H defeated Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Batista, and Edge in an Elimination Chamber match with Shawn Michaels as Special Guest Referee to win the vacant championship.
10 Batista 1 April 3, 2005 282 Los Angeles, CA WrestleMania 21 Batista was drafted to the Smackdown! brand as the final pick in June 30, 2005, making the title SmackDown! exclusive.
— Vacated — January 10, 2006 0 Philadelphia, PA SmackDown! Batista vacated the title after he was sidelined with a legitimate triceps injury. This episode aired on tape delay on January 13, 2006.
11 Kurt Angle 1 January 10, 2006 82 Philadelphia, PA SmackDown! Angle won the vacant championship in a 20 man battle royal. This episode aired on tape delay on January 13, 2006
12 Rey Mysterio 1 April 2, 2006 112 Rosemont, IL WrestleMania 22 This was a Triple Threat match also involving Randy Orton.
13 King Booker 1 July 23, 2006 126 Indianapolis, IN The Great American Bash (2006)
14 Batista 2 November 26, 2006 126 Philadelphia, PA Survivor Series (2006)
15 The Undertaker 1 April 1, 2007 37 Detroit, MI WrestleMania 23
16 Edge 1 May 8, 2007 70 Philadelphia, PA SmackDown! Edge traded in his Money in the Bank contract to earn the right to challenge for the title. This episode aired on tape delay on May 11, 2007.
— Vacated — July 17, 2007 0 Laredo, TX SmackDown! Edge vacated the title after he was sidelined with a legitimate pectoral injury. This episode aired on tape delay on July 20, 2007.
17 The Great Khali 1 July 17, 2007 61 Laredo, TX SmackDown! Khali won the vacant championship in a 20 man battle royal. This episode aired on tape delay on July 20, 2007.
18 Batista 3 September 16, 2007 91 Memphis, TN Unforgiven (2007) This was a Triple Threat match also involving Rey Mysterio.
19 Edge 2 December 16, 2007 105 Pittsburgh, PA Armageddon (2007) This was a Triple Threat match also involving The Undertaker.
20 The Undertaker 2 March 30, 2008 30 Orlando, FL WrestleMania XXIV
— Vacated — April 29, 2008 0 Atlantic City, NJ SmackDown! Smackdown's authority figure Vickie Guerrero ordered The Undertaker to relinquish the title because of the danger that his gogoplata choke hold caused. This episode aired on tape delay on May 2, 2008.
21 Edge 3 June 1, 2008 29 San Diego, CA One Night Stand (2008) Edge defeated The Undertaker in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to win the vacant title.
22 CM Punk 1 June 30, 2008 69 Oklahoma City, OK Raw Punk traded in his Money in the Bank contract in order to challenge for the title. CM Punk was a part of the Raw brand, thus making the title Raw-exclusive again.
23 Chris Jericho 1 September 7, 2008 49 Cleveland, OH Unforgiven (2008) Originally, CM Punk was to defend his title in a Championship Scramble match, but he was replaced by Jericho, who won the match and championship as a result of Punk sustaining a scripted injury.
24 Batista 4 October 26, 2008 8 Phoenix, AZ Cyber Sunday (2008)
25 Chris Jericho 2 November 3, 2008 20 Tampa, FL Raw
26 John Cena 1 November 23, 2008 84 Boston, MA Survivor Series (2008)
27 Edge 4 February 15, 2009 49 Seattle, WA No Way Out (2009) The title becomes SmackDown! exclusive as a result of Edge being a part of the Smackdown! roster.
28 John Cena 2 April 5, 2009 21 Houston, TX WrestleMania XXV This was a Triple Threat match also involving The Big Show. Becomes exclusive to the Raw brand once again due to John Cena being a Raw brand wrestler.
29 Edge 5 April 26, 2009 42 Providence, RI Backlash (2009) The championship becomes exclusive to the SmackDown brand due to Edge being a SmackDown wrestler.
30 Jeff Hardy 1 June 7, 2009 0 New Orleans, LA Extreme Rules
31 CM Punk 2 June 7, 2009 49 New Orleans, LA Extreme Rules Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract immediately after Hardy's victory to win the championship.
32 Jeff Hardy 2 July 26, 2009 28 Philadelphia, PA Night of Champions (2009)
33 CM Punk 3 August 23, 2009 42 Los Angeles, CA SummerSlam (2009)
34 The Undertaker 3 October 4, 2009 5,562+ Newark, NJ Hell in a Cell This was a Hell in a Cell match, first title to ever change hands in the match type.

List of combined reigns

† Indicates the current champion
Rank
 Wrestler # of
reigns 		Combined
days
1 Triple H 5 616
2 Batista 4 507
3 Edge 5 295
4 CM Punk 3 160
5 Chris Benoit 1 154
6 King Booker 1 126
7 Rey Mysterio 1 112
8 John Cena 2 105
9 Goldberg 1 84
9 The Undertaker† 3 5629+
11 Kurt Angle 1 82
12 Chris Jericho 2 69
13 The Great Khali 1 61
14 Shawn Michaels 1 28
14 Randy Orton 1 28
14 Jeff Hardy 2 28

Notes

1. – Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the exact same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.

References

General
Specific
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External links

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