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. I happen to very clearly remember this happening as I had happened to be watching that episode. Thus, the constant inferrals that these men were NOT named is untrue, and should not be stated as such in the article. The impression given by the WWE at this point, at least so far as I could tell, was that the WCW title's history had been partially absorbed into the WWE history, as Kane had never been World Heavyweight Champion in terms of having held this version of the belt. Michaels of course, actually HAD held the title as it currently exists. Goldberg later captured it in september of that year, and as we all know, Scott Steiner got nowhere near the title in his tenure with the company. Nash himself had held the WCW version of this belt, and obviously, so had Booker T and Flair.
This title does have a ligitamate claim to the liniage of the WCW title (even though that titles linage with the NWA can be disputed).
the statment: On the May 19, 2003 edition of RAW, champion Triple H was given the choice to defend his title against any of the former "world heavyweight champions" on Raw's roster: Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Kane, or Kevin Nash (he ultimately choice to defend his title against ally Ric Flair). Notable by their absence in that lineup were any former WCW Champions who had never won the Raw World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championship, such as Scott Steiner and Goldberg, implying that the WCW Championship was not recognized as the World Heavyweight Championship. Its nice and all, but if im right i dont think Ric Flair has had won the the RAW title before so why was he in the line up of challengers!?... oh wait ecause hes a 16-time World Heavywieght Champion thats why...
Flair won the WWE Championship twice. Wwb 21:05, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
you cant say either way... and as for the WWE not having the titles history going back any further... hhmmm lets think, the WWE believes the first light-heavyweight champion was Taka Mitchinoku... and kinda forgets the titles japaneese history.
i just think we should mention that this title does have legitamate claims but these can be disputed... i just dont want more hasstle with people next saying the United States Championship/Cruiserweight Championship cant lay claim to their WCW history. ---- Paulley 16:54, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
In response to Jeff Silvers, WWE didn't create the claims of the WCW Light-Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Championships being the same title. Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine made those claims BEFORE WWFE purchased WCW.
Iâm in total agreement. Unless the WWE finally puts out a definitive answer to all these linage disputes, everything is all opinion. The logic of the âSmackdownâ World Title being a âNEWâ Title or being apart of the âWCWâ World Title both makes sense.-- Prince Patrick 19:27, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
Um, Kane's one-day title reign was with the WWE Championship, not the World Heavyweight Championship. ekedolphin 03:22, September 10, 2005 (UTC)
I propose that we move World Heavyweight Championship to WWE World Heavyweight Championship and rename all related articles, then create a new World Heavyweight Championship article that is a generic wrestling article, one that describes the various official (read: declared a World Title by PWI) and unofficial World Heavyweight Championships. It can also list all the World Champions. -- Kitch 14:40, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
During his title reign, he became the first person to defeat Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match in his third title defense at Vengeance.
Does this purposefully not include the Armageddon 6-man match (which Kurt Angle won) or is this just a mistake? --Vyran 12:21, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
When Batista dropped the title on SmackDown on January 13, 2006, we ran down a brief list of previous World Heavyweight Champions. Three of them (Harley Race, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes) never held this belt in WWE. Most importantly, Dusty has never had ANY titles in WWE. I believe this is a definitive connection between the WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Championships, and could be evidence for a possible merger of the two wiki pages once and for all. Comments? -- Kitch 21:53, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
The title does NOT share its lineage with the WCW belt. It doesn't matter that Batista mentioned Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes - 1) he wasn't necessarily referring to HIS "World Heavyweight Championship" (he just said he followed some great wrestlers), and 2) he doesn't have to be right anyway. WWE officially acknowledges that the belt was born when it was awarded to Triple H. Why are people continuing to insist it's the same belt (and same lineage) when they outright said they made a new one? Bssc81 20:29, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I think the main reason for the dispute is because the lineage for the âWCWâ Title and the âWorld Heavyweightâ Title donât overlap each other and fit chronologically. Thatâs why I think itâs the same. Believe what you want to believe. Booker T is the 6 time WCW / World Heavyweight Champion!!-- Prince Patrick 20:32, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
is there anyway that it can be proven that the world heavyweight title doesn't not really have a weight limit.
Benoit actually weighed at 229 lbs during his reign and weighs now at 234 lbs, so he is not really a CW by WWE standards.-- Wwb 01:41, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
There's no real reason why the title would have a weight limit. Take the Big Show and Yokozuna for example, while they never held this particular title, the Big Show was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion weighing between 4 and 500 pounds while Yokozuna is the heaviest wrestler in WWE history to hold the WWE Championship at over 600 pounds. Rey Mysterio weighed only about 165 pounds while he held the title. While Mysterio held the title, the term "heavyweight" kind of lost all meaning, if it ever really held any meaning to begin with. I'm thinking that it did, at least at one time, because Mysterio is roughly 60 pounds lighter than the, previously, lightest wrestler in WWE history to hold a world heavyweight title, which was Shawn Michaels. Odin's Beard 02:33, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Once again, a heavyweight division in wrestling is an "open" division - it theoretically has no lower or upper weight limit. - Chadbryant 03:16, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Batista is not 66 years old. According to several site bios, he is around his early 40's. This needs to be corrected once the linage of the title is resolved.
Who said Batista was 66?! lol Basbalfrk 02:19, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
What is the point of having all these extra bullets, such as Batista being the first person of euro descent or Mysterio being the first masked wrestler, cluttering up the page?
Also why keep adding on with information that is already in the article? (i.e. Saying Mysterio is the shortest champ twice in the record grid and mentioning the mask fact when it is already a bullet else where) 68.1.158.176 02:07, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
Has anyone else noticed the WWE now call Rey Mysterio the World Champion as opposed to the World HEAVYWEIGHT Champion? -- sonicKAI 12:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Yeah they've been doing that since around the time they announced ECW was returning. I think it's for simplicity's sake because they re-activated the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, how confusing for fans would that be to have two World Heavyweight Championships being on the line at say Wrestlemania? We'll only know if it's because they think people won't buy Rey as World Heavywight Champion when the title changes hands to say Batista. Night Bringer 23:25, 26th June 2006 (GMT +10)
Shouldn't there be a link for the article about the general World Heavyweight Championship at the top, next to the link for the WWE Title?-- Wwb 15:53, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
I know this is a dead end topic. But does anyone remember the Opening video of Unforgiven 2002? For people who does know, I think its safe to say WWE's initial intention for the WHC, is to have its lineage dating back to its NWA days.
isn't the rock the first african american champion even though he is half samoan so he should hold the title and booker t could be the first full african american to hold it or second one to hold it.
The Rock never held any WWE reconignized form of this belt. BionicWilliam 04:18, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
The title seems to now be called simply: World Championship, without Heavyweright in the title
To put an end to this subject,I will state that on the 10/30/06 edition of RAW, Vince McMahon referred to King Booker as the "WCW World Heavy - well, he was - the World Heavyweight Champion." I think that firmly proves that King Booker's title is the same title held by Sting, Ron Simmons, etc.
