World Heavyweight Championship
The World Heavyweight Championship was represented by a design based on the Big Gold Belt that incorporated the WWE logo.
Details
Promotion
WWE
Date established
August 7, 2005
Date retired
November 24, 2019
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 . The lineage was continued on with the WWE Universal Championship
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)
—
Retired
—
November 24, 2019
—
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
External links [ ] 
