World heavyweight championship (professional wrestling)

The World Heavyweight Championship is the name given to a number of unrelated titles, meant to emphasize the top championship of boxing, professional wrestling, mixed martial arts, or other similar sports and performance arts.

World Heavyweight Championship in professional wrestling

Although numerous titles in many different promotions have used the term "World Heavyweight Championship", it is almost exclusively used as a moniker for the title that is under competition between the main event (or heavyweight) wrestlers. Despite the name, the territorial nature of professional wrestling meant that few promotions could actually claim the "World" part of the title, in the sense that the title could potentially be defended against any challenger anywhere in the world. Thus, few belts are considered to be "world championship" belts.

The presence of a title considered to be a World Heavyweight Championship is one of the factors that makes its promotion one of the major promotions in professional wrestling. However, it is to be noted that numerous major promotions have top championships that are not considered world (nor heavyweight) championships, and the presence of a world championship in a promotion's shows does not instantly make a promotion a major one, as a World Heavyweight Championship may be shared between several promotions.

Most of the recognized World Heavyweight Championships today are derived from the version held by Georg Hackenschmidt in 1905 and Frank Gotch in 1908. In particular, many of the titles considered major today have some connection to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, created in 1948. In particular, all three of North America's largest promotions in the 1990s had top belts that were spun off from the NWA lineage.

Nomenclature of World Heavyweight Championships

The term "World Heavyweight Championship" can apply to any major belt in general, or to a specific belt in particular. This often creates confusion, as is the case of Ric Flair, who is billed as a 16-time World Heavyweight Champion but does not have 16 reigns of any single world championship belt.

The name of the promotion is often prepended to the phrase "World Heavyweight Championship" as the championship's complete name - however some are correctly known simply as the "World Heavyweight Championship" without qualification, possibly because they are competed for in promotions where an existing World Heavyweight Championship is present (as was the case of the American Wrestling Association in the 50s and 60s and World Wrestling Entertainment today).

List of World Heavyweight Championships

Numerous promotions have claimed their top championship belts as "World Heavyweight Championships" but are not considered to be world titles, while other belts have recognition as a world championship despite not being a "World Heavyweight Championship".

Among the titles that are recognized as World Heavyweight Championships (according to Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine. These are championships that have been internationally defended.) are:

• AJPW Triple Crown Championship - created in 1989 by the unification of the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the PWF Heavyweight Championship (which until that time was the top championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling).
• ECW World Heavyweight Championship - spun off from the NWA belt when Shane Douglas, after being crowned the NWA champion, rejected the NWA title in favor of ECW's own title.
• IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - the top championship recognized by New Japan Pro Wrestling since 1987.
• NWA World Heavyweight Championship - claims lineage of Hackenschmidt's 1905 and Gotch's 1908 version, defended in multiple territories and promotions since 1948.
• WCW World Heavyweight Championship - NWA World Champion Ric Flair was recognized as the first WCW World champion in January 1991, when WCW was in the process of separating from the NWA. Flair held both titles briefly before leaving WCW over a creative dispute in July of that year.
• WWE Championship - originally titled the World Wide Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship, the belt was spun off from the NWA in 1963 when WWWF left the National Wrestling Alliance. The WWWF rejoined the NWA in 1971, and until 1983, the WWWF (later WWF) title was demoted to regional status. In subsequent years, all holders of the title during that time period have been recognized as having held a world championship. This title was temporarily known as the WWE Undisputed Championship when it was merged with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
• World Heavyweight Championship (WWE) - spun off from the WWE Championship, with disputed claim to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship lineage. This title was made for the WWE's RAW brand when the WWE Championship was made exclusive to their SmackDown! brand.

In addition, the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship is recognized as a world championship, as it was awarded to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude after WCW severed all ties with the NWA.

Titles that used to be considered World titles but have since lost that status:

• AWA World Heavyweight Championship - the top championship of what many consider to be the leading promotion of the 1960s. After over 10 years of inactivity it was revived in 2004 and claims the lineage of the original, though historians do not recognise that.

Other titles claiming the name, but are not recognised by PWI include:

• CZW World Heavyweight Championship - claims its status as a World Heavyweight title after it was defended in Japan, Germany, England, Mexico, Ireland and Italy - as well as America. The championship was changed hands in all of those countries except Japan.
• PWG World Championship - claims its status as a World Heavyweight title after it was defended in Kent, England and Essen, Germany on the European Vacation tour of 2006.
• The World Heavyweight Championship recognized by promoters in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 1950's and early 1960's, following a dispute regarding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship was unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on September 7, 1963.
• ROH World Heavyweight Championship - claimed world title status after belt was defended outside of the United States by champion Samoa Joe. However this is under dispute because the championship was defended in matches where there was no chance of it changing hands.
• WWA World Heavyweight Championship - The WWA World Title was the premiere title for World Wrestling All-Stars, a short lived company that thrived in World Title status due to the fact it was defended outside the US more than in it. It was then unified with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

See also

• List of Number of World Heavyweight Title Reigns
• List of World Title reigns by length
• Championship (professional wrestling)