I am in total agreement. He also could have just slipped, because it's the same Big Gold Belt (with the logo of course, for all you fellow fans who don't agree).-- Prince Patrick 20:28, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
I would agree but if you look at wwe.com's title history for the World Heavyweight Championship it starts at Triple H's first reign so it can be considered a different title. Jayorz12 04:31, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Across the board, WWE tends to delineate title reigns for the US, Cruiserweight, and WCW titles based on what company the win took place in. Eddie Guerrero was (and still is) listed on the WWE website as both a former "WCW United States Champion" and "WWE United States Champion" separately. By the same token, Rey Misterio's Cruiserweight Title reigns are listed separately depending on if they were in WWE or WCW. I think WWE's policy of recognizing titles is intended to minimize confusion among newer fans who would wonder when Eddie Guerrero had the time to win the Cruiserweight Title twice (and other similar questions). Slickster 14:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Those are all great explanations. We all know itâs the same belt, regardless of how the WWE portrays the âhistoryâ. We all know where it came from and who held it. Chronologically, to combined the lineage from WCW on all their titles to Smackdown's titles makes sense. If the WWE doesnât want us to recognize the fact that the Smackdown titles arenât from WCW, they could have just simply made new ones. In the case of the Smackdown World Title, they could have just designed a new belt for it. Itâs so clear. -- Prince Patrick 15:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
I completely disagree, this isn't the WCW title. It may LOOK like it, but it isn't the WCW title NOR is it the big gold. The big gold looks very different, check the Reggie Parks site for its piccy. I agree with the latter part of what Prince Patrick wrote, the WWE doesn't recognise it as the WCW title, if they did it would be represented as the WCW title. Maybe Vinnie Mac slipped up?-- Captain Capatilism 21:50, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
On this same night, Dusty Rhodes I believe also credited Flair as a 6-time World's Heavyweight Champion, a reference to his 6 recognized WCW World title reigns. In my opinion, the title is related to the NWA and WCW world championships, hence the use of the World Heavyweight Championship term which was used with the NWA title and continued on with the WCW title, it is also a term that the WWE dropped off of their original world championship. The WWE even said it dated back to 1904 back in 2002, in reference to the Hackenschmidt world championship that the NWA claimed lineage to. The new title is a mixture of both NWA and WCW titles, they choose to recognize any reign from either championship whenever they feel it is necessary as a World Heavyweight Championship reign. Every title in the WWE at the moment has a history behind it, the Raw WWE Championship being the original world championship of the company. The ECW World Championship of course going back to the old Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. I believe that yes, while the World Heavyweight Championship is a completely new title, they felt it was necessary for it have a historic background itself, and that was to build it on the history of the NWA world and WCW world titles in order for it to seem more prestigious. The title's history is of course subject to change at any given time, for instance, do you think that the WWE would recognize the many poorly booked title changes towards the end (Vince Russo, David Arquette, titles being "awarded" by commissioners, etc.) of the WCW title's history as World title reigns, definitely not. I believe the WWE's claim to any NWA title reign as one of their own world title reigns is legitimate as WCW had won use of the NWA lineage back in the early 90's by court decision, and as of 5 years ago, they own WCW. -- TonyFreakinAlmeida 15:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
The uses of the title are varied,not the belt.it is obviously the WCW championship belt,but has been used to portray different titles(e.g. they have different histories).
Exactly. -- Prince Patrick 15:44, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
They are virtually the same title design and do not over-run into one and another - therefore I am proposing this. Davnel03 18:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
DO NOT MERGE!: WWE does not recognize the World Heavyweight Championship as the former Championship of WCW. Proof of this is in the World Heavyweight Championship section at WWE.com ( http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldheavyweight/) it only lists the Champions since Triple H was given the Championship back in 2002. The Championships are looked at as seperate. RYANonWIKIPEDIA.
Oppose - I do not believe the pages should be merged. There is already too much confusion over its lineage as it is. The length of each,as said, is already quite long and merging both is not a wise move. Simply put until WWE states that the WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Championship are the same and share the same history, they should remain seperate.-- Captain Capatilism 21:56, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
Oppose - I also strongly oppose a merger of pages, while the title does have a disputed lineage towards the WCW(and NWA) world titles, it is not the exact same title, and with good reason, and as stated above, there's already a Big Gold Belt page showing what championships have been represented by this plate. -- TonyFreakinAlmeida 15:52, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Whether or not this title does have lineage to the WCW Championship, it's a moot point. Sometimes WWE will recognize a connection, sometimes they won't. So therefore, I agree to keep the two articles separate. John 15:25, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Who wrote that JBL has actually been a World Heavyweight Champion? The match with Rey Mysterio was ordered to CONTINUE! Since at the beginning of the match the champ was Rey and at the end of the match the champ was still Rey, then the title simply NEVER changed hands. It's that simple.
The championship may look like the WCW Championship but it is not. If the WWE made a different plate for the title that instead of saying "WCW" that says "WWE" then it it is a completely different title. It is like Rhino owning the ECW Championship even though Lashley has it. The same can be said about Hogan holding the WCW Championship till this day. This title, aside from overall visual design, is completely DIFFERENT title. It started with Triple H on Raw and ended on Raw with Triple H, but is continued on SmackDown! with Batista.-- AD Double J 03:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
Some of what you say does make sence however the would heavyweight championship IS INDEED THE SAME AS THE WCW TITLE but by wwe buying out wcw thay have full ownership their former superstars as well as their championships.which goes back to that retconning process you were taking about before. Also wwe recognizing the title to of started in wwe was shorty after wcw was bought out their for the title is well was origenally from wcw.
OK but what you have to remember is when all of that took place which was after the purchase of wcw. Also remember the GM of raw during that time frame Eric Bisoff who was also a VIP in wcw however i will admit i dont remember what role he played in wcw but that is not what's important right now. so since the purchase of wcw wwe has the right to the fomer wcw superstars and championships. The ONLY reason that there was an undisputed championship was beacuse there was only one main title while there were 2 brands until the NEW(to wwe)championship came into play.wcw title= would heavyweight championship.
How about "WWE SmackDown! World Heavyweight Championship"? Yes, I know, the title has been defended on Raw too, but we can add this info to the article. Don't you all agree with this? âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.89.240 ( talk) 14:07, 20 January 2007 (UTC).
Well, I get your point. This is exactly what I used to think a couple of months ago, but now I see things differently. First of all, Every professional wrestling promotion name their top-championship with the promotion's name or initials followed most of the times by "World Heavyweight Championship". WWE doesn't refer to the title as the "SmackDown Championship" so as to add drama to the main-event matches. The WWE and ECW titles were named so from the beginning and have so much history behind them, that they do not need drama to their name in order to be considered 2 of the greatest prizes in the history of combat sports. When you say "WWE Championship" or "ECW Championship" everybody knows that the matches made over these titles are just about 4-star matches every time. But what reaction would get a title named "SmackDown Championship" by the crowd, as Smackdown is a new wrestling promotion created in 2002? So if you create a title and you refer to it as the "World Championship", the fans will believe that this pretty big and that this is somehow the "professional wrestling world title". And if it is defended for a couple of years on Raw (the dominant wrestling brand in the universe, the flagship of the WWE and the show which used to have the WWE Championship as it's top-title for years), then you get it on SmackDown and call it "sports-entertainment's richest prize". This is how you make a title big and the WWE Board of Directors know that first. This is why this whole thing is going on. This can't be the world's championship as it's not even WWE's top-tier title. If you get one man to represent World Wrestling Entertainment as it's champion, that surely is the WWE Champion. Not because the name says so, but because he is the champion of the flagship program of the WWE and because this title is the most historic of them all. So as it's nothing more than the championship of SmackDown, why call it the "Heavyweight Title of the WORLD"? Furthermore, I've read articles calling the World Heavyweight Champion "the Smackdown champion" or the "Smackdown Heavyweight Champion", and if you remember, when King Booker (then champion) appeared on ECW he was refered to as "SmackDown's World Heavyweight Champion", in order to avoid confusion with the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. After you have read all this and spent so much time on analysis over the World Heavyweight Championship, you would assume that we should change the name page. If you still do not agree with me, just let me know (my answer will not be so long next time......) Thank you for your time. Akis "The Prophecy", from Athens-Greece.
P.S.: The article can be named "WWE SmackDown! World Heavyweight Championship", but it still can start like this: "The World Heavyweight Championship is the top championship of the Smackdown brand of WWE (.......... - bla, bla, bla - ........)" âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.89.240 ( talk) 12:18, 29 January 2007 (UTC).
Anyway.............. But I am 100% sure and positive to have heard Michael Cole on Friday Night Smackdown refering to Batista with the exact phrase : "A GREAT SMACKDOWN CHAMPION". If I remember well, this was during a main-event tag-team match between Batista & John Cena VS. King Booker & The Big Show.
Also if you read the fifth paragraph of this discussion page, you'll see an official WWE statement copied here calling this title the "Raw World Heavyweight Championship". That is the official "contract-paper" name. So now that this Raw World Title has come to SD!, it is obviously OFFICIALLY(!!!!!!!!!!!) renamed to the "SmackDown World Heavyweight Championship".
I ain't sayin' that we need to change the name page, as you have convinced me not to since this is how it is refered to on TV, but this goes to prove that I am right about the name of the title in official WWE contracts.
Akis "The Prophecy", from Athens-Greece.
On the May 19, 2003 edition of RAW, champion Triple H was given the choice to defend his title against any of the former "world heavyweight champions" on Raw's roster: Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Kane, or Kevin Nash (he ultimately choice to defend his title against ally Ric Flair). Notable by their absence in that lineup were any former WCW Champions who had never won the Raw World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championship, such as Scott Steiner and Goldberg, implying that the WCW Championship was not recognized as the World Heavyweight Championship.
