World Heavyweight Championship

The World Heavyweight Championship is a primary belt in the WWE and the top prize for the superstars competing on the RAW brand. It is the red brand counterpart to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship which is defended on SmackDown. The title was unveiled by Triple H on the April 24th episode of Monday Night RAW. The inaugural champion was Seth Rollins who was crowned at the Night of Champions 2023 via a 12-man tournament.

Current World Heavyweight Champion

Gunther is the current World Heavyweight Champion in WWE in his first reign with the title. At King of the Ring, Gunther defeated Randy Orton to become the WWE King of the Ring and earned himself a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. At SummerSlam, Gunther defeated Damian Priest to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.

History

Background for World Heavyweight Championship

At WrestleMania 38, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to unify the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship. The unified title would go on to be called the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This also meant that the promotion only had one world title remaining for both brands. Reigns defended his gold against contenders from both the brand up until the mega draft of 2023. On April 24, 2023, episode of RAW, Triple H announced that Reigns would get drafted in the forthcoming draft and would wrestle exclusively for it. He further announced that the other brand will get a world title of its own followed by him unveiling of the World Heavyweight Championship.

At the draft, Roman Reigns was picked on the number 1 spot by SmackDown, thus drafting the World Heavyweight Championship to RAW. Triple H then declared the tournament via a press conference which was announced to culminate at the Night of Champions.

Inaugural Tournament

The inaugural champion was crowned via a 12-man tournament. Although the belt is exclusive to the red brand, the tournament consists of six superstars from both RAW and SmackDown.

WWE

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On the May 8, 2023, episode of RAW, two triple-threat matches took place. The Miz, Cody Rhodes, and Finn Balor wrestled in the first match while Shinsuke Nakamura, Seth Rollins, and Damian Preist lock-horned in the second. The winner of these two matches would go on to collide later that night and the eventual winner will go to the Night of Champions. Finn Balor won the first match while Seth Rollins emerged as the victor in the second match. The two then faced each other in the main event of the night. After a hard-hitting contest that lasted about 15 minutes, it was The Architect Seth Rollins who advanced further into the tournament.

Likewise, the May 12 episode of SmackDown featured Edge, Rey Mysterio, and AJ Styles in a triple threat bout alongside Bobby Lashley, Austin Theory, and Sheamus battling it out in another match. AJ Styles and Bobby Lashley were the winners of these two contests. In the main event of SmackDown, Styles defeated Bobby Lashley. Seth Rollins and AJ Styles were then announced to meet at the tournament finals at Night of Champions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After an instant classic match, it was Rollins who walked out of the ring as the champion when he pinned down The Phenomenal One for a three count.

Seth 'Freakin' Rollins holds the Gold

Seth 'Freakin' Rollins was the first World Heavyweight Champion in WWE History. During his title reign, he defended the belt in 12 televised matches. He defeated Damian Preist (RAW), Bron Breakker (NXT Gold Rush), Finn Balor (Money in the Bank and SummerSlam), Shinsuke Nakamura (Payback and Fastlane), Sami Zayn (RAW), Jey Uso (RAW), Jinder Mahal (RAW) and Drew McIntyre (Crown Jewel and RAW Day One). Eventually, he lost the belt to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania XL.

Damian Priest cashes in

At WrestleMania XL Night Two, Seth Rollins lost the belt to Drew McIntyre. Just a few minutes later, McIntyre's reign got cut-short after Mr. Money in the Bank Damian Priest cashed in his briefcase to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Priest became only the second wrestler after Seth 'Freakin' Rollins to cash in the briefcase at The Grandest Stage of Them All.

List of World Heavyweight Champions