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Inprofessional wrestling, achampionship ortitle is a recognition promoted byprofessional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined byprofessional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved inpredetermined rivalries; these narratives createfeuds between the various competitors, which usually cast them as eitherfaces (heroes),heels (villains), or more rarelytweeners (morally ambiguous). The bookers in a company, who decide the winners and where the storyline goes, will place the title on the most accomplished performer or the one they believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership.
Professional wrestling portrays the structure oftitle matchcombat sports. Participants compete for a championship, and must defend it after winning it. These titles are represented physically by achampionship belt that is worn or carried by the champion(s). In the case of team wrestling, there is a belt for each member of the team.
Almost all professional wrestling promotions have one major title, and some have more. Championships are designated by divisions of weight, height, gender, wrestling style, and other qualifications.
Typically, each promotion only recognizes the "legitimacy" of their own titles, althoughcross-promotion does happen. When one promotion absorbs or purchases another, the titles from the defunct promotion may continue to be defended in the new promotion or be decommissioned, usually throughchampionship unification.
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Behind the scenes, thebookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or those the bookers believe will generatefan interest in terms of event attendance andtelevision viewership. Lower ranked titles may also be used on the performers who show potential, thus allowing them greater exposure to the audience. However, other circumstances may also determine the use of a championship. A combination of a championship's lineage, the caliber of performers as champion, and the frequency and manner of title changes, dictates the audience's perception of the title's quality, significance, and reputation.
A wrestler's championship accomplishments can be central to their career, becoming a measure of their performance ability anddrawing power. The most accomplished or decorated wrestlers tend to be revered as legends. American wrestlerRic Flair has had multipleworld heavyweight championship reigns spanning over three decades. Japanese wrestlerÚltimo Dragón onceheld and defended a record 10 titles simultaneously.
Professional wrestling's championship belts are modeled similarly to the championship belts inboxing, and othercombat sports such asmixed martial arts. They are made of elaborately designed plates ofgold or otherprecious metals, usually bearing the name of the title and the wrestling promotion, and is on a leather strap. The color and designs vary with each title and promotion.
A wrestler may win a sanctioned championship and redesign the belt itself. Some (such asJohn Cena's Spinner Belt) later became the official belt design. Others (such asStone Cold Steve Austin's Smoking Skull Belt,Edge's Rated-R Spinner,Daniel Bryan's eco-friendly belt, andThe Fiend Bray Wyatt's Universal title with his face on it) were not used after their respective title reign.
While rare, there are cases of championships being represented with items other than belts, such as championship trophies, medals, crowns, etc. An example of this is WWE'sNXT Heritage Cup, which is represented with a trophy.
The fate of a title depends on the champion's condition and the importance of the title to the promotion (e.g.Gregory Helms held theWWE Cruiserweight Championship, despite being sidelined with an injury, because the Cruiserweight Championship was not a major championship). The champion may be forced to vacate his or her title if the injury becomes too severe and the championship is too important. In May 2015,Daniel Bryan vacated theWWE Intercontinental Championship due to a major concussion and a year before, he had to vacate the world title due to neck surgery. In November 2015,Seth Rollins vacated theWWE World Heavyweight Championship due to a knee injury that required surgery.
However, a champion may keep their title despite a severe injury and despite the championship being quite important. In 1998,Shane Douglas kept theECW World Heavyweight Championship while sidelined. In 2005,Trish Stratus kept theWWE Women's Championship while sidelined with a herniated disk for four months. In 2012,CM Punk kept theWWE Championship while undergoing and recovering from knee surgery. In 2015,Ryback kept theWWE Intercontinental Championship while recovering from a knee infection.
InAll Elite Wrestling, when a champion gets injured, a match is held to determine an interim champion until the lineal champion is cleared to compete, after which a match is held between the two to crown an undisputed champion. For example,Jon Moxley became interimAEW World Champion in June 2022 after then-lineal champion, CM Punk, was sidelined with a foot injury. When Punk returned in August, Moxley defeated him in a match to become the undisputed champion. These interim reigns are not recognized as official reigns. However, if the lineal champion's injury renders them indefinitely sidelined, they can forfeit the championship and the interim champion becomes the lineal champion. An example of this happened in November 2022, when it was announced that then-linealAEW Women's World Champion, Thunder Rosa relinquished the title due to a back injury she suffered in August. As a result, then-interim champion,Jamie Hayter, became the official champion.