This was on WWE.com in 2002 after the match between HHH and Ric Flair. Notice that it says: "the Raw World Heavyweight Championship".
I also got something for you. Well, what you'll see is not official by the WWE as what I gave you above, but why not check it out?
http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwf/wwe-world-h.html
Anyway, we 've dragged this too long. Let's just leave the article as is and forget it! How about this?
I have to admit that you kinda convinced me!
That is grammatically incorrect. It would be "he ultimately chose to defend his title against ally Ric Flair." WWE.com wouldn't make that mistake. Lex94 04:43, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
I specifically remember this magazine not only having a detailed listing of all their title reigns, but also showing the lineage of all their championships at the time, namely the unifications and whatnot. I believe it'll show the WCW World Title merging with the WWE Title, and the World Heavyweight Title being a brand new title and lineage.
I'm not saying this is the end all answer, but merely one more argument. Mshake3 02:48, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
The Undertaker has not won the title at Wrestlemania after the Royal Rumble, he has only won the Rumble, Wrestlemania did NOT HAPPEN YET!!!
âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.26.116.204 ( talk) 20:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC).
TO PUT AN END TO THE DISPUTE ONCE AND FOR ALL TO WHATHER OR NOT THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP HAS ANY TIES TO THE WCW TITLE YOU WILL FIND THAT IT DOES UNDER THE HISTORY SECTION OF WHC OF THE ARTICLE.
wow! congrats I must admit you've convined me although i did not see where wwe states that it's a new title. but what you claim seems vary loical. once again didn't mean to be rude before.
Again, overlooking past discussions, and WWE does serve ties between the World Heavyweight Championship and WCW Championship.
The World Heavyweight Championship that has recently been carried by such greats as Batista and Triple H got its start in WWE back in 2002. But its prestigious lineage can actually be traced back all the way to George Hackenschmidt and 1904. For years, it was known as the NWA Championship; then when WCW pulled out of the NWA in the early 1990s, Ric Flair was recognized as the first-ever WCW Champion. Since that time, top names such as Hulk Hogan, Ron Simmons and Bret Hart carried the championship prior to WCW's demise. [2]
The World Heavyweight Championship of SmackDown has no connection to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The lineages of the titles may seem to fit, but WWE officially claims that the title is CREATED IN 2002!!!!! And the original Big Gold Belt wrote: "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". Since this title is named World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, then there would be no use to add a WWE logo on top, since the "WWE World Heavyweight Championship" is the WWE Championship defended on Raw. They added the WWE logo to avoid controversy over the matter and make it known that this is a SEPARATE title! âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.23.15 ( talk) 09:51, 20 February 2007 (UTC). yo if your the same person that convinced me before then you shoudn't of put that their beacuse that's debatable. Beacuse of what wwe states which is that the title started in 02 which of course is true but that's when it started in WWE beacuse brock choose to be a smackdown exclusive champion. Not only that but since the purchise of wcw by wwe (as stated before) it has the right to there former superstars and championships which means that thay can re-create to what it sees fit. i think that's were all the confusion comes in.[mike]
I'll admit that i dont know how to properly insert a link so i'll just give directions.First go back to where you see the pictcher of the title than scole almost all the down to where it'll say External links than click on the Title histories title history page. and you should get your anwcer. the united states and the cruiserweight titles continue the lineage of the ones run at wcw and that's official at wwe.com. since wwe thinks that the us and cruiserweight titles take on the legacy, while the world title doesn't, then that's it! i don't think that there's anyone else which can decide about the title's lineage except wwe (who has got the rights of wcw by the way...). since wwe says it's a new title, then it's just a new title! what more proof do you people need?!
WWE.com is mainly a kayfabe website that changes things when it sees fit. There are many errors on the site.
Besides WWE.com says Bischoff BROUGHT the title to RAW, implying that it existed before hand. The long addition of the WCW histories (and even NWA histories) would likely just confuse younger fans. Names like Vince Russo and David Arquette don't help matters. The World Heavyweight Championship (without the WCW attached) existed in the WWE prior to the Undisputed Title anyway as Jericho and the Rock fought over "The World Title" after WCW was dissolved at the Survivor Series that year. The WWE.com web programmer just doesn't know their wrestling history, it is not like Vince himself was filling in the lists. Really is it so hard to believe that Y2J, HHH, Hogan, Taker, Rock & Brock all held BOTH the WWF/E and World/WCW Titles that year while being Undisputed champions? I mean Jericho and even HHH for a time held both physical title belts to represent this. I mean really, unlike the crazy and ridiculous pasted together lineage of TNA's NWA World Title, this NWA/WCW/WWF/WWE World Title lineage is UNBROKEN and clear. Pretzolio@yahoo.com 17:18, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
All of this goes back to when the WWE introduced it as one of the most prestigious titles in wrestling, even when Triple H was still in the championship's first reign, they started spouting off the crap that it dated back to 1904, sound familiar? The NWA title. Know what other promotion claimed the NWA title's lineage? WCW, the fact of the matter is though, there is a connection, but are these three titles one and the same? Nope, the SmackDown WHC is the successor to these titles, the WWE has slipped up so many times with this title, even the boss himself has called it the WCW title, and Batista regarded Dusty Rhodes as former World Heavyweight Champion though he didn't hold the original WWE world title, but did hold the NWA belt, they recognize who they want to as former World Heavyweight Champions. I don't think this thing may ever be cleared up until the WWE releases a History DVD for this title, which IMO will definitely have footage of title matches from JCP, NWA and WCW to connect these. TonyFreakinAlmeida 00:04, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
And another thought. How could Bischoff split up the Undisputed Championship? It was owned by Smackdown. He had no power. Mshake3 02:42, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
what does it say?! period!
that's just when the title started in wwe. so click on http://www.titlehistories.com/WWE_World_Heavyweight_Title.htm and you should find the anwcer.
So your saying that wwe DID INDEED create a NEW TITLE but where i think your getting that info from is at the wwe.com website. with all due respect but of coruse thay'd make seem to be different titles beacuse like i've said before it started in wwe in 02 and given to HHH by Eric bisoff being the last WCW VIP while being the GM of raw. Being that brock choose to be an excluive smackdown champion. However i will agree with you about the US and cruiserweight/lightweight championships. It would make it a lot more clear if you cheaked the link above and no I wont shut up about it until you do.Trust me it's there.
The World Heavyweight Championship is a N-E-W title according to WWE.com, then anyone who has a different opinion should change it! It may "seem" like the WCW Championship but it is defended in a different promotion and WWE says it's new, so it's new! That's so simple!
We need some transcripts of these Raw/Smackdowns. Too much paraphrasing. For example, I just looked up a show report for the Smackdown when Batista vacated the title [2], and the report says "It was his pride, privilege, and pleasure to follow the greats like Ric Flair, Harley Race, Triple H, and Dusty Rhodes." Again, not an exact quote, but based on how I'm reading it, it sounds like he's refering to champions in general. Yes, but all of those champions are those that have held variations of Big Gold/NWA/WCW title, can't be discounted, I know it's stupid that this debate still goes on this long but I think people just want to latch onto the possibility that this belt has more prestige then just being the other world title of the WWE and think that it goes back as far as it was once credited. I do not think there were any slipups when talking of the title's history back in '02, since pretty much everything on commentary and promo's are scripted. TonyFreakinAlmeida 21:54, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
I am not making an attempt to end the controversy entirely, to prove that these are (not) two separate titles, or anything else. Since this is the talk page for the article, I will make a statement regarding this article. The WWE does not acknowledge the WHC as being a continuation of the WCW Title. That means that anything that says the WHC is a continuation of the WCW Title is Original Research, and cannot affect the article under any circumstances. This article will reflect what the WWE says about the title that it owns, as that is the Wikipedia way. If it isn't official, it won't be in the article. Now, unless anyone can dispute what I have just said with Wikipedia policy, this conversation cannot continue on this talk page, as this is not a chat room/forum. This is for discussing ways to improve the article, an as I previously mentioned this conversation cannot affect it in any way. Please move on. Thank you all for your cooperation. 声 ć´ -- The Hyb rid 23:16, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
Before we move on i will agree on basicly everthing you've just said starting with the title itself my point being that the wcw title died with wcw. but just reborn thats all it is to it. if there's still some cofusion than hopefully this analogy will clear things up since rhino is now in TNA he could say that he was never in ECW or WWE(to serperate from the wwes ecw) but thats simply just untrue. We all know that rhino is no rookie. seeing as I've basicly agreed upon what you've menchiend before it would be only logical to move on.[mike]
To say that is OR, as I have previously stated, and cannot happen. Now, will people please stop replying to me? Replying with statements that try to prove your point, whether or not you mean them to, provokes the other side, and forces this conversation to continue on this talk page. If you people want to take this to someone else's talk page, more power to ya, but Wikipedia policy forbids adding this to the article for better or for worse. Unless anyone has a policy other than WP:IAR, as without a consensus backing it up that rule will almost never hold any weight, to dispute me with, then I hereby declare this dispute ended. Please move along silently. Thank you, 声 ć´ -- The Hyb rid 21:02, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
Sorry to burst Hybrid and Anakinjmt's bubbles but WWE.com just put up a section on the WCW World Heavyweight Title History and the introduction paragraph reads...
