List of all World Heavyweight Champions in WWE history
(Courtesy : WWE)
The Championship was brought back in 2023
The World Heavyweight Championship is one of the prestigious championships created and promoted by WWE. The title was established in 2002 after WWE bought WCW and ECW. The WWE title and WCW World Heavyweight Championship were unified under the name Undisputed WWE Champion in 2001 and became the asset of the SmackDown brand. The World Heavyweight Championship was brought to counter the Undisputed title.
The ‘Big Gold Title’ was considered as the World Heavyweight Championship, which was in effect from 2002 to 2013. In 2013 it was unified with the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship was retired. In 2023, after a decade, a new World Heavyweight Championship was brought. Although the new title is named the same, but the lineage of the title is different from the old era.
World Heavyweight Championship Legacy
Triple H was the first World Heavyweight Champion of the old title, whereas Seth Rollins was the first World Heavyweight Champion when the title was brought back in 2023. The title has seen a total of 58 championship reigns (55- old, 3 new) and 28 champions (25-old, 3 new) were crowned. Triple H has the longest reign with 616 days combined reign, whereas Batista has the longest single reign with 282 days with the old title.
When it comes to the new title, Seth Rollins is the longest-reigning champion with 316 days. Edge has the most reigns with 7. Randy Orton was the youngest (24) and Undertaker was the oldest (44) to hold the World Heavyweight Championship. Randy Orton was the last to hold the old World Heavyweight Champion and was the one to retire the title in 2013.
Current World Heavyweight Champion
Gunther is the current World Heavyweight Champion, who defeated Damian Priest in a singles match at SummerSlam 2024 & is on his first reign.
List of all World Heavyweight Champions (2002-2013)
| Name | Date | Days reign | Event |
| Triple H | September 2, 2002 | 76 | Raw |
| Shawn Michaels | November 17, 2002 | 28 | Survivor Series |
| Triple H | December 15, 2002 | 280 | Armageddon |
| Goldberg | September 21, 2003 | 84 | Unforgiven |
| Triple H | December 14, 2003 | 91 | Armageddon |
| Chris Benoit | March 14, 2004 | 154 | WrestleMania XX |
| Randy Orton | August 15, 2004 | 28 | SummerSlam |
| Triple H | September 12, 2004 | 85 | Unforgiven |
| Vacated | December 6, 2004 | – | Raw |
| Triple H | January 9, 2005 | 84 | New Year’s Revolution |
| Batista | April 3, 2005 | 282 | WrestleMania 21 |
| Vacated | January 10, 2006 | – | SmackDown! |
| Kurt Angle | January 10, 2006 | 82 | SmackDown! |
| Rey Mysterio | April 2, 2006 | 112 | WrestleMania 22 |
| King Booker | July 23, 2006 | 126 | The Great American Bash |
| Batista | November 26, 2006 | 126 | Survivor Series |
| The Undertaker | April 1, 2007 | 37 | WrestleMania 23 |
| Edge | May 8, 2007 | 70 | SmackDown! |
| Vacated | July 17, 2007 | – | SmackDown! |
| The Great Khali | July 17, 2007 | 61 | SmackDown! |
| Batista | September 16, 2007 | 91 | Unforgiven |
| Edge | December 16, 2007 | 105 | Armageddon |
| The Undertaker | March 30, 2008 | 30 | WrestleMania XXIV |
| Vacated | April 29, 2008 | – | SmackDown |
| Edge | June 1, 2008 | 29 | One Night Stand |
| CM Punk | June 30, 2008 | 69 | Raw |
| Chris Jericho | September 7, 2008 | 49 | Unforgiven |
| Batista | October 26, 2008 | 8 | Cyber Sunday |
| Chris Jericho | November 3, 2008 | 20 | Raw |
| John Cena | November 23, 2008 | 84 | Survivor Series |
| Edge | February 15, 2009 | 49 | No Way Out |
| John Cena | April 5, 2009 | 21 | WrestleMania 25 |
| Edge | April 26, 2009 | 42 | Backlash |
| Jeff Hardy | June 7, 2009 | <1 | Extreme Rules |
| CM Punk | June 7, 2009 | 49 | Extreme Rules |
| Jeff Hardy | July 26, 2009 | 28 | Night of Champions |
| CM Punk | August 23, 2009 | 42 | SummerSlam |
| The Undertaker | October 4, 2009 | 140 | Hell in a Cell |
| Chris Jericho | February 21, 2010 | 37 | Elimination Chamber |
| Jack Swagger | March 30, 2010 | 82 | SmackDown |
| Rey Mysterio | June 20, 2010 | 28 | Fatal 4-Way |
| Kane | July 18, 2010 | 154 | Money in the Bank |
| Edge | December 19, 2010 | 58 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs |
| Vacated | February 15, 2011 | – | SmackDown |
| Dolph Ziggler | February 15, 2011 | <1 | SmackDown |
| Edge | February 15, 2011 | 56 | SmackDown |
| Vacated | April 12, 2011 | – | SmackDown |
| Christian | May 1, 2011 | 2 | Extreme Rules |
| Randy Orton | May 3, 2011 | 75 | SmackDown |
| Christian | July 17, 2011 | 28 | Money in the Bank |
| Randy Orton | August 14, 2011 | 35 | SummerSlam |
| Mark Henry | September 18, 2011 | 91 | Night of Champions |
| Big Show | December 18, 2011 | <1 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs |
| Daniel Bryan | December 18, 2011 | 105 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs |
| Sheamus | April 1, 2012 | 210 | WrestleMania XXVIII |
| Big Show | October 28, 2012 | 72 | Hell in a Cell |
| Alberto Del Rio | January 8, 2013 | 90 | SmackDown |
| Dolph Ziggler | April 8, 2013 | 69 | Raw |
| Alberto Del Rio | June 16, 2013 | 133 | Payback |
| John Cena | October 27, 2013 | 49 | Hell in a Cell |
| Randy Orton | December 15, 2013 | <1 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs |
| Unified | December 15, 2013 | – | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs |
List of all World Heavyweight Champion (2023- present)
| Name | Date | Days Reign | Event |
| Seth “Freakin” Rollins | May 27, 2023 | 316 | Night of Champions |
| Drew McIntyre | April 7, 2024 | <1 | WrestleMania XL Night 2 |
| Damian Priest | April 7, 2024 | 41+ | WrestleMania XL Night 2 |
| Gunther | August 4, 2024 | 3+* | SummerSlam |
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