Before the 1980s when title matches were rare, some champions could keep their titles even when injured;Bruno Sammartino kept hisWWWF World Heavyweight Championship from April to June 1976 despite being injured by a botched body slam fromStan Hansen. InMexico, this situation still occurs, but inJapan, it is becoming increasingly rare as champions are needed to be present in regular tours even when titles are not defended.
Professional wrestling championships are often split up into various different classifications, each of which designate varying levels of importance to the belts.
The world heavyweight championship (also just world championship, heavyweight championship, or in some cases the name of the promotion followed by championship) is the name given to the championship that is typically presented as being the mostprestigious of those contested within a promotion. The wrestler holding a championship with this name is most commonly referred to as the "world heavyweight champion" or "world champion" (though some promotions may use synonymous/alternate terms, such as theAAA Mega Championship ofLucha Libre AAA World Wide or theUndisputed WWE Championship, the premier title ofWWE).
Since professional wrestling is scripted, there is no promotion or group of people that recognize one official world title of the industry (the closest was theNWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship during theterritory days during the mid to late 20th century).
Instead, each promotion can promote their top title as a world title, with some of them promoting title matches around the world to claim the designation. Some promotions may even recognize multiple world championships, such as is the case with WWE, as due to the large size of its roster, the promotion splits its roster into what they call brands where talent exclusively perform and their two main brands (Raw andSmackDown) each have their own world championship.[1]
The first widely recognized world heavyweight championship was theWorld Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, created in 1905, and the inaugural champion wasGeorge Hackenschmidt. The lineage of many prominent contemporary world championships can be traced back to the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship considered its direct successor[according to whom?], with many world championships having been spun off from the NWA's title.
A very common championship variation. The championship usually specifies the location on where the promotion is based, an example being WWE'sWWE United States Championship. Sometimes it may specify a specific state or territory, such as theNWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship. It is also common to be a smaller division of the world, an example being theWWE Intercontinental Championship, theTNA International Championship , or theIWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. It is very common for these variations to be the second most prestigious championship in a promotion, but exceptions have existed, like the now defunctWWE European Championship, which served as the company's tertiary singles championship, and theNWA United States Heavyweight Championship, which many NWA territories created versions of and promoted as their most prestigious championship whenever the NWA World Heavyweight Champion was not around.
Another common classification of championships are byweight classes. Given the scripted nature of professional wrestling matches, weight classes are not always strictly adhered to. Typically, promotions prefer to have a heavyweight title as their top prize, with other designations, such ascruiserweight,middleweight, orlight-heavyweight titles. Promotions often have one sub-heavyweight classification, while others sometimes may have more. Mountevans' committee (a governing body that instilled rules for professional wrestling in the UK) created seven formal weight divisions:
Classifying championships into weight classes is also common practice in thelucha libre promotions ofMexico. Lucha libre has a detailed weight class system patterned after boxing. Each weight class has an official upper limit, but examples of wrestlers who are technically too heavy to hold their title can be found. The following weight classes exist in lucha libre, as defined by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission), the main regulatory body in Mexico:[2]
Gender occasionally plays a role in the classifications of championship belts. Due to professional wrestling being a male dominated sport, only women's titles are given official gender classifications. Generally, only men are allowed to win the championships without a gender specification, thoughChyna defeatingJeff Jarrett to win theWWF Intercontinental Championship in 1999 andTessa Blanchard defeatingSami Callihan to win theImpact World Championship in 2020 are notable exceptions. In promotions featuring only a single gender (such asWomen of Wrestling orShimmer Women Athletes), gender classifications are often unnecessary as well. Titles specifically designated for women may fall into any of the other categories listed here (e.g., women's world titles or women's tag team titles, putting them on an equal level as their male counterpart).