So the WWE DOES acknowledge the link between not only the WWE World Heavyweight Title and the WCW World Heavyweight Title but the link between those two championships and the NWA World Heavyweight Title. See for yourselves : [4] Pretzolio@yahoo.com 22:56, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
They didn't want to name the World Heavyweight Championship the WCW Championship when they brought it back. So they are the same title but they just have different names. Big Boss 0 15:14, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
If you click here: http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwchampionship/ It's official now! WWE.com says the World Heavyweight Championship IS the WCW Title! Let's change the article now, shall we? âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.81.25 ( talk) 08:14, 27 February 2007 (UTC).
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship still stops with lineage stops with Chris Jericho, according to that page. The only thing they acknowledged was that the titles are related. Since WWE keeps the linage of SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship apart on their website, the same should be followed here.
They HAVE decided that the titles ARE the same, but the only reason there are two pages on WWE.com is to separate the title periods when it was property of WCW (a DIFFERENT brand of wrestling) and WWE.
WWE says that they are the same belt so I am going to agree with them. The World Heavyweight Championship is a continuation of the WCW Championship. The only difference is that they re-named it. Big Boss 0 15:10, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Finally! Can't get any more official then this. End of story. TonyFreakinAlmeida 16:31, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
If the WCW and World Heavyweight Championship are considered the same championship, then the lineage of the WCW World Championship wouldn't stop with Chris Jericho winning it the night it was unified with the WWE Title to create the WWE Undisputed Championship. The design of the title is almost identical, with the exception of the WWE Logo. Also, by looking on the link provided, you can look to the right you can see the individual listing for each title. Underneath the WWE Championship is listed "heavyweight". Why would they have seperate pages for them if they're the same championship? They wouldn't. Look at the WWE United States Championship history as an example. Its comprised of both the NWA and WCW United States Heavyweight Championship histories. Their lineages have been merged to give the WWE United States Championship a more prestigious and historical connection to the wrestling industry. For instance, look at the WWE Undisputed Championship. The idea was, originally, to combine the WCW and WWE Titles. Whether or not the WCW World Title was ever merged with the WWE Championship lineage is open for debate. Even if it was, it isn't anymore and how they choose to interpret things in the here and now is the official interpretation. I know it doesn't make sense. Some of it is downright idiotic, in my view. The WWE's retconning of some of this stuff has been horrendous, almost as if it were made up in five minutes. Idiotic or not, its how the WWE chooses to interpret things. Odin's Beard 15:59, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
Now all WWE has to do is switch the names of both Tag Team Titles and say that the Smackdown Tag Titles share lineage of the WCW Tag Team Titles.-- Prince Patrick 17:01, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Why not?? It could give more prestige to the Smackdown Tag belts and make it seem as old as the rest of the titles in the WWE. Besides, the WWE changes their mind about everything anyway. I wouldnât be surprised if they did this as well.-- Prince Patrick 18:54, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Yes, WWE changes their mind, but having WCW/Smackdown Tag Titles is ridiculous. At least the continuing title lineages for the World and Cruiserweight titles are easy to follow; The Smackdown Tag Titles have no connection to the WCW tag titles whatsoever no matter what weird logic or reasoning one might use. WWE isn't that bad; But NWA & TNA on the other hand have to claim some pretty warped lineages full of vacancies and inactivity in order to claim the current TNA titles link to the 80s NWA Titles. Pretzolio@yahoo.com 19:04, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
I couldnât agree with you more. That NWA Title on TNA has lineage connected to WWE, WCW, and ECW with vacancies at the point where each of those respective companies âbroke awayâ from the NWA. However, WWE could change the âstoryâ and say that Stephanie split the âUndisputedâ (WWE and WCW) Tag Team Titles that the Dudleyâs unified at the Survivor Series 2001, the same way the WWE and World Titles were split when Brock decided to stay on Smackdown, or the same way as the IC and US Titles were split when Austin reactivated the IC Title on Raw and Stephanie reactivated the US Title on Smackdown. Itâs just a thought, now that the WCW Title is considered the Smackdown World Title.-- Prince Patrick 19:13, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
The current NWA is a shell of it's former self and probably don't care about the lineage that much, and they don't even have control of the world title as they licensed it to TNA a couple years ago for a deal over 10 years, and if you read up various articles on wikipedia you'd find that in certain instances it's pointed to that the new NWA wanted to start a new title history with the tournament for the world title in '94 in ECW and their tag titles, and the goodwill agreements that the old NWA made with WCW that I would believe still hold up today for WCW to use the NWA title lineage as their own, as long as WWE doesn't mess with anything, they're fine, and the new NWA(which is basically just a club that promotions can sign up through) would probably be fine with it too. TonyFreakinAlmeida 22:15, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
The man who wrote that the SmackDown Tag Team Championship should be considered the WCW World Tag Team Championship is so right!!!!......
The note about Eddie Guerrero being planned to win the title from Batista before he tragically passed on, is OR and has no evidence to support it, so I am removing it.-- ProtoWolf 00:01, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
This belt IS the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, according to the WWE, via one of their own one-shot magazine publications, just recently released. It states that Eric Bischoff resurrected the WCW title and renamed it the World Heavyweight Championship.
In point of fact, I made that information available ON THE PAGE, and it was reverted to a prior appearance. It should not have been, as that information is direct from the WWE's publication. In other words, the controversy is- for now- over. It IS the WCW title.
Warwolf1 02:09, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
It is the WCW Championship! [7] Lex94 04:53, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
It isn't the WCW Championship. If it was, the WCW Championship's history would be incorporated into the World Heavyweight Championship's lineage just as the NWA and WCW United States Championshp histories are incorporated into the WWE United States Championship. Instead, it has it's own history and lineage listed seperately. Odin's Beard 13:38, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
no it wouldn't beacuse of 2 reasons. The WCW championship and the World Heavy Championship are major championships that's how the 1st reason defurs from the NWA/WCW US title historys. 2nd reason is their totaly different titles beacuse their both from entirly different promotions meaning that the World Heavyweight Championship represents reigens from only WWE. But is still the same championship.
If you compare Booker Huffman and Mark Calaway's date of births, Booker is older then Mark by 23 days.
So shouldn't he be the oldest champ in the statistic's section? -- Miles15 06:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
Read again Taker was born on March 24, Booker was born on March 1st, so its Taker thats older by 23 days not Booker. BionicWilliam 23:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm not inclined to read pages upon pages of argument so I'll ask. Wasn't Lou Thesz younger than Orton when he won the title? Killswitch Engage 05:56, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Batista being billed around 318lbs. at the time he won the title, making him the heaviest champion in the history of the title? TonyFreakinAlmeida 13:35, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Now Khali is the champion and he is way heavier than Batista. J@ro_Link 23:35, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
Some jackass wrote that Matt Hardy is the current Champion, but it has been changed back to Khali michaelc2007 20:20, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
I was wondering if it's worth mentioning that it has changed hands at every Wrestlemania since its creation in 2002. I wont put it on the main page but I think its still kind of something that people might find interesting, I did anyways. Stillboy2191 18:34, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
The title did not change hands at WrestleMania XIX - the first WrestleMania the title was defended. Triple H (c) defeated Booker T. And yes, that fact is very interesting. Diego 14:08 25 August 2007 (UTC) âPreceding unsigned comment added by 71.121.60.42 ( talk)
The relationship between this title and the WCW World Title has been hotly debated on this talk page. I have always said that itâs the WWE's opinion that matters, but they seem to have two different opinions at once. So, in an attempt to get some sort of confirmation, I e-mailed wwe.com about a week ago, using their online form. I later read that they very rarely respond to fan e-mails, and I was surprised to get a response today. Since I sent my question to them using an online form and not my e-mail, I donât have the original copy of my question. Anyhow, here is their response:
Dear [My Name],
That is an interesting question. The World Heavyweight Championship currently held by the Great Khali on Smackdown! is the same championship as the original WCW Title, though, as you noted, it has been identified as a new title on WWE television on several occasions. However, in those cases, we are referring to the titleâs 2002 rechristening in the WWE. The reason the championshipâs lineage is divided on our websiteâs title history page is the same reason relocated sports teams often keep separate statistics and records for players who have played for the franchise in its current city (borrowing your Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers analogy). The World Heavyweight Championship has a long and storied history, dating back to 1904. We are merely trying to keep our web content relevant for our current fan base.
