The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestlingworld heavyweight championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the original world title of the Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, later used in WWE as the world title of the ECWbrand and one of three in WWE, complementing the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. It was introduced as the ECW Heavyweight Championship on April 25, 1992. It was originally part of the Eastern Championship Wrestling promotion, which joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) on September 18, 1993.[1] It was established as a world heavyweight championship in August 1994 following the promotion's secession from the NWA.[2] The promotion became Extreme Championship Wrestling and the title became the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. It remained active until April 11, 2001, when ECW was closed and WWE subsequently purchased its assets. WWE relaunched ECW as a WWE brand in June 2006 with the title being recommissioned and designated as the ECW brand's world title.[3][4] The brand dissolved February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive.[5]
The championship was contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. All title changes occurred at ECW or WWE shows. The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, who defeated Salvatore Bellomo in a tournament final on April 25, 1992, to become the first ECW Heavyweight Champion. WWE, however, does not recognize the ECW Heavyweight Championship reigns from April 1992 through August 1994. Instead, they recognize Shane Douglas' second reign, which originally began on March 26, 1994, but is recognized as starting on August 27, 1994 – the same day the championship was renamed the ECW World Heavyweight Championship – as the inception of the title's history. The Sandman holds the record for most reigns, with five. At 406 days, Douglas' fourth reign is the longest in the title's history. Ezekiel Jackson's only reign was the shortest in the history of the title as it was retired as soon as he won it. He defeated the previous champion, Christian, on February 16, 2010, at an ECW television taping event. Overall, there have been 49 reigns among 32 wrestlers, with 1 vacancy, and 2 deactivations.
Reigns
Names
Name
Years
ECW Heavyweight Championship
April 25, 1992 – September 18, 1993
NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship
September 18, 1993 – August 27, 1994
ECW World Heavyweight Championship
August 27, 1994 – April 11, 2001; June 13, 2006 – July 2006
The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer defeated Stevie Richards and Brian Lee in a tag team match. The Sandman gained the pinfall to win the championship after Raven failed to show up for the event. The title change aired on the October 8, 1996 episode of Hardcore TV via tape delay.
Taz had signed with the WWF following his title loss to Mike Awesome on September 19, 1999. However, Awesome unexpectedly signed with WCW in 2000 while still being champion and threatened to bring the title onto WCW TV. As a result, Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon arranged for Taz to return to ECW and defeat Awesome for the title. The episode aired on April 14, 2000 via tape delay.
Nitro, who substituted for Chris Benoit due to his death (unknown at the time), defeated CM Punk to win the vacant championship. His ring name was changed to John Morrison during his reign on the July 17, 2007 episode of ECW. Beginning in August 2007, the title would be referred to simply as the ECW Championship.[48]
Kane was a member of the SmackDown brand at the time he won the title, thus making the title exclusive to SmackDown. The title was returned to ECW when Kane defected to the ECW brand two days later. Then the title was exclusive to the Raw brand when Kane was drafted to Raw on June 23, 2008. This gives Kane the distinction of being the only wrestler to carry one championship across all three brands.
This was a triple threat match also involving the SmackDown brand's Big Show. The title is once again exclusive to ECW due to Mark Henry being a member of the ECW roster.
This was a triple threatHardcore Match also involving Jack Swagger. Dreamer became the only wrestler to win the title both in the original ECW and in the WWE-sponsored revival.
Benaka, Matt; Westcott, Brian; Roelfsema, Eric; Dean, Joe; Fitzgerald, Jason. "ECW World Heavyweight Title History". Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. Archived from the original on 2009-08-12. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
Gary Will and Royal Duncan (2006). "(United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
Thom Loverro (2007). The Rise & Fall of ECW. Simon & Schuster Adult. ISBN1-4165-1312-4.
^Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 23, 2005). "NWA World Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on February 20, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2021.