Andy Kaufman once used gender classifications to his advantage, turning inter-gender competitions into a unique wrestling side-show. Kaufman declared himself the "Inter-Gender Champion of the World", and offered $1,000 to any woman who could pin him. None were successful during the run of the gimmick; though in other promotions such asWCW andWWE, women have successfully pinned men, most notably in a few isolated championship matches.
On rare occasions, a male wrestler will compete in championship matches for championships generally contested exclusively in the women's division. Such examples includeHarvey Wippleman becoming the only male to capture theWWF Women's Championship in 2000,[3] andEric Young winning one half of theTNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship in 2012.[4]
Gimmick match classifications sometimes factor into the creation of title belts. In these classifications, special skills in a certain type of match or a certain style of wrestling is the signature of the division, and the champion is considered to be the most skilled wrestler at that specific style.
Gimmick championships often take very differing forms. A common variation is the "hardcore championship", a title often defended in weapons-filled and bloody competitions with fewer rules (count outs and disqualifications are not usually allowed). A recent example of a hardcore championship is theFTW Championship, which was used inAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2020 to 2024 and was primarily contested inFTW Rules matches. Another past such title was theWWE Hardcore Championship, which was active from 1998 to 2002.
In recent years, style-based championships have centered around what is known as "scientific" or technical wrestling. Examples of this include theNXT Heritage Cup (which is specifically contested under "British Round Rules") in WWE'sNXT brand, and theROH Pure Championship inRing of Honor (which is contested under "Pure Wrestling Rules").
A variation that was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s and made a return in the 2020s is a "television championship" or "iron man championship", which involves more frequent title defenses as well as the stipulations that the belt can only change hands on television (as opposed to non-televisedhouse shows) with title matches having a short, TV-friendly time limit, usually 10 or 15 minutes. These titles were originally introduced during a time when weekly TV shows were seen as a vehicle to promote the money-making live shows, where major title defenses took place. Television titles provided a championship that would be defended on the weekly television shows. Examples of a television championship include theAEW TNT Championship (named after thehome network of AEW'sCollision plus other AEW programming) and theROH World Television Championship. In 2021, AEW introduced the first TV title specifically for female wrestlers, theAEW TBS Championship, named forthe network that is the home ofDynamite as of January 5, 2022, serving as the counterpart to the male TNT Championship. Sister promotion ROH introduced a similar title for their women's division, theROH Women's World Television Championship.
A modern take on the traditional TV title are internet championships. As professional wrestling began having events on streaming and online platforms, some promotions modified their television championships to be promoted as internet championships to reflect this. Examples of this include theTNA Digital Media Championship, which was created in 2021 and defended up to 2025, where the full match are free to watch on toTNA's online platforms andYouTube. In 2024, WWE introduced the Speed Championship for themen andwomen division. The title was doubly named after theTwitter exclusive streaming showWWE Speed and due to the five-minute time limit of title matches (non-titleSpeed matches have a three-minute time limit). Since August 2025, the titles will no longer be defended onWWE Speed.
Tag team championships are yet another different form of wrestling titles. Some consider it to be a style championship, but tag team championships are unique in their ability to include multiple wrestlers on teams competing for multiple belts. The most common form of tag team championships are in 2-on-2 format, which is often implicitly understood. Other tag team championships include 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 formats, which are often explicitly stated within the championship name to distinguish them from the 2-on-2 championships. Some teams may invoke what is called theFreebird Rule, in which a stable of three or more wrestlers are all officially recognized as champion, allowing any pairing of the stable's members to defend the championship. This rule is most commonly applied to the standard 2-on-2 tag team championship, though it has also been applied to the other variants.
Tag team championships are also often combined with regional modifiers, gimmick modifiers, gender modifiers, and weight class modifiers to further distinguish them. In such cases, the primary title is usually called theworld tag team championship, with the other championships seen as secondary titles.
Examples of 2-on-2 tag team championships:
Examples of 3-on-3 tag team championships:
Examples of 4-on-4 tag team championships:
Examples of 5-on-5 tag team championships:
The concept of championships, and their central role in wrestling, allows for the potential forangles. One such angle is an unsanctioned championship title. These are claimed by a wrestler and defended in sanctioned matches, but are not recognized as legitimate titles by the promotion.
Examples of unsanctioned championships include:
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