Thank you for your question,
WWE.com Staff
Take this for what its worth. This isnât exactly from Vince McMahonâs mouth, but they wouldnât have this guy answering questions if he didnât know what he was talking about. Also, it seems that the WWE believes the NWA Title âbecameâ the WCW Title in 1991 (from the comment about its history dating to 1904), which I donât believe they have a right to say. However, that doesnât change what is said about the WCW Title, as they have every right to lay claim to that titleâs lineage. Iâm not saying we should immediately combine the WCW Title and World Heavyweight Title pages, but itâs something worth considering in the future. Bmf 51 18:18, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Five year anniversary article, pretty much says that the WWE considers the World Heavyweight Title to be a direct descendent and or one and the same with the WCW and NWA world titles of the past, they even call it a reincarnation of the WCW title. [8]. TonyFreakinAlmeida 21:52, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Here is the link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/articles/4971594/worldtitleturnsfive . Interestingly, the of the 54 photos in the gallery accompaning the article, 40 (or about 74%) are from WCW (including a few from the Invasion), and one is of a former NWA Champion. âPreceding unsigned comment added by 63.3.9.1 ( talk) 04:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
While yes it's odd that WWE considers the WCW championship and the World Heavyweight Championship under different regions yet being the same championship. But the reason is beacuse the regions are representing the different promotions that owned the belt at the time. Oh and for the united states championship you've menchened. That is a seconedtier title so the reason the current United States championship is combined with WCW's lineage is for it to have more prestige. Though in my opinion is not needed beacuse it all ready has a long history.mike âPreceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.89.73 ( talk) 18:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
. I happen to very clearly remember this happening as I had happened to be watching that episode. Thus, the constant inferrals that these men were NOT named is untrue, and should not be stated as such in the article. The impression given by the WWE at this point, at least so far as I could tell, was that the WCW title's history had been partially absorbed into the WWE history, as Kane had never been World Heavyweight Champion in terms of having held this version of the belt. Michaels of course, actually HAD held the title as it currently exists. Goldberg later captured it in september of that year, and as we all know, Scott Steiner got nowhere near the title in his tenure with the company. Nash himself had held the WCW version of this belt, and obviously, so had Booker T and Flair.
This title does have a ligitamate claim to the liniage of the WCW title (even though that titles linage with the NWA can be disputed).
the statment: On the May 19, 2003 edition of RAW, champion Triple H was given the choice to defend his title against any of the former "world heavyweight champions" on Raw's roster: Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Kane, or Kevin Nash (he ultimately choice to defend his title against ally Ric Flair). Notable by their absence in that lineup were any former WCW Champions who had never won the Raw World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championship, such as Scott Steiner and Goldberg, implying that the WCW Championship was not recognized as the World Heavyweight Championship. Its nice and all, but if im right i dont think Ric Flair has had won the the RAW title before so why was he in the line up of challengers!?... oh wait ecause hes a 16-time World Heavywieght Champion thats why...
Flair won the WWE Championship twice. Wwb 21:05, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
you cant say either way... and as for the WWE not having the titles history going back any further... hhmmm lets think, the WWE believes the first light-heavyweight champion was Taka Mitchinoku... and kinda forgets the titles japaneese history.
i just think we should mention that this title does have legitamate claims but these can be disputed... i just dont want more hasstle with people next saying the United States Championship/Cruiserweight Championship cant lay claim to their WCW history. ---- Paulley 16:54, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
In response to Jeff Silvers, WWE didn't create the claims of the WCW Light-Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Championships being the same title. Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine made those claims BEFORE WWFE purchased WCW.
Iâm in total agreement. Unless the WWE finally puts out a definitive answer to all these linage disputes, everything is all opinion. The logic of the âSmackdownâ World Title being a âNEWâ Title or being apart of the âWCWâ World Title both makes sense.-- Prince Patrick 19:27, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
Um, Kane's one-day title reign was with the WWE Championship, not the World Heavyweight Championship. ekedolphin 03:22, September 10, 2005 (UTC)
I propose that we move World Heavyweight Championship to WWE World Heavyweight Championship and rename all related articles, then create a new World Heavyweight Championship article that is a generic wrestling article, one that describes the various official (read: declared a World Title by PWI) and unofficial World Heavyweight Championships. It can also list all the World Champions. -- Kitch 14:40, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
During his title reign, he became the first person to defeat Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match in his third title defense at Vengeance.
Does this purposefully not include the Armageddon 6-man match (which Kurt Angle won) or is this just a mistake? --Vyran 12:21, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
When Batista dropped the title on SmackDown on January 13, 2006, we ran down a brief list of previous World Heavyweight Champions. Three of them (Harley Race, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes) never held this belt in WWE. Most importantly, Dusty has never had ANY titles in WWE. I believe this is a definitive connection between the WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Championships, and could be evidence for a possible merger of the two wiki pages once and for all. Comments? -- Kitch 21:53, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
The title does NOT share its lineage with the WCW belt. It doesn't matter that Batista mentioned Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes - 1) he wasn't necessarily referring to HIS "World Heavyweight Championship" (he just said he followed some great wrestlers), and 2) he doesn't have to be right anyway. WWE officially acknowledges that the belt was born when it was awarded to Triple H. Why are people continuing to insist it's the same belt (and same lineage) when they outright said they made a new one? Bssc81 20:29, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I think the main reason for the dispute is because the lineage for the âWCWâ Title and the âWorld Heavyweightâ Title donât overlap each other and fit chronologically. Thatâs why I think itâs the same. Believe what you want to believe. Booker T is the 6 time WCW / World Heavyweight Champion!!-- Prince Patrick 20:32, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
is there anyway that it can be proven that the world heavyweight title doesn't not really have a weight limit.
Benoit actually weighed at 229 lbs during his reign and weighs now at 234 lbs, so he is not really a CW by WWE standards.-- Wwb 01:41, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
There's no real reason why the title would have a weight limit. Take the Big Show and Yokozuna for example, while they never held this particular title, the Big Show was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion weighing between 4 and 500 pounds while Yokozuna is the heaviest wrestler in WWE history to hold the WWE Championship at over 600 pounds. Rey Mysterio weighed only about 165 pounds while he held the title. While Mysterio held the title, the term "heavyweight" kind of lost all meaning, if it ever really held any meaning to begin with. I'm thinking that it did, at least at one time, because Mysterio is roughly 60 pounds lighter than the, previously, lightest wrestler in WWE history to hold a world heavyweight title, which was Shawn Michaels. Odin's Beard 02:33, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Once again, a heavyweight division in wrestling is an "open" division - it theoretically has no lower or upper weight limit. - Chadbryant 03:16, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Batista is not 66 years old. According to several site bios, he is around his early 40's. This needs to be corrected once the linage of the title is resolved.
Who said Batista was 66?! lol Basbalfrk 02:19, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
What is the point of having all these extra bullets, such as Batista being the first person of euro descent or Mysterio being the first masked wrestler, cluttering up the page?
Also why keep adding on with information that is already in the article? (i.e. Saying Mysterio is the shortest champ twice in the record grid and mentioning the mask fact when it is already a bullet else where) 68.1.158.176 02:07, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
Has anyone else noticed the WWE now call Rey Mysterio the World Champion as opposed to the World HEAVYWEIGHT Champion? -- sonicKAI 12:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Yeah they've been doing that since around the time they announced ECW was returning. I think it's for simplicity's sake because they re-activated the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, how confusing for fans would that be to have two World Heavyweight Championships being on the line at say Wrestlemania? We'll only know if it's because they think people won't buy Rey as World Heavywight Champion when the title changes hands to say Batista. Night Bringer 23:25, 26th June 2006 (GMT +10)
Shouldn't there be a link for the article about the general World Heavyweight Championship at the top, next to the link for the WWE Title?-- Wwb 15:53, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
I know this is a dead end topic. But does anyone remember the Opening video of Unforgiven 2002? For people who does know, I think its safe to say WWE's initial intention for the WHC, is to have its lineage dating back to its NWA days.
isn't the rock the first african american champion even though he is half samoan so he should hold the title and booker t could be the first full african american to hold it or second one to hold it.
