In professional wrestling, championships are competed for in scriptedstorylines by a promotion's roster of contracted wrestlers.[1]WWE is an American-based company and is the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. The company's origins begin in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In 1963, CWC left the NWA to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which was renamed to World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 and then World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002 — since 2011, the company has promoted itself solely under the trade name of WWE.[2] In the company's 60-year history, over 40 different unique championships have been operated and contended for. These titles consisted of divisional, special stipulations, and weight-class championships. Of these titles, over 28 have been retired and succeeded through replacement titles or title unifications. The first championship retirement occurred in June 1961 with the Northeast version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship (created in February 1957). The most recent retirement occurred in June 2023 with the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship (created in March 2021). The following is a compilation of the company's former championships that were once active and contended for by its roster.
History
1953–1969
In 1953, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) became a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). During this time, CWC wrestlers could compete for championships operated by the NWA.[3] In 1957, the CWC created the NWA United States Television Championship, its first overall men's singles championship, with Johnny Valentine being the inaugural holder of the championship. The following year, the CWC created the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, which inaugural champions Mark Lewin and Don Curtis won in April of that year.[4] In 1963, CWC ended its partnership with the NWA and established itself as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).[5] To reflect the changes, the WWWF introduced its world heavyweight championship (WWE's third overall male singles championship and the current WWE Championship),[6] while the WWWF acronym was added to the United States Tag Team title. Without a formal explanation by the WWWF, although newly crowned co-holder Bruno Sammartino was also the company's World Heavyweight champion at the time, the Tag Team title was disbanded in 1967, the first championship to be retired during the WWWF years.[4] Ten years later, the company retired its first individually contested WWWF-branded title, the WWWF United States Heavyweight Championship, also without a formal explanation.[7]
WWE also acquired all assets of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2003, and implemented the ECWbrand in 2006, along with the reactivated ECW World Heavyweight Championship;[26] however, when the brand closed in 2010, the title was retired after Ezekiel Jackson became the last champion on the final episode of the ECW on Syfy series.[27] The World Tag Team Championship, established in 1971, and WWE Tag Team Championship, introduced in 2002, were unified on April 9, 2009, maintaining separate title histories as the "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship". However, on August 16, 2010, the older title was retired in favor of keeping the newer title as the sole tag team championship contended for in WWE. The champions, The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd) were awarded a new set of belts that represented the 2002 championship, and were thus recognized as the final holders of the original World Tag Team Championship.[28][29]
The original WWE Women's Championship, established in 1956, and the WWE Divas Championship, introduced in 2008, were unified on September 19, 2010, maintaining the title history of the Divas Championship. The older title was retired in favor of keeping the newer title as the sole championship contended for in WWE by the Divas. The self-professed co-Women's Champion Michelle McCool defeated Divas Champion Melina at Night of Champions to become the unified champion, thus making Layla the final holder of the Women's Championship.[30][31] On April 3, 2016, at WrestleMania 32, Divas Champion Charlotte was originally scheduled to defend her title in a triple-threat match. At the event, however, the Divas Championship was replaced with a new WWE Women's Championship, with the winner of the triple-threat match becoming the inaugural champion, thus Charlotte was the final holder of the Divas Championship.
The World Heavyweight Championship was established in 2002 as a second world championship in WWE during the time of the first brand extension. During this period, the World Heavyweight Championship would be the primary championship for either the Raw or SmackDown brand, with the WWE Championship on the other. The brand extension ended in 2011, allowing both championships to appear on both shows. On December 15, 2013, World Heavyweight Champion John Cena faced WWE Champion Randy Orton in a match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, where the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the WWE Championship as Orton defeated Cena. At the event, it was announced that the unified titles would be called the "WWE World Heavyweight Championship", retaining the lineage of the WWE Championship. WWE officially recognized Orton as the final World Heavyweight Champion and retired the title.
2016–present
In 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand extension. Shortly after, the cruiserweight division was revived and a new WWE Cruiserweight Championship was established. This newer title did not carry the lineage of the original Cruiserweight Championship that was retired in 2007. The title was originally exclusive to the Raw brand before it became exclusive to the 205 Live brand in 2018. It then also became part of NXT after 205 Live merged under NXT in October 2019. It was subsequently renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and was then extended to the NXT UK brand in January 2020. However, in January 2022, the championship was retired. At the New Year's Evil special episode of NXT 2.0 on January 4, 2022, the title was unified into the NXT North American Championship. North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defeated Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong, with Hayes recognized as the final Cruiserweight Champion and going forward as North American Champion.
In December 2016, WWE announced that they would be establishing a new United Kingdom-based brand and the first championship created for the brand was the WWE United Kingdom Championship. In June 2018, the brand was formally established as NXT UK, and the NXT UK Women's Championship and NXT UK Tag Team Championship were created at that time. In early 2020, the WWE United Kingdom Championship was renamed as the NXT United Kingdom Championship, and later that year, the NXT UK Heritage Cup was established. In August 2022, WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would be going on hiatus following the Worlds Collide event on September 4, 2022, and the brand would relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. As such, all of NXT UK's championships were unified into their respective NXT championship counterparts, except for the NXT UK Heritage Cup, which was later transferred to NXT in 2023. The NXT United Kingdom Championship, NXT UK Women's Championship, and NXT UK Tag Team Championship were unified into the NXT Championship, NXT Women's Championship, and NXT Tag Team Championship, respectively, with Tyler Bate, Meiko Satomura, and the team of Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs recognized as the final champions of each.
