| ECW World Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
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 The ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt used in WWE from June 2006 to July 2008 was based on the design used in ECW from May 1998 to April 2001. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Extreme Championship Wrestling (1992–2001) World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2010) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | April 25, 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | February 16, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||||
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TheECW World Heavyweight Championship was aprofessional wrestlingworld heavyweight championship originally used inExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and later,World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the ECW promotion, spun off from theNWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was established under ECW in 1994 but was originally introduced in 1992 by the promotion's precursor,Eastern Championship Wrestling, a territory of theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The inaugural champion wasJimmy Snuka in 1992; however, WWE considers the inaugural world heavyweight champion to beShane Douglas, with his reign beginning on August 27, 1994, when Eastern Championship Wrestling split from the NWA to become Extreme Championship Wrestling.
The title was deactivated in 2001 when ECW ceased all of its operations. The assets of ECW were then purchased by WWE in 2003. In 2006, WWE reactivated the championship as the world title of their newly establishedECWbrand. It was the third concurrently active world championship in the promotion, complementing theWWE Championship andWorld Heavyweight Championship of the other two brands,Raw andSmackDown. The ECW Championship then briefly appeared as the sole world title of the Raw brand in 2008 as a result ofthat year's draft. When WWE disbanded the ECW brand in 2010, the championship was subsequently retired following the final episode ofECW withEzekiel Jackson as the final titleholder, who consequently had the shortest reign at 2 minutes, 25 seconds as he won it during the episode.
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was introduced originally in 1992 as the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship withJimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an organization with many memberpromotions.[1] In the early 1990s,Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a member of the NWA and by 1994, theNWA World Heavyweight Championship, theworld title of the NWA, was vacant. Consequently,a tournament was organized to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion and on August 27, NWA-ECW Heavyweight ChampionShane Douglas defeated2 Cold Scorpio in the finals to win the title. However, Douglas immediately relinquished the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion.[2][3] ECW subsequently seceded from the NWA and becameExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was thus established,spun off from the NWA title.
In 1998, during a time when ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas was sidelined with a legitimate elbow injury but refused to vacate the title,Taz introduced an unsanctioned championship known as theFTW (Fuck the World) Heavyweight Championship.[4][5] Frustrated by the lack of opportunity to compete for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, Taz unveiled the FTW Heavyweight Championship to assert himself as the "real world champion" on May 14, 1998.[6]
Although never officially sanctioned by ECW, Taz defended the FTW Heavyweight Championship until losing toSabu on December 19, 1998.[7] Upon finally defeating Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on January 10, 1999 atECW Guilty as Charged, Taz went on to defeat Sabu on March 21 atECW Living Dangerously to effectively unify the two titles.[8][9]
In April 2000, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship became the focus of a highly unusual inter-promotional conflict involving ECW,World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF).[10] At the time,Mike Awesome was the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion and without prior notice to ECW, Awesome made a surprise appearance on the April 10 episode ofWCW Monday Nitro after signing a contract with WCW.[11] ECW ownerPaul Heyman responded by filing a legalinjunction to prevent Awesome from appearing on WCW programming with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt.[12]
To resolve the situation and ensure the title was returned to ECW, an agreement was brokered between WCW, ECW, and the WWF, with the latter agreeing toloan former ECW wrestler Taz for a one-night appearance to reclaim the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Amesome.[13] On April 13, 2000, at an ECW event in Indianapolis, Indiana, Taz defeated Awesome to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, marking a rare instance in professional wrestling where two wrestlers signed to separate promotions faced each other for a third promotion’s world championship.[13]
On April 22, 2000 atECW CyberSlam,Tommy Dreamer defeated Taz to become the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion, thereby returning the title fully to ECW.[14][10] The title remained active until April 11, 2001, when ECW ceased operations. In May 2002, WWF renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and subsequently purchased ECW's assets on January 28, 2003.[15]
In July 2001, ECW was incorporated into WWF programming as part of "The Invasion," which briefly featuredan alliance of WCW and ECW wrestlers following the WWF's purchase of WCW's assets in March of that year.[16] By 2005, WWE reintroduced ECW through content from the ECWvideo library and a series of books, which included the release ofThe Rise and Fall of ECW documentary.[17] With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organizedECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featuredECW alumni.[17] Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced thesecond ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as thepremiere event in the relaunch of theECW franchise as a thirdWWE brand, complementary toRaw andSmackDown.[18]
On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it toRob Van Dam as a result of winning theWWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or theWorld Heavyweight Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event.[19] However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead.[20] The title became known as the ECW World Championship in July 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in July 2007.[21][22]
The ECW World Championship Tournament was a tournament created to determine a newECW World Champion afterBobby Lashley vacated his championship due to beingdrafted toRaw on June 11, 2007. The finals took place atVengeance: Night of Champions. This tournament is notable because one of the semi-final rounds was Chris Benoit's final match. The tournament final was supposed to be Benoit vs CM Punk but Benoit no-showed the event and was replaced by Johnny Nitro, who would go on to win the title. It was reported the day after the event that Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel were found dead in their home in suburban Atlanta. The day after police ruled that Benoit himself had killed his wife and son before committing suicide. This event has gone on to be known as theChris Benoit double murder and suicide.[23]
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | ||||||||
| Marcus Cor Von | 06:45 | ||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | ||||||||
| Johnny Nitro(*) | 08:15 | ||||||||
| Chris Benoit | Sub | ||||||||
| Elijah Burke | 06:38 | ||||||||
(*) – Johnny Nitro was an event-day replacement added by WWE after Chris Benoit was a no-show, with the official statement a "family emergency". It was later discoveredBenoit's double murder/suicide had taken place that weekend.