The Rock never held any WWE reconignized form of this belt. BionicWilliam 04:18, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
The title seems to now be called simply: World Championship, without Heavyweright in the title
To put an end to this subject,I will state that on the 10/30/06 edition of RAW, Vince McMahon referred to King Booker as the "WCW World Heavy - well, he was - the World Heavyweight Champion." I think that firmly proves that King Booker's title is the same title held by Sting, Ron Simmons, etc.
I am in total agreement. He also could have just slipped, because it's the same Big Gold Belt (with the logo of course, for all you fellow fans who don't agree).-- Prince Patrick 20:28, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
I would agree but if you look at wwe.com's title history for the World Heavyweight Championship it starts at Triple H's first reign so it can be considered a different title. Jayorz12 04:31, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Across the board, WWE tends to delineate title reigns for the US, Cruiserweight, and WCW titles based on what company the win took place in. Eddie Guerrero was (and still is) listed on the WWE website as both a former "WCW United States Champion" and "WWE United States Champion" separately. By the same token, Rey Misterio's Cruiserweight Title reigns are listed separately depending on if they were in WWE or WCW. I think WWE's policy of recognizing titles is intended to minimize confusion among newer fans who would wonder when Eddie Guerrero had the time to win the Cruiserweight Title twice (and other similar questions). Slickster 14:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
Those are all great explanations. We all know itâs the same belt, regardless of how the WWE portrays the âhistoryâ. We all know where it came from and who held it. Chronologically, to combined the lineage from WCW on all their titles to Smackdown's titles makes sense. If the WWE doesnât want us to recognize the fact that the Smackdown titles arenât from WCW, they could have just simply made new ones. In the case of the Smackdown World Title, they could have just designed a new belt for it. Itâs so clear. -- Prince Patrick 15:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
I completely disagree, this isn't the WCW title. It may LOOK like it, but it isn't the WCW title NOR is it the big gold. The big gold looks very different, check the Reggie Parks site for its piccy. I agree with the latter part of what Prince Patrick wrote, the WWE doesn't recognise it as the WCW title, if they did it would be represented as the WCW title. Maybe Vinnie Mac slipped up?-- Captain Capatilism 21:50, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
On this same night, Dusty Rhodes I believe also credited Flair as a 6-time World's Heavyweight Champion, a reference to his 6 recognized WCW World title reigns. In my opinion, the title is related to the NWA and WCW world championships, hence the use of the World Heavyweight Championship term which was used with the NWA title and continued on with the WCW title, it is also a term that the WWE dropped off of their original world championship. The WWE even said it dated back to 1904 back in 2002, in reference to the Hackenschmidt world championship that the NWA claimed lineage to. The new title is a mixture of both NWA and WCW titles, they choose to recognize any reign from either championship whenever they feel it is necessary as a World Heavyweight Championship reign. Every title in the WWE at the moment has a history behind it, the Raw WWE Championship being the original world championship of the company. The ECW World Championship of course going back to the old Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion. I believe that yes, while the World Heavyweight Championship is a completely new title, they felt it was necessary for it have a historic background itself, and that was to build it on the history of the NWA world and WCW world titles in order for it to seem more prestigious. The title's history is of course subject to change at any given time, for instance, do you think that the WWE would recognize the many poorly booked title changes towards the end (Vince Russo, David Arquette, titles being "awarded" by commissioners, etc.) of the WCW title's history as World title reigns, definitely not. I believe the WWE's claim to any NWA title reign as one of their own world title reigns is legitimate as WCW had won use of the NWA lineage back in the early 90's by court decision, and as of 5 years ago, they own WCW. -- TonyFreakinAlmeida 15:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
The uses of the title are varied,not the belt.it is obviously the WCW championship belt,but has been used to portray different titles(e.g. they have different histories).
Exactly. -- Prince Patrick 15:44, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
They are virtually the same title design and do not over-run into one and another - therefore I am proposing this. Davnel03 18:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
DO NOT MERGE!: WWE does not recognize the World Heavyweight Championship as the former Championship of WCW. Proof of this is in the World Heavyweight Championship section at WWE.com ( http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/worldheavyweight/) it only lists the Champions since Triple H was given the Championship back in 2002. The Championships are looked at as seperate. RYANonWIKIPEDIA.
Oppose - I do not believe the pages should be merged. There is already too much confusion over its lineage as it is. The length of each,as said, is already quite long and merging both is not a wise move. Simply put until WWE states that the WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Championship are the same and share the same history, they should remain seperate.-- Captain Capatilism 21:56, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
Oppose - I also strongly oppose a merger of pages, while the title does have a disputed lineage towards the WCW(and NWA) world titles, it is not the exact same title, and with good reason, and as stated above, there's already a Big Gold Belt page showing what championships have been represented by this plate. -- TonyFreakinAlmeida 15:52, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Whether or not this title does have lineage to the WCW Championship, it's a moot point. Sometimes WWE will recognize a connection, sometimes they won't. So therefore, I agree to keep the two articles separate. John 15:25, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
Who wrote that JBL has actually been a World Heavyweight Champion? The match with Rey Mysterio was ordered to CONTINUE! Since at the beginning of the match the champ was Rey and at the end of the match the champ was still Rey, then the title simply NEVER changed hands. It's that simple.
The championship may look like the WCW Championship but it is not. If the WWE made a different plate for the title that instead of saying "WCW" that says "WWE" then it it is a completely different title. It is like Rhino owning the ECW Championship even though Lashley has it. The same can be said about Hogan holding the WCW Championship till this day. This title, aside from overall visual design, is completely DIFFERENT title. It started with Triple H on Raw and ended on Raw with Triple H, but is continued on SmackDown! with Batista.-- AD Double J 03:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
Some of what you say does make sence however the would heavyweight championship IS INDEED THE SAME AS THE WCW TITLE but by wwe buying out wcw thay have full ownership their former superstars as well as their championships.which goes back to that retconning process you were taking about before. Also wwe recognizing the title to of started in wwe was shorty after wcw was bought out their for the title is well was origenally from wcw.
OK but what you have to remember is when all of that took place which was after the purchase of wcw. Also remember the GM of raw during that time frame Eric Bisoff who was also a VIP in wcw however i will admit i dont remember what role he played in wcw but that is not what's important right now. so since the purchase of wcw wwe has the right to the fomer wcw superstars and championships. The ONLY reason that there was an undisputed championship was beacuse there was only one main title while there were 2 brands until the NEW(to wwe)championship came into play.wcw title= would heavyweight championship.
How about "WWE SmackDown! World Heavyweight Championship"? Yes, I know, the title has been defended on Raw too, but we can add this info to the article. Don't you all agree with this? âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.89.240 ( talk) 14:07, 20 January 2007 (UTC).
Well, I get your point. This is exactly what I used to think a couple of months ago, but now I see things differently. First of all, Every professional wrestling promotion name their top-championship with the promotion's name or initials followed most of the times by "World Heavyweight Championship". WWE doesn't refer to the title as the "SmackDown Championship" so as to add drama to the main-event matches. The WWE and ECW titles were named so from the beginning and have so much history behind them, that they do not need drama to their name in order to be considered 2 of the greatest prizes in the history of combat sports. When you say "WWE Championship" or "ECW Championship" everybody knows that the matches made over these titles are just about 4-star matches every time. But what reaction would get a title named "SmackDown Championship" by the crowd, as Smackdown is a new wrestling promotion created in 2002? So if you create a title and you refer to it as the "World Championship", the fans will believe that this pretty big and that this is somehow the "professional wrestling world title". And if it is defended for a couple of years on Raw (the dominant wrestling brand in the universe, the flagship of the WWE and the show which used to have the WWE Championship as it's top-title for years), then you get it on SmackDown and call it "sports-entertainment's richest prize". This is how you make a title big and the WWE Board of Directors know that first. This is why this whole thing is going on. This can't be the world's championship as it's not even WWE's top-tier title. If you get one man to represent World Wrestling Entertainment as it's champion, that surely is the WWE Champion. Not because the name says so, but because he is the champion of the flagship program of the WWE and because this title is the most historic of them all. So as it's nothing more than the championship of SmackDown, why call it the "Heavyweight Title of the WORLD"? Furthermore, I've read articles calling the World Heavyweight Champion "the Smackdown champion" or the "Smackdown Heavyweight Champion", and if you remember, when King Booker (then champion) appeared on ECW he was refered to as "SmackDown's World Heavyweight Champion", in order to avoid confusion with the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. After you have read all this and spent so much time on analysis over the World Heavyweight Championship, you would assume that we should change the name page. If you still do not agree with me, just let me know (my answer will not be so long next time......) Thank you for your time. Akis "The Prophecy", from Athens-Greece.
P.S.: The article can be named "WWE SmackDown! World Heavyweight Championship", but it still can start like this: "The World Heavyweight Championship is the top championship of the Smackdown brand of WWE (.......... - bla, bla, bla - ........)" âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.89.240 ( talk) 12:18, 29 January 2007 (UTC).
Anyway.............. But I am 100% sure and positive to have heard Michael Cole on Friday Night Smackdown refering to Batista with the exact phrase : "A GREAT SMACKDOWN CHAMPION". If I remember well, this was during a main-event tag-team match between Batista & John Cena VS. King Booker & The Big Show.
Also if you read the fifth paragraph of this discussion page, you'll see an official WWE statement copied here calling this title the "Raw World Heavyweight Championship". That is the official "contract-paper" name. So now that this Raw World Title has come to SD!, it is obviously OFFICIALLY(!!!!!!!!!!!) renamed to the "SmackDown World Heavyweight Championship".
I ain't sayin' that we need to change the name page, as you have convinced me not to since this is how it is refered to on TV, but this goes to prove that I am right about the name of the title in official WWE contracts.
Akis "The Prophecy", from Athens-Greece.
On the May 19, 2003 edition of RAW, champion Triple H was given the choice to defend his title against any of the former "world heavyweight champions" on Raw's roster: Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Kane, or Kevin Nash (he ultimately choice to defend his title against ally Ric Flair). Notable by their absence in that lineup were any former WCW Champions who had never won the Raw World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championship, such as Scott Steiner and Goldberg, implying that the WCW Championship was not recognized as the World Heavyweight Championship.
This was on WWE.com in 2002 after the match between HHH and Ric Flair. Notice that it says: "the Raw World Heavyweight Championship".
I also got something for you. Well, what you'll see is not official by the WWE as what I gave you above, but why not check it out?
http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwf/wwe-world-h.html
Anyway, we 've dragged this too long. Let's just leave the article as is and forget it! How about this?
I have to admit that you kinda convinced me!
That is grammatically incorrect. It would be "he ultimately chose to defend his title against ally Ric Flair." WWE.com wouldn't make that mistake. Lex94 04:43, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
I specifically remember this magazine not only having a detailed listing of all their title reigns, but also showing the lineage of all their championships at the time, namely the unifications and whatnot. I believe it'll show the WCW World Title merging with the WWE Title, and the World Heavyweight Title being a brand new title and lineage.
I'm not saying this is the end all answer, but merely one more argument. Mshake3 02:48, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
The Undertaker has not won the title at Wrestlemania after the Royal Rumble, he has only won the Rumble, Wrestlemania did NOT HAPPEN YET!!!
âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.26.116.204 ( talk) 20:00, 18 February 2007 (UTC).
TO PUT AN END TO THE DISPUTE ONCE AND FOR ALL TO WHATHER OR NOT THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP HAS ANY TIES TO THE WCW TITLE YOU WILL FIND THAT IT DOES UNDER THE HISTORY SECTION OF WHC OF THE ARTICLE.
wow! congrats I must admit you've convined me although i did not see where wwe states that it's a new title. but what you claim seems vary loical. once again didn't mean to be rude before.
Again, overlooking past discussions, and WWE does serve ties between the World Heavyweight Championship and WCW Championship.
The World Heavyweight Championship that has recently been carried by such greats as Batista and Triple H got its start in WWE back in 2002. But its prestigious lineage can actually be traced back all the way to George Hackenschmidt and 1904. For years, it was known as the NWA Championship; then when WCW pulled out of the NWA in the early 1990s, Ric Flair was recognized as the first-ever WCW Champion. Since that time, top names such as Hulk Hogan, Ron Simmons and Bret Hart carried the championship prior to WCW's demise. [2]
The World Heavyweight Championship of SmackDown has no connection to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The lineages of the titles may seem to fit, but WWE officially claims that the title is CREATED IN 2002!!!!! And the original Big Gold Belt wrote: "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion". Since this title is named World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, then there would be no use to add a WWE logo on top, since the "WWE World Heavyweight Championship" is the WWE Championship defended on Raw. They added the WWE logo to avoid controversy over the matter and make it known that this is a SEPARATE title! âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.23.15 ( talk) 09:51, 20 February 2007 (UTC). yo if your the same person that convinced me before then you shoudn't of put that their beacuse that's debatable. Beacuse of what wwe states which is that the title started in 02 which of course is true but that's when it started in WWE beacuse brock choose to be a smackdown exclusive champion. Not only that but since the purchise of wcw by wwe (as stated before) it has the right to there former superstars and championships which means that thay can re-create to what it sees fit. i think that's were all the confusion comes in.[mike]
I'll admit that i dont know how to properly insert a link so i'll just give directions.First go back to where you see the pictcher of the title than scole almost all the down to where it'll say External links than click on the Title histories title history page. and you should get your anwcer. the united states and the cruiserweight titles continue the lineage of the ones run at wcw and that's official at wwe.com. since wwe thinks that the us and cruiserweight titles take on the legacy, while the world title doesn't, then that's it! i don't think that there's anyone else which can decide about the title's lineage except wwe (who has got the rights of wcw by the way...). since wwe says it's a new title, then it's just a new title! what more proof do you people need?!
WWE.com is mainly a kayfabe website that changes things when it sees fit. There are many errors on the site.
Besides WWE.com says Bischoff BROUGHT the title to RAW, implying that it existed before hand. The long addition of the WCW histories (and even NWA histories) would likely just confuse younger fans. Names like Vince Russo and David Arquette don't help matters. The World Heavyweight Championship (without the WCW attached) existed in the WWE prior to the Undisputed Title anyway as Jericho and the Rock fought over "The World Title" after WCW was dissolved at the Survivor Series that year. The WWE.com web programmer just doesn't know their wrestling history, it is not like Vince himself was filling in the lists. Really is it so hard to believe that Y2J, HHH, Hogan, Taker, Rock & Brock all held BOTH the WWF/E and World/WCW Titles that year while being Undisputed champions? I mean Jericho and even HHH for a time held both physical title belts to represent this. I mean really, unlike the crazy and ridiculous pasted together lineage of TNA's NWA World Title, this NWA/WCW/WWF/WWE World Title lineage is UNBROKEN and clear. Pretzolio@yahoo.com 17:18, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
All of this goes back to when the WWE introduced it as one of the most prestigious titles in wrestling, even when Triple H was still in the championship's first reign, they started spouting off the crap that it dated back to 1904, sound familiar? The NWA title. Know what other promotion claimed the NWA title's lineage? WCW, the fact of the matter is though, there is a connection, but are these three titles one and the same? Nope, the SmackDown WHC is the successor to these titles, the WWE has slipped up so many times with this title, even the boss himself has called it the WCW title, and Batista regarded Dusty Rhodes as former World Heavyweight Champion though he didn't hold the original WWE world title, but did hold the NWA belt, they recognize who they want to as former World Heavyweight Champions. I don't think this thing may ever be cleared up until the WWE releases a History DVD for this title, which IMO will definitely have footage of title matches from JCP, NWA and WCW to connect these. TonyFreakinAlmeida 00:04, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
And another thought. How could Bischoff split up the Undisputed Championship? It was owned by Smackdown. He had no power. Mshake3 02:42, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
what does it say?! period!
that's just when the title started in wwe. so click on http://www.titlehistories.com/WWE_World_Heavyweight_Title.htm and you should find the anwcer.