In May 2019, WWE introduced the WWE 24/7 Championship, a title similar to the company's former Hardcore Championship. The title had a "24/7" rule in which it could be defended anytime, anywhere, as long as a WWE referee was present. Due to this rule, it was available to all of WWE's brands and could be won by both men and women as well as non-WWE employees. After Nikki Cross won the championship on the November 7, 2022, episode of Raw, she discarded the title as trash backstage and two days later, the championship was listed as inactive on WWE.com.
In March 2021, WWE introduced the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship for the NXT brand following a controversy over the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. Prior to this, the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was available to Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, but ceased appearing on NXT after the brand established its own tag team championship. After two years, on the June 23, 2023, episode of SmackDown, the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship was unified into the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, retiring the former with the latter becoming available to NXT again.[32]
The ECW Championship (shown being held by one-time champion CM Punk) served as a third world championship in WWE from 2006 to 2010, primarily on the ECWbrand
The original WWE Cruiserweight Championship (shown being held by one-time champion Matt Hardy) was officially recognized as established in 1991 by WCW, brought to WWE in 2001 following its purchase of WCW, and remained active until 2007
The NXT Cruiserweight Championship (shown being held by two-time champion Neville when it was called the WWE Cruiserweight Championship) was active from 2016 to 2022.
The title was retired without a formal announcement by WWE. This is not the same title as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship introduced at the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, later renamed the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.[22]
The title was retired in favor of the WWE Tag Team Championship (now called the World Tag Team Championship) in April 2010, following a year of the two titles being defended together under the umbrella title of "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship".[28][29]
The title was abandoned by the WWF without a formal announcement.[16] This is not the same title as the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship announced on the December 24, 2018, episode of Raw.
After winning the title on the November 7, 2022, episode of Raw, Nikki Cross discarded the belt in a trash can backstage. Two days later, the title was listed as inactive on WWE.com.
^The title was deactivated from February 1992 to December 1995, from May 1996 to April 2010, from November 2010 to February 2021, and since August 2021.
^Michinoku was the first champion to win the championship as part of the WWF but was not the first champion in the title's history.
^Van Dam was the first champion to win the championship as part of WWE but was not the first champion in the title's history.
^The team also defended the championship under the ring names "Wildman Stevens" and "Wildman Fargo".
^The championship was defended on WWF events in Georgia after the WWF's takeover of Georgia Championship Wrestling. The championship was referred to simply as the "National Heavyweight Championship" by the WWF, though some sources erroneously list it as the "WWF National Championship".[42]
^During Dan Severn's reign, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was brought to the WWF, along with other National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) championships, as part of the 1997–1998 NWA invasion storyline. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was previously the WWF's world heavyweight championship from 1953–1963 and again from 1971–1983 during the WWF's membership in the NWA.
^The championship was defended at WWWF house shows in Buffalo, New York throughout 1974. The championship was referred to as the "NWA North American Heavyweight Championship" by the WWWF, though some sources erroneously list it as the "WWF North American Heavyweight Championship".[47]
^The World Wide Wrestling Association (WWWA) was a parallel promotion ran in conjunction with the-then World Wide Wrestling Federation by Vincent J. McMahon, Toots Mondt, and Ohio promoter Larry Atkins.[48]
^The championship was originally introduced as the WWWA American Tag Team Championship. The championship was defended on WWWF house shows in Ohio before being replaced by the WWWF World Tag Team Championship.[48]
A:ab – The title was officially abandoned by the WWF in 1989, though the physical belt was revived by NJPW to represent its Greatest 18 Club Championship, that championship was discontinued by NJPW in 1992.[13]
B:abc – This is the date the WWF acquired WCW, in which WCW's assets were also acquired by WWF, including its titles.[19]
D:a – This is the date the WWF began operating the title in the United States; the championship had been active since March 26, 1981 being used by the WWF's partners the UWA and NJPW.[9]
E:a – This is the date WWE launched the ECW program, during which Rob Van Dam was awarded the title as a result of winning the WWE Championship on June 11, 2006.
F:a - This is the date upon which WWE consolidated the unification of both its tag team championships, and continued to recognize only one championship to be contended in its tag team division.
^ ab"Antonio Rocca". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-01. Before it was ever known as WWE, the World Wrestling Federation, or even the World Wide Wrestling Federation, Antonino Rocca was the top Superstar in the company.
^Milner, John. "Ted DiBiase Biography". SLAM! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2009-03-08. If he couldn't win the WWE Championship and he couldn't buy the WWE Championship, Dibiase decided to purchase his own championship, introducing "the Million Dollar Belt" to the WWE. The title was never official and rarely did Dibiase even bother "defending" the title.
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