Post by mikey1974 on Apr 16, 2013 18:13:31 GMT -5
this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Heavyweight Championship,something I didn't really realize til today! at first it was just an offshoot Championship created by Vince McMahon Sr. when he removed his Capitol Wrestling Corporation from the NWA after disputing the results of a Lou Thesz - Buddy Rogers NWA World title match. CWC was renamed the World Wide Wrestling Federation ,and Rogers was declared the inaugural WWWF World Champion after a "tournament" in Rio De Janiero.
in 1979, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA again and was renamed the World Wrestling Federation,and the WWWF World Championship became the WWF Heavyweight Championship, but following a final split with the NWA in 1983, the Title was referred to as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship or the WWF Heavyweight Championship, then finally becoming the WWF Championship in the 90's,and today is the WWE Championship.
It has become over the decades the most prestigious Belt in the world of wrestling, at various points sharing that distinction with other World Championship Belts ( the NWA and AWA in the 80's, WCW and ECW in the 90's) , but today basically stands alone as the #1 Wrestling Title. the lineage of the Belt also includes a who's who of wrestling dignitaries, with almost every big name in the sport having held the Title at one point or another. the list of men who held this Title includes:
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers
Bruno Sammartino
Ivan Koloff
Pedro Morales
Stan "The Man" Stasiak
"Superstar" Billy Graham
Bob Backlund
Antonio Inoki
The Iron Sheik
Hulk Hogan
Andre The Giant
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
The Ultimate Warrior
Sgt. Slaughter
The Undertaker
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Bret "Hitman" Hart
Yokozuna
Diesel (Kevin Nash)
Shawn Michaels
"Sycho" Sid Vicious
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
Kane
The Rock
Mankind
Triple H
The Big Show
Vince McMahon Jr.
Kurt Angle
Chris Jericho
Brock Lesnar
Eddie Guerrero
John Bradshaw Layfield
John Cena
Edge
Rob Van Dam
Randy Orton
Jeff Hardy
Batista
Sheamus
The Miz
Rey Mysterio
Alberto Del Rio
CM Punk
there were also 3 "unofficial" Championship reigns:
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - was mistakenly awarded a pinfall victory over the Champion,Bob Backlund. Valentine never physically carried the title,and within days he lost a "rematch" to Backlund,even though he was never officially recognized as Champion
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase - was also never officially recognized as Champion after Andre surrendered the title to him,though he did wrestle at one MSG show billed as the WWF Heavyweight Champion with the Belt in tow before the title switch was vacated.
Lex Luger - appeared at least at one TV taping as the WWF Champion taped prior to WrestleMania X before Vince decided not to give him the Championship, so he never officially held the Belt.
in 1979, the WWWF became affiliated with the NWA again and was renamed the World Wrestling Federation,and the WWWF World Championship became the WWF Heavyweight Championship, but following a final split with the NWA in 1983, the Title was referred to as the WWF World Heavyweight Championship or the WWF Heavyweight Championship, then finally becoming the WWF Championship in the 90's,and today is the WWE Championship.
It has become over the decades the most prestigious Belt in the world of wrestling, at various points sharing that distinction with other World Championship Belts ( the NWA and AWA in the 80's, WCW and ECW in the 90's) , but today basically stands alone as the #1 Wrestling Title. the lineage of the Belt also includes a who's who of wrestling dignitaries, with almost every big name in the sport having held the Title at one point or another. the list of men who held this Title includes:
"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers
Bruno Sammartino
Ivan Koloff
Pedro Morales
Stan "The Man" Stasiak
"Superstar" Billy Graham
Bob Backlund
Antonio Inoki
The Iron Sheik
Hulk Hogan
Andre The Giant
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
The Ultimate Warrior
Sgt. Slaughter
The Undertaker
"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Bret "Hitman" Hart
Yokozuna
Diesel (Kevin Nash)
Shawn Michaels
"Sycho" Sid Vicious
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
Kane
The Rock
Mankind
Triple H
The Big Show
Vince McMahon Jr.
Kurt Angle
Chris Jericho
Brock Lesnar
Eddie Guerrero
John Bradshaw Layfield
John Cena
Edge
Rob Van Dam
Randy Orton
Jeff Hardy
Batista
Sheamus
The Miz
Rey Mysterio
Alberto Del Rio
CM Punk
there were also 3 "unofficial" Championship reigns:
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - was mistakenly awarded a pinfall victory over the Champion,Bob Backlund. Valentine never physically carried the title,and within days he lost a "rematch" to Backlund,even though he was never officially recognized as Champion
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase - was also never officially recognized as Champion after Andre surrendered the title to him,though he did wrestle at one MSG show billed as the WWF Heavyweight Champion with the Belt in tow before the title switch was vacated.
Lex Luger - appeared at least at one TV taping as the WWF Champion taped prior to WrestleMania X before Vince decided not to give him the Championship, so he never officially held the Belt.
