WWE Undisputed Championship
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The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Undisputed Championship was a professional wrestling championship. The championship was originally created with the unification of the WWF Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
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History
On December 9, 2001 at Vengeance, Chris Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin to win the WCW/World Championship and the WWF Championship respectively. As a result, the WCW/World Championship and the WWF Championship were unified and Chris Jericho became the first WWF Undisputed Champion. The championship was represented by both original belts.
Jericho would successfully defend the undisputed championship against the men he had defeated to win both belts, overcoming The Rock at Royal Rumble 2002, and Steve Austin at No Way Out. He then lost the title to Triple H at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, after a 98 day reign. On April 1, 2002, the individual belts were replaced by a single belt, presented to Triple H by WWF co-owner Ric Flair. The new belt's design was a merger of both prior belts' designs: like the old WCW World Heavyweight Championship, it was almost entirely gold without any of the blue that was present on the WWF belt, and it had a name plate for the wrestler who currently held the belt (a feature that would later be incorporated onto all of WWE's other title belts), and like the WWF Championship, it had the design of a globe in the middle, surrounded by an eagle.
Following the Brand Extension and roster split (which divided the WWF into RAW and SmackDown! brands) of March 25, 2002, the Undisputed Champion was one of only two people (the other being the Women's Champion) who could appear on both brands simultaneously.
Hulk Hogan defeated Triple H for the title in April 2002 at Backlash. The following month, in response to an August 2001 court ruling that the WWF had violated its agreement with the World Wildlife Fund, the World Wrestling Federation changed its name and removed all "WWF" references from its product. The WWF/WWE name change resulted in the WWF Undisputed title being renamed the WWE Undisputed Championship.
The Undisputed Championship was later held by The Undertaker, The Rock, and finally Brock Lesnar, who signed an exclusive contract to appear and defend the Undisputed Championship on the SmackDown! brand only, thus leaving the RAW brand without a major championship. This led to RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff introducing a new championship for the RAW brand. This new title, named the World Heavyweight Championship, was represented by the old Big Gold Belt. Eric Bischoff then awarded the new championship to Triple H citing the fact that he was the last person to physically hold the Big Gold Belt during his reign as Undisputed Champion while it was still represented by two belts. Bischoff then stated that the Undisputed Championship could no longer be called "Undisputed" because it belonged to only one brand. Immediately afterwards, the WWE Undisputed Championship reverted to being called the WWE Championship.
Title history
| Wrestler: | Undisputed Championship Reign: | WWE Championship Reign: | Days Held: | Date: | Location: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Jericho | 1 | 1 | 98 | December 9 2001 | San Diego, CA | As WCW/World Champion; defeated WWF Champion Steve Austin to unify the titles |
| Triple H | 1 | 5 | 35 | March 17 2002 | Toronto, ON | |
| Hulk Hogan | 1 | 6 | 28 | April 21 2002 | Kansas City, MO | |
| The Undertaker | 1 | 4 | 63 | May 19 2002 | Nashville, TN | |
| The Rock | 1 | 7 | 35 | July 21 2002 | Detroit, MI | Defeated Kurt Angle and The Undertaker in a Triple threat match |
| Brock Lesnar | 1 | 1 | 8 | August 25 2002 | Uniondale, NY | Lesnar became the youngest WWE Champion by winning this match. |
Statistics
The following pertains specifically to the history of the belt since its WWE introduction in 2001:
| Record: | Record holder: | Record number: | Notes: |
| Most reigns | N/A | N/A | No one had more than one reign |
| Longest reign | Chris Jericho | 98 days | Chris Jericho was not only the first-ever WWE Undisputed Champion, he was also the longest reigning Undisputed Champion in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment. He defeated The Rock and Steve Austin on December 9 at Vengeance 2001. He defended the title until Wrestlemania X8 on March 17, 2002 where he lost it to Triple H. |
| Shortest reign | Hulk Hogan / Brock Lesnar | Hulk Hogan - 28 days / Brock Lesnar - 8 days | Hulk Hogan won the WWF Undisputed Championship at WWF Backlash 2002 from Triple H and then lost it to The Undertaker one month later at Judgment Day. Brock Lesnar won the WWE Undisputed Championship from The Rock at SummerSlam. Although Lesnar held the title for more than 8 days, he is still the shortest reigning WWE Undisputed Champion because the title became disputed when the WWE officials decided that each brand on the WWE roster should have their own world champion. Therefore, Brock Lesnar was re-classified as a WWE Champion. |
| Oldest champion | Hulk Hogan | 48 years old | This was Hogan's first WWE Championship since his departure from the WWF to WCW in 1993. |
| Youngest champion | Brock Lesnar | 25 years old | N/A |
| Heaviest champion | The Undertaker | 305 lb | N/A |
| Lightest champion | Chris Jericho | 227 lb | N/A |
See also
