| World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The World Heavyweight Championship's current design | |||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||
| Current champion(s) |
Alberto Del Rio | ||||||||||
| Date won | November 25, 2019 (aired November 25, 2019) | ||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||
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The World Heavyweight Championship was the top-tier championship title in the WWE E-Fed federation on Smackdown; the second brand of the company. The first champion was Shawn Michaels who defeated Steve Corino to become the inaugural champion. Chris Jericho holds the record for the most reigns with six. The shortest reign lasted <1 day as Papydum won the championship at Wrestlemania 2011 and lost the championship the same night. Jimmy Havoc currently holds the record for longest reign (as an individual) with 246 days. The last champion was Alberto Del Rio.
Title history[]
Key[]
| # | The overall championship reign |
| Date | The date in which the championship was obtained |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
| Venue | The event where the championship was obtained |
| Notes | Any additional important information on how the championship changed hands |
| — | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| # | Wrestler Name | Reign | Date | Days held | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shawn Michaels | 1 | August 7, 2005 | 64 | Great American Bash | Shawn Michaels defeated Steve Corino to become the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion. |
| 2 | Jeff Hardy | 1 | October 9, 2005 | 64 | No Mercy | |
| 3 | The Rock | 1 | November 3, 2005 | 22 | Smackdown | |
| 4 | "Stone Cold" Steve Austin | 1 | November 24, 2005 | 32 | Smackdown | |
| 5 | The Undertaker | 1 | December 25, 2005 | 125 | Armageddon | |
| — | Vacated | — | April 28, 2006 | — | Smackdown | The Undertaker enters semi-retirement and vacates the championship. |
| 6 | Triple H | 1 | May 28, 2006 | 134 | Judgment Day |
Triple H defeated Luther Reigns and Danny Basham to claim the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. |
| 7 | Goldust | 1 | October 8, 2006 | 97 | No Mercy | Goldust wins vacant title after Triple H is signed to RAW. |
| 8 | Christian | 1 | January 12, 2007 | 13 | Smackdown | |
| — | Vacated | — | January 24, 2007 | — | Smackdown | Christian quits and the World Heavyweight Championship is vacated. |
| 9 | Luther Reigns | 1 | February 7, 2007 | 103 | Royal Rumble | Luther Reigns defeated Kurt Angle and John "Bradshaw" Layfield to claim the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. |
| 10 | Chris Jericho | 1 | May 20, 2007 | 27 | Judgment Day |
Jericho won the World Heavyweight Championship in a 6 Man Mayhem Elimination Chamber, also involving Johnny Nitro, Ken Kennedy, Christian and The Rock. |
| — | Vacated | — | June 15, 2007 | — | Chris Jericho was suspended and thus the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated. | |
| 11 | Ken Kennedy | 1 | September 3, 2007 | 153 | Summerslammiversary | Ken Kennedy defeated Lee Homocide in order to claim the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. |
| 12 | Kurt Angle | 1 | February 2, 2008 | 29 | Royal Rumble | |
| 13 | Shawn Michaels | 2 | March 1, 2008 | 72 | No Way Out | |
| 14 | Edge | 1 | May 11, 2008 | 43 | Judgment Day | |
| 15 | Lee Homicide | 1 | June 22, 2008 | 84 | Insurrextion |
Homicide won the World Heavyweight Championship in a King of the Mountain match, also involving Jeff Hardy, Ryan Mitchell and Kurt Angle. |
| — | Vacated | — | September 13, 2008 | — | Lee Homidice retires from professional wrestling. | |
| 16 | Randy Orton | 1 | September 20, 2008 | 16 | Smackdown | Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy and Ryan Mitchell in order to claim the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. |
