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

CM Punk, shown here in his first reign, is in his second reign as World Heavyweight Champion.

The World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship contested for in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its SmackDown brand. The World Heavyweight Championship was WWE's third overall world title introduced to WWE in 2002. After WWE bought the bankrupt promotions of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and disbanded the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, it split its roster into two brands of wrestling, Raw and SmackDown, in a mock scripted sports draft extension. As a result of this, WWE's original world championship, the WWE Championship, was assigned exclusive to the SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world championship. Soon afterward, a new World Heavyweight Championship was introduced to the Raw brand by former WCW President and then-General Manager Eric Bischoff, a portrayed match maker and rule enforcer. The title, however, has switched programs on three occasions: when the champion in 2005, Batista, was drafted to the SmackDown brand, when the champion in 2008; Edge, was defeated for the title by CM Punk, a Raw brand wrestler, and when SmackDown superstar Edge won the title in a Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out (2009). The tile returned to Raw at WrestleMania XXV when John Cena defeated the champion Edge and The Big Show in a triple threat match. It once again returned to SmackDown at Backlash (2009) when Edge defeated John Cena in Last Man Standing match.

Title reigns were 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. Reigns that were won on episodes of Friday Night SmackDown aired on television three days from the date the match was taped, all other reigns were won during live broadcasts. The inaugural champion was Triple H, who was awarded the title by Bischoff in September 2002, while as of July 2024, CM Punk is the champion in his second. Overall, there have been 31 reigns with Triple H and Edge holding the most reigns at five each.

WWE officially states the World Heavyweight Championship is not the same title as the WCW Championship or NWA World Heavyweight Championship before it, but rather a new title that does not inherit their championship history. The World Heavyweight Championship is the successor to both titles, traced from them just as the WCW Championship was traced from and succeeded the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. For a list of wrestlers who have held those belts, see List of WCW World Heavyweight Champions and List of NWA World Heavyweight Champions respectively.

Title history

Reigns

As of July 16, 2024.

#	Wrestler	Reigns	Date	Days held	Location	Event	Notes	Ref.
1	Triple H	1	September 2, 2002	76	Milwaukee, WI	Raw	Awarded the title by General manager Eric Bischoff, the on-screen authority figure. Triple H also defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Kane at No Mercy on October 20, 2002 to unify the Intercontinental Championship into the World Title.
2	Shawn Michaels	1	November 17, 2002	28	New York, NY	Survivor Series (2002)	First Elimination Chamber match.
3	Triple H	2	December 15, 2002	280	Sunrise, FL	Armageddon (2002)	Three Stages of Hell match.
4	Goldberg	1	September 21, 2003	84	Hershey, PA	Unforgiven (2003)	Triple H's Championship vs Goldberg's Career match.
5	Triple H	3	December 14, 2003	91	Orlando, FL	Armageddon (2003)	Triple Threat match also involving Kane.
6	Chris Benoit	1	March 14, 2004	154	New York, NY	WrestleMania XX	Triple threat match also involving Shawn Michaels.
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 title was vacated after Edge pinned Benoit, while Benoit simultaneously made Edge submit in a triple threat match also involving Triple H on November 29 on Raw.
9	Triple H	5	January 9, 2005	84	San Juan, PR	New Year's Revolution (2005)	Won vacant title in the third Elimination Chamber match.
10	Batista	1	April 3, 2005	282	Los Angeles, CA	WrestleMania 21	Batista was drafted to Smackdown! as the final pick in June 2005, making the title SmackDown! exclusive.
-	Vacated	-	January 10, 2006	0	Philadelphia, PA	Friday Night SmackDown!	Batista vacated the title after he was sidelined with a legitimate triceps injury (Aired on January 13, 2006).
11	Kurt Angle	1	January 10, 2006	82	Philadelphia, PA	Friday Night SmackDown!	Angle won the title in a battle royal involving 19 other wrestlers (Aired on January 13, 2006).
12	Rey Mysterio	1	April 2, 2006	112	Rosemont, IL	WrestleMania 22	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)	Last Chance match.
15	The Undertaker	1	April 1, 2007	37	Detroit, MI	WrestleMania 23
16	Edge	1	May 8, 2007	70	Pittsburgh, PA	Friday Night SmackDown!	Edge traded in his Money in the Bank contract to earn the right to challenge for the title (Aired on May 11, 2007).
-	Vacated	-	July 17, 2007	0	Laredo, TX	Friday Night SmackDown!	Edge vacated the title after he was sidelined with a legitimate pectoral injury (Aired on July 20, 2007).
17	The Great Khali	1	July 17, 2007	61	Laredo, TX	Friday Night SmackDown!	Won a battle royal involving 19 other wrestlers (Aired on July 20, 2007).
18	Batista	3	September 16, 2007	91	Memphis, TN	Unforgiven (2007)	Triple threat match also involving Rey Mysterio.
19	Edge	2	December 16, 2007	105	Pittsburgh, PA	Armageddon (2007)	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	Friday Night SmackDown!	General manager Vickie Guerrero ordered The Undertaker to relinquish the title because of the danger that his gogoplata choke hold caused (Aired 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 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 on Raw, 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.
24	Batista	4	October 26, 2008	8	Phoenix, AZ	Cyber Sunday (2008)	Special guest referee was Steve Austin.
25	Chris Jericho	2	November 3, 2008	20	Tampa, FL	Raw	Steel cage match.
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)	Won in an Elimination Chamber match, also involving Mike Knox, Rey Mysterio, Kane and Chris Jericho. Edge was on SmackDown!, so title once again becomes SmackDown! exclusive.
28	John Cena	2	April 5, 2009	21	Houston, TX	WrestleMania XXV	Won in a Triple Threat match also involving The Big Show. Becomes exclusive to Raw once again due to John Cena being a Raw superstar.
29	Edge	5	April 26, 2009	42	Providence, RI	Backlash (2009)	Last Man Standing match. Title becomes exclusive to SmackDown due to Edge being a SmackDown wrestler.
30	Jeff Hardy	1	June 7, 2009	<1	New Orleans, LA	Extreme Rules	This match was a ladder match.
31	CM Punk	2	June 7, 2009	5518+	New Orleans, LA	Extreme Rules	Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract immediately after Hardy's victory.

List of combined reigns

Statistics correct as of July 16, 2024

Key

†	Indicates the current champion
<1	Indicates that the reign lasted less than one day.

Rank	Wrestler	# Of Reigns	Combined Days
1	Triple H	5	616
2	Batista	4	507
3	Edge	5	295
4	Chris Benoit	1	154
5	King Booker	1	126
6	Rey Mysterio	1	112
7	John Cena	2	105
8	Goldberg	1	84
9	Kurt Angle	1	82
10	CM Punk†	2	5587+
11	Chris Jericho	2	69
12	The Undertaker	2	61
12	The Great Khali	1	61
14	Shawn Michaels	1	28
14	Randy Orton	1	28
16	Jeff Hardy	1	<1

References

General

• "History of the World Heavyweight Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-06-14.

Specific

External links

• Official WWE World Heavyweight Championship history
• World Heavyweight Championship history at Wrestling-Titles.com