This title begins with the debut year of 1963 and is the original WWWF
World Heavyweight Championship. This title's history is one of the most
illustrious in the world. Over the decades, the title has changed orientation
many times; from becoming a regional title when the WWWF rejoined the National
Wrestling Alliance to being changed to the WWF Title, turning to the "Undisputed"
World Title and, eventually, ending up holding the title it holds today.
For now, the defences will be listed year by year. You can find a listing
of
decades
on the next
page,
which will lead you to a yearly hyperlink.
World
Wrestling Entertainment Heavyweight Title
The most prestigious title of it's kind in the world today, with, perhaps,
1 possible exception. The Cruiserweight Title surfaced in WCW yet never
became a part of the famous J-Crown Championship, although 2 J-Crown Champions
held the WCW Title at one point, while at least 1 other champion had shots
at the WCW Title. In fact, this title has been fought over, by many of the
modern legends: Rey Misterio Jr., Ultimo Dragon, Jushin Thunder Liger etc.
The title became intellectual property of WWF after the purchase of WCW,
and is still active on WWE Smackdown! programming. Click the next link to
see a list of different eras of the title.
World Wrestling Entertainment World Cruiserweight Title
The introduction of the new Tag Team Title to Smackdown! came after the
roster split in October 2002. A tournament was held with many great teams
competing. It all culminated with Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs. Rey
Misterio Jr. & Edge, which turned out to be the greatest match in 2002,
in WWE, at least. This match set the precedence for the title and set aside
any doubts in peoples' minds that the title held no significant claim. In
fact, many people rate this title higher than the original WWWFE "World" Tag
Titles, featured on RAW programming. Click the next hyperlink to find
the complete listing for the title, to be updated monthly.
World Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team Title
RAW
This title, WWE has claimed, holds lineage to the "World Title",
last held by Chris Jericho, which he unified with the WWF World
Title in December 2001. That was the successor of the WCW World
Title, which was renamed after the defeat of WCW in November of
the same year. The WCW Title also claimed to be associated,
lineage-wise, to the NWA World Heavyweight Title, dating back to
the early 1940's. That title also has claims to the Undisputed World
Title, first held by Georges Hackenschmidt in 1905. In effect, WWE
is claiming this title dates back to the very first World Champion,
when, in fact, they just disputed the claim held by the Smackdown!
brand's title, which had this title unified into it. The title was
awarded to then No. 1 contender, Triple H, and the lineage starts
from there. There is no reason, other than WWE billing it as such,
to connect this title to the "World Title", or any other
title further back along the supposed lineage. Click on
the next hyperlink to find a complete title defence list for the
title, which will be updated monthly.
World
Wrestling Entertainment Raw World Heavyweight Title
The WWWFE Women's World Title has had an interesting history. Fabulous
Moolah, desperate to be recognised as the real Women's Champion,
had to wait until the retirement of June Byers in 1964 before gaining
NWA recognition, although she had been recognised as a
world champion since 1956! The title remained an NWA Title until
1983, when the WWF split from the organisation and bought intellectual
ownership of the tiltes from Moolah and the NWA. Moolah left with
the WWF and ramained a much celebrated champion. The title reigned
supreme until 1990 when it became redundant. Then, in 1993 Alundra
Blaze gained WWF recognition and fought international competiton
to solidify her counter claim to the revised version of the NWA
Title. They did well until 1996, when Blaze appeared on rival WCW
programming and dumped the WWF belt into a refuse bin, sullying
the title. It was again brought back in 1998 but the women's division
had long-since turned into a show of the female anatomy, rather
than any actual competiton. Today the title is doing relatively
better, although it is still not much to be desired for.
World
Wrestling Entertainment Women's World Title
Inactive
WWWF
The very vague WWWF version of the United States Title was indeed just
that. Only 2 champions over a 6 year period, and no more information known
about it, other than it's rough initiation date and it's inconclusive abandonemnt;
well, rather it's 2nd abandonment. This is a title that has puzzled me for
a long time. Click the next hyperlink to view the defences.
World Wide
Wrestling Federation United States Title
The Tag Team version of the above title is just as bizarre! It originated
as a northeastern based title, representing the United States Champion (as
recognised in the northeast). It was originally under the NWA banner, although,
in 1963, during the Rogers/Thesz fiasco (see Heavyweight Title), Buddy was
1 half of the Tag champions, along with Johnny Barend. Thus, when Capitol
Wrestling withdrew from the NWA and formed the WWWF, the title came with
them; along with Buddy's claim to the World Title. Click the following hyperlink
to see the title listing.
World Wide
Wrestling Federation United States Tag Team Title
WWF
This title is an amazingly vague title, in it's early years, at least.
It turned into one of the most prestigious of it's kind in the world, during
it's peak and later years. Being held by some of the best Jr. Heavyweights
in the world ever and having linked lineages to other titles of similar,
if not increased importance. This title is severely lacking in results due
to many of them being in Japan and Mexico, if any information is know, please e-mail
me to help increase the accuracy of this great title. Click the following
hyperlink to view the defences.
World Wrestling Federation Junior Heavyweight Title Matches
This title is far older than many people, especially today's fans,
realise. The Light Heavyweight Title dates back to the early 80's,
being traded and defended primarilly in Mexico. Still, it wasn't
until the 1990's that the title became World renowned and recognised
as a significant title. It was in 1996 when the J-Crown (Octuple
Crown) Champion was formed, from 8 top promotions and the most prestigious
8 Light Heavyweight Titles from all over the world. This gave the
title immediate World status, if it hadn't already achieved it in
some peoples' eyes. The Great Sasuke emerged from the 8-man tournament
with all the gold but soon lost to Ultimo Dragon, who subsequently
lost to Jushin Thunder Liger. It was around this time when all the
titles started to break away from eachother (view list for details)
and, eventually, the WWF forced Shinjiro Ohtani to vacate the title.
After this time, the WWF made the title their own, and had it defended
pretty regularly until it's untimely demise in 2002 (notes within).
Please click the next hyperlink to view the decades of the lineage,
where you can select the time-frame you wish to study.
World Wrestling Federation World Light Heavyweight Title Matches
The extremely short lived North American Title makes many people
wonder why it was initiated in the first place. In fact, Ted DiBiase
came to the WWF as champion, thus having credability as the champion
of North America. The WWF, typically, wanting to be different and
unique, put the title on Pat Patterson, who subsequently "won"
the Inercontinental Title in a fictitious tournament in Rio de Janeiro,
which is seemingly wrestling code for a fictitious tournament (see
Heavyweight Title notes). Anyway, click the following hyperlink
to see the few defences of the title, and where the title ended
up, once phased out of the WWF.
World Wrestling Federation North American Heavyweight Title
WWE
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 Andrew Gardner All rights reserved.