WWE Championship

The World Wrestling Entertainment Championship, also known as the WWE Championship or WWE Heavyweight Championship, is one of the two top championships contested in World Wrestling Entertainment. It was exclusive to the SmackDown! brand between August 26, 2002 and June 6, 2005, while the World Heavyweight Championship was exclusive to WWE RAW; however, when then-WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to RAW during the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery, he took the belt with him to RAW. Since then, the World Heavyweight Championship has moved to SmackDown! due to the draft of then-Champion Batista on June 30, 2005.

Facts and trivia

• The longest reign was that of Bruno Sammartino at 2803 days (over seven years).
• The longest reign for a heel wrestler was that of "Superstar" Billy Graham at 296 days.
• The shortest reign was that of Andre the Giant, who handed the title over to Ted DiBiase less than two minutes after winning it from Hulk Hogan. It was later declared an invalid transaction and the title vacated.
• The second shortest reign was Yokozuna's first reign. Shortly after he had defeated Bret Hart for the title, Yokozuna's manager, Mr. Fuji, rashly challenged Hulk Hogan to face Yokozuna. Hogan, with the blessing of Hart, entered the ring and won the title in 25 seconds, making Yokozuna's total reign 2 minutes and 7 seconds.
• The most WWE Championships held by a single person is seven. The Rock had seven reigns, followed by both Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin with six, Bret Hart and Triple H with five, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle with four, and Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Brock Lesnar with three. Due to some controversial matches, Bob Backlund can lay claim to two additional reigns on top of his two official ones, totalling four.
• The youngest champion was Brock Lesnar, who won the title at the age of 25.
• The oldest champion was Vince McMahon, who won the title at the age of 54.
• The oldest champion besides WWE owner Vince McMahon is Hulk Hogan, who won his sixth championship when he was 48. At the time it was the Undisputed Championship.
• The fastest ever debut-to-championship win is Brock Lesnar in just under six months.
• The tallest ever champion was The Big Show, billed as 7 ft 2 in (218 cm).
• The shortest ever champion was Eddie Guerrero, billed as 5 ft 8 in (173 cm).
• The heaviest ever champion was Yokozuna, billed variously as 400 to 600 lb (181 to 272 kg) throughout his career.
• The lightest ever champion was Shawn Michaels, billed as 225 lb (102 kg).
• The shortest WWE Championship match in which a title changed hands was Diesel defeating champion Bob Backlund on November 26, 1994 in eight seconds.
• Seven wrestlers have won both this title and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Diesel (as "Kevin Nash" in WCW), Sycho Sid (as "Sid Vicious" in WCW), and The Big Show (as "The Giant" in WCW).
• Bill Goldberg won the WCW title and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship, which was considered the top title during his time on WWE's RAW. Of course, wrestling "logic" could suggest that the World Heavyweight title was really the de-unified WCW title, so Goldberg may have won the same title twice.
• Kurt Angle, The Rock, and Chris Jericho, who have all won the WWE Championship, were also all WCW Champions, but all won WCW title(s) after the purchase of WCW by the WWF, so it is difficult to consider them "legitimate" WCW champions.
• However, Ric Flair is the only man to ever hold the WWE Championship, WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• Special custom belts have been created for at least four WWE champions: Billy Graham (slightly different plate art and a red strap), the Ultimate Warrior (white, blue, and purple straps), Stone Cold Steve Austin (entirely custom "smokin' skull" belt), and John Cena (entirely custom "bling" belt with turntable-styled spinning WWE logo). The WWE had a custom belt designed for The Rock featuring the brama bull logo, but decided against using it over fear that its use, combined with that of the Smoking Skull Belt, would result in the traditional belt being nearly abandoned.