IWE World Heavyweight Championship

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Revision as of 19:01, 10 June 2014

Not to be confused with World Heavyweight Championship (IWE).

The IWE World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by IWE. From September 2002 to December 2013, it was one of two main championships in IWE, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship until it's unification. It was established under the then IWWF in 1963, and is the oldest championship recognized by the promotion.

History

Origin

The IWE Championship was introduced in 1963 with "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers becoming the first champion. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which had various territorial member promotions. In the 1950s, Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was a member of the NWA and by 1963, CWC executives held a controlling stake over NWA operations. During this time, Buddy Rogers held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship until January 24, when Lou Thesz defeated Rogers for the championship. Following a dispute over the result, CWC seceded from the NWA and became the International Wide Wrestling Federation (IWWF). The IWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established as having spun off from the NWA title when the recognition was awarded to Buddy Rogers following an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro, defeating Antonino Rocca in the finals. Affiliated with the NWA once again, the IWWF was renamed to International Wrestling Federation (IWF) in 1979, and after conclusively ending its affiliation with the NWA in 1983, the championship became known as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and later simply as the WWF Championship by the 1990s.

Prominence

In 1991, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a member of the NWA, established the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to complement the NWA's world title. WCW then seceded from the NWA and grew to become a rival promotion to the IWF. Both organizations grew into mainstream prominence and were eventually involved in a television ratings war, dubbed the Monday Night Wars. Near the end of the ratings war, WCW began a financial decline, which culminated in March 2001 with the WWF's purchase of WCW. As a result of the purchase, the IWF acquired the video library of WCW, select talent contracts, and championships, among other assets. The slew of former WCW talent joining the IWF roster began "The Invasion" which effectively phased out the WCW name. Following this, the WCW Championship (which had become known simply as the "world championship") was unified with the IWF Championship at Vengeance 2001. At the event, Khris Jericho defeated The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Johnson to win the WCW Championship and IWF Championship respectively. Jericho, recognised by IWE as the final WCW champion, went on to hold both the Big Gold belt (representing the "world championship") and the IWF title belt (representing the IWF championship) under the single Undisputed banner. IWE recognised these belts as representing separate championships until the introduction of a single belt by Triple K in 2002

Undisputed Championship

In 2001, after Team IWF beat Team Alliance (WCW/XCW) at the Survivor Series of that year, the superstars of The Alliance would become an essential part of IWF programing. There were two world champions, with The Rock holding the WCW Championship, and Stone Cold Steve Johnson holding the IWF Championship. It was announced that the PPV following Survivor Series of that year would be a vengeance that would carry the slogan "One Undisputed Champion". It was announced that there would be three matches to unify the WCW and IWF Championships. It was announced that Matt Borske would challenge Johnson for the IWF Championship, and Khris Jericho would face The Rock for the WCW Championship. Johnson would win against Borske, thus retaining the IWF Championship, and Jericho would beat The Rock to become the new WCW Champion. Following his win, Jericho would face Johnson and won, thus unifying the IWF and WCW Championships. Jericho would hold the championship for four months until he would lose it at Wrestlemania X8 against Triple K. Ric Flair awarded the IWF Undisputed Championship on the first Raw after the draft to Triple K, Triple K would go on to hold the title for a month until he would lose it at Backlash 2002 against Hulk Hogan. Many would hold it afterwords, superstars such The IWE Champion Was Changed hands on 2005 when Dustin Simpson as drafted to Monday Night Raw main television programs, Raw and SmackDown!, assigning championships and appointing figureheads to each brand. This expansion became known as the Brand Extension.

In May 2002, the IWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (IWE) and the championship became known as the IWE Undisputed Championship. Following these changes, the IWE Undisputed Championship remained unaffiliated with either brand as competitors from both brands could challenge the IWE Undisputed Champion. Following the appointment of Eric Bischoff and Kaila Matteson as General Managers of the Raw and SmackDown brands respectively, Kaila Matteson contracted then-IWE Undisputed Champion Rob Lesnar to the SmackDown brand, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. On September 2, after disputing the brand designation of the Undisputed title, Eric Bischoff announced the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship, spun off from the Undisputed title. Immediately afterward, the IWE Undisputed Championship became known as the IWE Championship.

