WWE posted a video on their YouTube channel titled “7 things you didn’t know about the World Heavyweight Championship”. While some or even all of the things that they mentioned in the video might be known to the fans, but let’s still take a look at these things in honor of the Big Gold Belt!
1. The World Heavyweight Championship appeared twice on WWE TV before September 2002 (when Triple H was crowned the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion by Eric Bischoff). Ric Flair brought the Title with him to the WWF in 1991, forcing then WWF President Jack Tunney to blur the belt on WWF TV.
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A decade later, the Title was defended and changed hands multiple times during the “Invasion” Era in 2001.
2. The first World Heavyweight Championship reign in WWE did not start with a match. Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded Triple H with the Title on September 2, 2002 in response to Undisputed WWE Champion Brock Lesnar signing exclusively with SmackDown.
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But the decision upset 16 time World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, who insisted that The Game should earn the Title. Later that night, Triple H successfully defended that Title for the first time against Flair by stealing a page from the Dirtiest Player in the Game!
3. Triple H held the Title on 5 occassions for a total of 616 days. That’s more than 100 days longer than the second most cumulative days.
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The longest individual reign belongs to Batista, who defeated Triple H for the Title at WrestleMania 21 and carried it for 282 days before a torn bicep forced him to relinquish the Title.
4. Two World Heavyweight Champions have been stripped off the Title. In April 2008, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero stripped The Undertaker off the Title for using Hell’s Gate submission hold on Edge.
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Then in February of 2011, Vickie stripped Edge off the World Heavyweight Champion for using the banned Spear on Dolph Ziggler.
5. Edge can certainly make a strong claim to be the greatest World Heavyweight Champion of all time. He held the Title 7 times, which is the most in the Championship’s 11 year history.
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Plus, his 7th reign ended when he was forced to retire from active in-ring competition, which made him the first WWE Superstar to retire as reigning World Champion.
6. Goldberg became the first Superstar to win the World Heavyweight Championship in both WCW & WWE. 5 years after winning the Title in Georgia Dome on WCW Nitro, Goldberg put his career on the line for one more opportunity at Unforgiven 2003.
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Goldberg survived a low-blow and a Sledgehammer shot and then caught “The Game” with a Spear out of nowhere and a Jackhammer to claim the Title.
7. The Big Gold Title changed Championship designs forever. When the Title was defended during the Invasion era, it became the first Title in WWF/E to feature a name plate of the Title holder.
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Later in 2002, Ric Flair revealed a new Undisputed Championship design that included name plate.
You can watch the video below:
