ECW World Heavyweight Championship
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The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) Championship is a professional wrestling world championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling. It was originally the highest ranked title of the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. Currently, it is the only championship on the ECW roster
History
The ECW Championship was originally known as the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) Heavyweight Championship of the National Wrestling Alliance.[1] Following the title's introduction in 1992, Jimmy Snuka became the inaugural champion on April 25. In 1994, ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas, participated in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship and defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals on August 27 to win the title. He immediately relinquished it, however, and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion.[2][3] Following this, Eastern Championship Wrestling left the NWA and was renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling while the title became known as the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) World Heavyweight Championship. The title remained active until April 11, 2001 when ECW shut down and World Wrestling Entertainment subsequently purchased its assets. The last official ECW World Heavyweight Champion of this era was Terry "Rhino" Gerin.
Current champion
The current champion is Matt Hardy, who is in his first reign. He won the title at Unforgiven on September 7, 2008 by being the last person to score a pinfall in a championship scramble also involving former champion Mark Henry, Finlay, the Miz, and Chavo Guerrero.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "ECW World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
- ^ "NWA World Title Tournament - August 27, 1994 in Philadelphia". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
- ^ "History of the ECW World Title". WWE. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
- ^ "Unforgiven 2008 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-10-03.