| 17 | Ryan Mitchell | 1 | October 5, 2008 | 21 | No Mercy |
Mitchell won the World Heavyweight Championship in a War Games match by defeating the opposing team and remaining team member Mandy Randall. |
| 18 | Jeff Hardy | 2 | October 25, 2008 | 30 | Smackdown | |
| 19 | Randy Orton | 2 | November 23, 2008 | 14 | Survivor Series | |
| 20 | Edge | 2 | December 6, 2008 | 93 | Smackdown | |
| 21 | Ted DiBiase | 1 | March 8, 2009 | 78 | No Way Out | |
| 22 | Michael Noventa | 1 | May 24, 2009 | 21 | Judgment Day | |
| 23 | Ted DiBiase | 2 | June 13, 2009 | 16 | Smackdown | |
| 24 | Edge | 3 | June 28, 2009 | 104 | Insurrextion | |
| 25 | Buschski | 1 | October 9, 2009 | 22 | Smackdown |
This was a fatal fourway match also involving Papydum and Gregory Helms. |
| 26 | Gregory Helms | 1 | October 30, 2009 | 36 | Smackdown | |
| 27 | Ted DiBiase | 3 | December 4, 2009 | 52 | Smackdown | |
| 28 | Kurt Angle | 2 | January 24, 2010 | 93 | New Year's Revolution | Angle won the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber, also involving Tommy Dreamer, Montel Vontavious Porter, Kevin Nash and Gregory Helms. |
| 29 | Gregory Helms | 2 | April 26, 2010 | 152 | Wrestlemania | |
| 30 | Edge | 4 | September 24, 2010 | 38 | Smackdown | |
| — | Deactivated | — | October 31, 2010 | — | Halloween Havoc | RAW and Smackdown merge and the World Heayweight Championship is deactivated. |
| 31 | Cody Rhodes | 1 | January 30, 2011 | 85 | Royal Rumble | |
| 32 | Papydum | 1 | April 24, 2011 | <1 | Wrestlemania | |
| 33 | Montel Vontavious Porter | 1 | April 24, 2011 | 27 | Wrestlemania | MITB cash in. |
| 34 | Gregory Helms | 3 | May 20, 2011 | 38 | Smackdown | This was a triple threat match also involving Cody Rhodes. |
| 35 | Chris Jericho | 2 | June 26, 2011 | 195 | Over the Limit | |
| 36 | CM Punk | 1 | January 6, 2012 | 11 | Smackdown | |
| 37 | Ted DiBiase | 4 | January 16, 2012 | 21 | New Year's Revolution | DiBiase won the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber, also involving Clark Gabriel, Wade Barrett, Kevin Thorn and Gregory Helms. |
| 38 | Chris Jericho | 3 | February 5, 2012 | 78 | Royal Rumble | This was a triple threat match also involving CM Punk. |
| 39 | Christian | 2 | April 22, 2012 | 36 | Wrestlemania | |
| 40 | Chris Jericho | 4 | May 27, 2012 | 20 | Extreme Rules | |
| 41 | Billy Cassidy | 1 | June 15, 2012 | 11 | Smackdown | |
| 42 | Cody Rhodes | 2 | June 25, 2012 | 98 | Invasion | This was a triple threat match also involving Travis Kooper. |
| 43 | Jon Moxley | 1 | September 30, 2012 | 114 | Judgment Day | |
| 44 | Sterling James Keenan | 1 | January 20, 2013 | 162 | New Year's Revolution | Keenan won the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber, also including Ken Kennedy, Michael Noventa, Travis Kooper, and Jimmy Jacobs |
| 45 | Roman Reigns | 1 | June 30, 2013 | 89 | Invasion | This was a five-man gauntlet match also including Dolph Ziggler, Heath Slater, and Wade Barrett. |
| 46 | Sterling James Keenan | 2 | September 28, 2013 | 15 | Smack162down | |
| 47 | Michael Noventa | 2 | October 13, 2013 | 35 | Judgment Day | |
| 48 | Chris Jericho | 5 | November 24, 2013 | 49 | Survivor Series | |
| 49 | Sterling James Keenan | 3 | January 12, 2014 | 41 | New Year's Revolution | Keenan won the World Heavyweight Championship in the Elimination Chamber, also including Chris Jericho, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Tyler Chandler and Chuck Taylor |
| 50 | Chris Jericho | 6 | February 23, 2014 | 29 | Royal Rumble | |
| — | Vacated | — | March 23, 2014 | — | Royal Rumble | Jericho was stripped of the championship prior to his title defense against Jimmy Jacobs. So instead after winning a #1 Contenders Match, Kevin Steen took his place and battled Jacobs for the vacant championship. |