The ECW Championship was officially retired on February 16, 2010, following the final episode ofECW, where Ezekiel Jackson defeatedChristian to become the final champion.[24] Through its relaunch, the ECW brand shifted focus fromoriginal ECW alumni toward experimenting with new talent.[25] This laid the groundwork forNXT, which would evolve into WWE’s primary developmental brand and gain critical acclaim for its experimental nature and emphasis on emerging talent.[26][27] Though the ECW Championship was retired, its legacy remains through NXT’s focus on new talent and its appeal to a dedicated fanbase reminiscent of ECW’s innovative and rebellious spirit.[28][29][30]
Following the events of theWWE brand extension, an annualWWE draft was established, in which select members of the WWE roster are reassigned to a different brand.[31]ECW was revived as a third brand in 2006 to rivalRaw andSmackDown and continued to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive once again.[32]
| Date of transition | Brand | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| June 13, 2006 | ECW | AfterRob Van Dam defeatedJohn Cena to win theWWE Championship atECW One Night Stand, the ECW Championship was reactivated and awarded to Van Dam, who held both titles. The ECW Championship subsequently became the top championship of WWE'sECW brand. |
| January 22, 2008 | SmackDown | The ECW Championship moved toSmackDown afterChavo Guerrero, a member of the SmackDown brand, defeatedCM Punk to win the ECW Championship. |
| March 30, 2008 | ECW | ECW ChampionKane was transferred toECW. |
| June 23, 2008 | Raw | ECW ChampionKane was drafted toRaw during the2008 WWE Draft.[33] |
| June 29, 2008 | ECW | The ECW Championship was returned toECW afterMark Henry, a member of the ECW brand, defeatedKane andBig Show in atriple threat match atNight of Champions to win the ECW Championship.[34] |
| February 16, 2010 | N/A | TheECW brand was discontinued, subsequently also retiring the ECW Championship. |
The original Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship belt was a five-plate belt made by Mike Vartanian.[citation needed] It was an exact copy of the heavyweight title for NWA-ECW's forerunner,Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, with subtle differences such as its centerpiece featuring the words "Eastern Championship Wrestling" over geographic outlines ofPennsylvania,New Jersey andDelaware in blue. Additionally, the words "Heavy" and "Weight" were separated by a depiction of aneagle centered at the top of the piece, while the words "Wrestling Champion" were displayed at the bottom of the piece just below a small geographic outline of the continentalUnited States. When Eastern Championship Wrestling withdrew from the NWA to become Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1994, it continued using this design until December 1996 when a new belt was created.[35]
The new belt featured a blackleather strap, snaps to fasten the belt around the waist of the wrestler who wore it, and fivegold-plated metal pieces. The centerpiece design was similar to that of theBig Gold Belt with acrown at the top the piece, a largeglobe at the center and the words "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" displayed prominently. It also included thebarbed wire-enlaced ECW logo in red above the globe. The other four pieces along the strap depicted the flags ofMexico,Japan, the United States,United Kingdom,Canada andFrance.[35]
In May 1998, ECW debuted a new belt designed by Joe Marshall that would be used until the promotion ceased operations in 2001.[36] Like the previous belts, it featured five gold-plated metal pieces along a black leather strap, although this design featured acrocodile skin pattern on the inward-facing side of the strap. Its centerpiece featured achain-link fencing pattern throughout the body of the plate, a blue globe in the center and depictions ofbaseball bats wrapped in barbed wire on the sides. At the top of the piece, a violet ECW logo and the words "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" were displayed with the words "Heavyweight Wrestling" designed to depict the text asbleeding. The four smaller pieces along the strap featured a design aesthetic similar to that of the centerpiece.[35]
Soon after its reactivation by WWE due to the launch of the ECW brand in June 2006, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt design was notably updated from the previous version. These updates included a full black leather strap with a barbed wire designtooled along its edges, red ECW logos replacing the violet ones on the gold-plated pieces, and the innards of the chain-link fencing patterns outlined in black.[35]
On July 22, 2008, ECW General ManagerTheodore Long introduced a new belt design for the ECW Championship.[37] This design featured a larger black leather strap with fiveplatinum-plated pieces, which weremachined and assembled by André Freitas' AFX Studios Inc, and would be used until the championship was retired in 2010.[38] The large centerpiece featured a design depicting aphoenix over a globe in the center with its wings expanded and rays of light emitting from it. At the top of the piece, the WWE logo and the words "World Wrestling Entertainment" were displayed with "ECW" in large letters projected prominently over the phoenix. A removable nameplate, which had the name of the reigning championengraved, was located below it and at the bottom of the piece, the word "Champion" was displayed. Additionally, the entire piece was bordered by a jaggedsaw-like pattern. Along the strap, on each side of the centerpiece, were two similarly designed smaller pieces that were also bordered by a jagged pattern and featured the ECW and WWE logos respectively over a globe on each piece.[35]
Overall, there have been 49 ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns shared among 32 individuals.[1] The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, who won the title by defeatingSalvatore Bellomo in April 1992.The Sandman holds the most reigns as champion, with five. Shane Douglas, in his fourth reign, had the longest reign in the title's history which lasted 406 days.Ezekiel Jackson's 3-minute reign following his defeat ofChristian on the television finale ofECW is the shortest, as the title was retired with the cancellation of the ECW brand.[32] Christian's second reign was the longest under WWE at 205 days.
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