On December 15, 2013 at the TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs pay-per-view, IWE Champion Kevin McAlmond defeated World Heavyweight Champion Dustin Simpson in a TLC match to unify the titles. With that the IWE Championship was renamed IWE World Heavyweight Championship. The unified championship retained the lineage of the IWE Championship

Brand designation

Following the events of the IWE Brand Extension, an annual IWE Draft was established. 2002 saw Ric Flair and Vince Matteson heading up the Raw and Smackdown brands respectively. Flair would run Raw and Vince Matteson would run Smackdown. Flair and Matteson would participate in a draft lottery in which select members of the IWE roster are reassigned to a different brand. After three years on the SmackDown brand, the IWE Championship switched brands during the IWE Draft Lottery, in which the IWE Champion Dustin Simpson was drafted to Raw while the World Heavyweight Champion Batista was drafted to SmackDown. On June 11, 2006, Rob Van Dam used his Money in the Bank contract at XCW One Night Stand for a IWE Championship match against the IWE Champion Dustin Simpson. The holder of the contract is guaranteed a IWE or World Heavyweight title match at anytime of their choosing. Rob Van Dam defeated Dustin Simpson to win the IWE Championship, moving the title to the now defunct XCW brand, a IWE brand established from purchased assets of the Xtreme Championship Wrestling promotion. On July 3, 2006, Edge defeated Dustin Simpson and Rob Van Dam in a Triple Threat Match to win the IWE Championship. However, with Edge being a member of the Raw brand at the time, the title returned to Raw due to the circumstances. After the 2008 WWE Draft the WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to SmackDown, moving the IWE Championship to the SmackDown brand. The following year, the title returned to Raw after Triple K was drafted back to the brand during the 2009 IWE Draft, and remained exclusive to the Raw brand since. When SmackDown's Batista won the title from Raw's Dustin Simpson at Elimination Chamber, it remained exclusive to Raw while Batista was transferred to the Raw roster.

In July 2011, CM Punk was involved in a storyline where he vowed to leave IWE with the IWE Championship when his contract expired on July 17, 2011 (the date of the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view). At the event, Punk succeeded in defeating the defending champion Dustin Simpson to win the championship, and left the company with the physical title belt. With the championship seemingly vacated by Vince Matteson the following night on Raw, Rey Mysterio won an 8-man Championship Tournament by defeating The Miz in the finals on the July 25 episode of Raw to be crowned the new IWE Champion, only to subsequently lose it later that night to Simpson, for the latter's record ninth reign. However, following Simpson's win, Punk returned to IWE with his own title belt, thereby creating both an ambiguity and a dispute in IWE over the presence of two IWE Championships. On the July 29, 2011 episode of SmackDown new IWE COO Triple K announced that CM Punk's claim to the IWE Championship was legitimate, meaning "there were two IWE champions." At the subsequent SummerSlam pay-per-view, Punk defeatedSimpson to solidify his claim on the title, only to lose the title moments later to Alberto Del Rio, who opportunistically cashed in his Money in the Bank contract after Kevin Nash attacked Punk. Also since August 29, 2011, with all IWE programming becoming "Supershows" featuring the entire roster, the title has been defended on both Raw and Smackdown.

Custom belt designs

Special custom belts have been created to match the characters of certain IWE champions:

• The Ultimate Warrior - white, blue and purple leather straps
• "Stone Cold" Steve Johnson - Smoking Skull belt
• Edge - Modified "Rated-R Superstar" spinner belt
• The Miz - Spinner belt with the IWE logo turned upside down to resemble an "M", (which stood for Miz.)

A much larger version of the belt was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, although he never wore it as champion. A custom championship belt was designed and constructed for The Rock, which featured his trademark Brahma Bull logo in the center as an answer to Austin's Smoking Skull Belt, but due to creative reasons it never appeared on television. Similarly, Edge had originally designed an entirely different custom belt than the "Rated R Spinner" design he used for his second reign, however the plans were scrapped due to time constraints.

The "Spinner" belt's design, which featured a gold and diamond bling-bling style reflecting Simpson's hip hop character, became the IWE Championship's primary design from April 11, 2005, to February 18, 2013. The belt ceased to spin at No Mercy 2007 but spun again during The Rock's feud with CM Punk. The physical belt itself originally indicated the brand it was designated to. When it was first introduced, it featured a unique side plate design that read "SmackDown", though it was then replaced with one that read "Mon-Nite Raw" when John Cena was drafted to the RAW brand. When the title once again became SmackDown's primary championship after Triple K was drafted to the brand in 2008, the RAW plate was replaced with a second "IWE Champion" side plate. Furthermore, the belt also featured a silver tip on the end of the leather strap.

On the February 18, 2013 episode of Raw, The Rock unveiled a new IWE Championship belt. The new title (which was partially designed by Orange County Choppers of American Chopper fame) features a black strap with a large diamond encrusted IWE logo on the front with the word "CHAMPION" directly underneath, with IWE logo side plates. A distinctive feature of this belt is that there is no nameplate for the champion. Instead, the side plates can be customized to incorporate the current champion's logo/insignia.

The side plate designs for holders of this belt include:

• The "Brahma Bull" logo of Samuel "The Rock" Simkins
• The "Hustle, Loyalty, Respect" (left) and "U ₡ ME" (right) logos of Dustin Simpson

Reigns

Main List of IWE Champions

Reference

External links