| 51 | Jimmy Jacobs | 1 | March 23, 2014 | 36 | Cyber Sunday | |
| 52 | Kevin Steen | 1 | April 27, 2014 | 35 | Wrestlemania XXX | |
| 53 | Dolph Ziggler | 1 | May 31, 2014 | 42 | Smackdown | |
| 54 | Billy Cassidy | 2 | July 12, 2014 | 71 | Smackdown | |
| — | Vacated | — | September 21, 2014 | — | Night of Champions | The championship was vacated after Roman Reigns defeated both Billy Cassidy and Ciaran O'Donnell in a unification match with the WWE Championship being on the line. |
| 55 | Randy Orton | 3 | April 26, 2015 | 95 | King of the Ring | Orton defeated Tyler Breeze in the King of the Ring tournament to become King of the Ring as well winning the vacant championship. |
| 56 | Travis Kooper | 1 | July 30, 2015 | 31 | Smackdown | |
| 57 | Randy Orton | 4 | August 30, 2015 | 91 | SummerSlam | |
| 58 | Abyss | 1 | November 29, 2015 | 42 | Survivor Series | |
| 59 | Corey Graves | 4 | January 10, 2016 | 77 | New Year's Revolution | |
| 60 | Dolph Ziggler | 2 | March 27, 2016 | 154 | WrestleMania 32 | |
| 61 | Ciaran O'Donnell | 1 | August 28, 2016 | 91 | Survivor Series (2016) | |
| 62 | Goldberg | 1 | November 27, 2016 | 119 | Survivor Series (2016) | |
| 63 | Jimmy Havoc | 1 | March 26, 2017 | 246 | Wrestlemania 33 | |
| 64 | Ciaran O'Donnell | 2 | August 28, 2016 | 1+ | Survivor Series (2017) | |
| - | Vacated | - | December 8, 2017 | - | Smackdown | The title was vacated as Ciaran announced his retirement. |
| 65 | Pastor William Eaver | 1 | December 15, 2017 | 23 | Smackdown | |
| 66 | Christian | 3 | January 7, 2018 | 56 | Royal Rumble (2018) | |
| 67 | Johnny Gargano | 1 | March 4, 2018 | 61 | Fastlane (2018) | |
| 68 | Jimmy Jacobs | 2 | May 4, 2018 | 149 | Smackdown | |
| 69 | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 | September 30, 2018 | 154 | Fastlane (2018) | |
| 70 | Tyler Breeze | 1 | March 3, 2019 | 175 | Fastlane (2019) | |
| 71 | Jimmy Jacobs | 3 | August 25, 2019 | 91 | SummerSlam (2019) | |
| 72 | Alberto Del Rio | 1 | November 24, 2019 | 1 | Survivor Series (2019) | Title was retired after SmackDown was closed. |
List of combined reigns[]
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| <1 | Indicates the reign was less than 1 day |
As of May 27, 2020
| Rank | Wrestler | # of Reigns | Combined Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chris Jericho | 6 | 398 |
| 2. | Corey Graves | 4 | 295 |
| 3. | Edge | 4 | 278 |
| 4. | Jimmy Jacobs | 3 | 276 |
| 5. | Jimmy Havoc | 4 | 246 |
| 6. | Gregory Helms | 3 | 226 |
| 7. | Randy Orton | 4 | 218 |
| 8. | Dolph Ziggler | 4 | 196 |
| 9. | Cody Rhodes | 2 | 183 |
| 10. | Tyler Breeze | 1 | 175 |
| 11. | Ted DiBiase | 4 | 167 |
| 12. | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 | 154 |
| 13. | Ken Kennedy | 1 | 153 |
| 14. | Shawn Michaels | 2 | 136 |
| 15. | Triple H | 1 | 134 |
| 16. | The Undertaker | 1 | 125 |
| 17. | Kurt Angle | 1 | 122 |
| 18. | Goldberg | 1 | 119 |
| 19. | Jon Moxley | 1 | 114 |
| 20. | Christian | 3 | 105 |
| 21. | Ciaran O'Donnell | 2 | 103 |
| 22. | Goldust | 1 | 97 |
| 23. | Jeff Hardy | 2 | 94 |
| 24. | Roman Reigns | 1 | 89 |
| 25. | Lee Homicide | 1 | 84 |
| 26. | Billy Cassidy | 2 | 82 |
| 27. | Johnny Gargano | 1 | 61 |
| 28. | Michael Noventa | 2 | 56 |
| 29. | Abyss | 1 | 42 |
| 30. | Kevin Owens | 1 | 35 |
| 31. | "Stone Cold" Steve Austin | 1 | 32 |
| 32. | Travis Kooper | 1 | 31 |
| 33. | Montel Vontavious Porter | 1 | 27 |
| 34. | Pastor William Eaver | 1 | 23 |
| 35. | The Rock | 1 | 22 |
| 35. | Buschski | 1 | 22 |
| 36. | Ryan Mitchell | 1 | 21 |
| 37. | Alberto Del Rio | 1 | 11 |
| 38. | CM Punk | 1 | 1 |
| 39. | Papydum | 1 | <1 |
External links[]
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