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2002-2013[]

WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The World Heavyweight Championship was a world heavyweight championship owned by WWE. It was one of two top championships in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship. The title was one of six to be represented by the historic Big Gold Belt, first introduced in 1985. It was established under the Raw brand in 2002, after Raw and SmackDown became distinct brands under WWE, and moved between both brands on different occasions (mainly as a result of the WWE Draft) until August 29, 2011 when all programming became full roster "supershows". Its heritage can be traced back to the first world heavyweight championship, thereby giving the belt a legacy over 100 years old, the oldest in the world.

Videos[]

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Lineage[]

Vacated: December 6, 2004 — WWE Raw The championship was vacated after a double fall occurred in a triple threat match, also involving Chris Benoit and Edge.

Vacated: January 10, 2006 — WWE SmackDown

Vacated: July 17, 2007 - WWE SmackDown

Vacated: April 29, 2008 — WWE SmackDown

Vacated: April 12, 2011 — WWE SmackDown Title declared vacant due to Edge's retirement.

Unified: December 16, 2013 - Unified with the WWE Championship (now known as the WWE (World Heavyweight) Championship). Title officially retired by WWE on December 16 however the physical belt was still used along with the WWE Championship until August 18 2014.

2023-Present[]

A new World Heavyweight Championship was unveiled in April 2023 with a similar belt design to the Big Gold Belt. The new title follows the lineage of the above championship.

Lineage[]

See Also[]

WWE Championships, WWE Championship

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