So your saying that wwe DID INDEED create a NEW TITLE but where i think your getting that info from is at the wwe.com website. with all due respect but of coruse thay'd make seem to be different titles beacuse like i've said before it started in wwe in 02 and given to HHH by Eric bisoff being the last WCW VIP while being the GM of raw. Being that brock choose to be an excluive smackdown champion. However i will agree with you about the US and cruiserweight/lightweight championships. It would make it a lot more clear if you cheaked the link above and no I wont shut up about it until you do.Trust me it's there.
The World Heavyweight Championship is a N-E-W title according to WWE.com, then anyone who has a different opinion should change it! It may "seem" like the WCW Championship but it is defended in a different promotion and WWE says it's new, so it's new! That's so simple!
We need some transcripts of these Raw/Smackdowns. Too much paraphrasing. For example, I just looked up a show report for the Smackdown when Batista vacated the title [2], and the report says "It was his pride, privilege, and pleasure to follow the greats like Ric Flair, Harley Race, Triple H, and Dusty Rhodes." Again, not an exact quote, but based on how I'm reading it, it sounds like he's refering to champions in general. Yes, but all of those champions are those that have held variations of Big Gold/NWA/WCW title, can't be discounted, I know it's stupid that this debate still goes on this long but I think people just want to latch onto the possibility that this belt has more prestige then just being the other world title of the WWE and think that it goes back as far as it was once credited. I do not think there were any slipups when talking of the title's history back in '02, since pretty much everything on commentary and promo's are scripted. TonyFreakinAlmeida 21:54, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
I am not making an attempt to end the controversy entirely, to prove that these are (not) two separate titles, or anything else. Since this is the talk page for the article, I will make a statement regarding this article. The WWE does not acknowledge the WHC as being a continuation of the WCW Title. That means that anything that says the WHC is a continuation of the WCW Title is Original Research, and cannot affect the article under any circumstances. This article will reflect what the WWE says about the title that it owns, as that is the Wikipedia way. If it isn't official, it won't be in the article. Now, unless anyone can dispute what I have just said with Wikipedia policy, this conversation cannot continue on this talk page, as this is not a chat room/forum. This is for discussing ways to improve the article, an as I previously mentioned this conversation cannot affect it in any way. Please move on. Thank you all for your cooperation. 声 ć´ -- The Hyb rid 23:16, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
Before we move on i will agree on basicly everthing you've just said starting with the title itself my point being that the wcw title died with wcw. but just reborn thats all it is to it. if there's still some cofusion than hopefully this analogy will clear things up since rhino is now in TNA he could say that he was never in ECW or WWE(to serperate from the wwes ecw) but thats simply just untrue. We all know that rhino is no rookie. seeing as I've basicly agreed upon what you've menchiend before it would be only logical to move on.[mike]
To say that is OR, as I have previously stated, and cannot happen. Now, will people please stop replying to me? Replying with statements that try to prove your point, whether or not you mean them to, provokes the other side, and forces this conversation to continue on this talk page. If you people want to take this to someone else's talk page, more power to ya, but Wikipedia policy forbids adding this to the article for better or for worse. Unless anyone has a policy other than WP:IAR, as without a consensus backing it up that rule will almost never hold any weight, to dispute me with, then I hereby declare this dispute ended. Please move along silently. Thank you, 声 ć´ -- The Hyb rid 21:02, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
Sorry to burst Hybrid and Anakinjmt's bubbles but WWE.com just put up a section on the WCW World Heavyweight Title History and the introduction paragraph reads...
So the WWE DOES acknowledge the link between not only the WWE World Heavyweight Title and the WCW World Heavyweight Title but the link between those two championships and the NWA World Heavyweight Title. See for yourselves : [4] Pretzolio@yahoo.com 22:56, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
They didn't want to name the World Heavyweight Championship the WCW Championship when they brought it back. So they are the same title but they just have different names. Big Boss 0 15:14, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
If you click here: http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wcwchampionship/ It's official now! WWE.com says the World Heavyweight Championship IS the WCW Title! Let's change the article now, shall we? âThe preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.218.81.25 ( talk) 08:14, 27 February 2007 (UTC).
The WCW World Heavyweight Championship still stops with lineage stops with Chris Jericho, according to that page. The only thing they acknowledged was that the titles are related. Since WWE keeps the linage of SmackDown's World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship apart on their website, the same should be followed here.
They HAVE decided that the titles ARE the same, but the only reason there are two pages on WWE.com is to separate the title periods when it was property of WCW (a DIFFERENT brand of wrestling) and WWE.
WWE says that they are the same belt so I am going to agree with them. The World Heavyweight Championship is a continuation of the WCW Championship. The only difference is that they re-named it. Big Boss 0 15:10, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Finally! Can't get any more official then this. End of story. TonyFreakinAlmeida 16:31, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
If the WCW and World Heavyweight Championship are considered the same championship, then the lineage of the WCW World Championship wouldn't stop with Chris Jericho winning it the night it was unified with the WWE Title to create the WWE Undisputed Championship. The design of the title is almost identical, with the exception of the WWE Logo. Also, by looking on the link provided, you can look to the right you can see the individual listing for each title. Underneath the WWE Championship is listed "heavyweight". Why would they have seperate pages for them if they're the same championship? They wouldn't. Look at the WWE United States Championship history as an example. Its comprised of both the NWA and WCW United States Heavyweight Championship histories. Their lineages have been merged to give the WWE United States Championship a more prestigious and historical connection to the wrestling industry. For instance, look at the WWE Undisputed Championship. The idea was, originally, to combine the WCW and WWE Titles. Whether or not the WCW World Title was ever merged with the WWE Championship lineage is open for debate. Even if it was, it isn't anymore and how they choose to interpret things in the here and now is the official interpretation. I know it doesn't make sense. Some of it is downright idiotic, in my view. The WWE's retconning of some of this stuff has been horrendous, almost as if it were made up in five minutes. Idiotic or not, its how the WWE chooses to interpret things. Odin's Beard 15:59, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
Now all WWE has to do is switch the names of both Tag Team Titles and say that the Smackdown Tag Titles share lineage of the WCW Tag Team Titles.-- Prince Patrick 17:01, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Why not?? It could give more prestige to the Smackdown Tag belts and make it seem as old as the rest of the titles in the WWE. Besides, the WWE changes their mind about everything anyway. I wouldnât be surprised if they did this as well.-- Prince Patrick 18:54, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Yes, WWE changes their mind, but having WCW/Smackdown Tag Titles is ridiculous. At least the continuing title lineages for the World and Cruiserweight titles are easy to follow; The Smackdown Tag Titles have no connection to the WCW tag titles whatsoever no matter what weird logic or reasoning one might use. WWE isn't that bad; But NWA & TNA on the other hand have to claim some pretty warped lineages full of vacancies and inactivity in order to claim the current TNA titles link to the 80s NWA Titles. Pretzolio@yahoo.com 19:04, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
I couldnât agree with you more. That NWA Title on TNA has lineage connected to WWE, WCW, and ECW with vacancies at the point where each of those respective companies âbroke awayâ from the NWA. However, WWE could change the âstoryâ and say that Stephanie split the âUndisputedâ (WWE and WCW) Tag Team Titles that the Dudleyâs unified at the Survivor Series 2001, the same way the WWE and World Titles were split when Brock decided to stay on Smackdown, or the same way as the IC and US Titles were split when Austin reactivated the IC Title on Raw and Stephanie reactivated the US Title on Smackdown. Itâs just a thought, now that the WCW Title is considered the Smackdown World Title.-- Prince Patrick 19:13, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
The current NWA is a shell of it's former self and probably don't care about the lineage that much, and they don't even have control of the world title as they licensed it to TNA a couple years ago for a deal over 10 years, and if you read up various articles on wikipedia you'd find that in certain instances it's pointed to that the new NWA wanted to start a new title history with the tournament for the world title in '94 in ECW and their tag titles, and the goodwill agreements that the old NWA made with WCW that I would believe still hold up today for WCW to use the NWA title lineage as their own, as long as WWE doesn't mess with anything, they're fine, and the new NWA(which is basically just a club that promotions can sign up through) would probably be fine with it too. TonyFreakinAlmeida 22:15, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
The man who wrote that the SmackDown Tag Team Championship should be considered the WCW World Tag Team Championship is so right!!!!......
The note about Eddie Guerrero being planned to win the title from Batista before he tragically passed on, is OR and has no evidence to support it, so I am removing it.-- ProtoWolf 00:01, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
This belt IS the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, according to the WWE, via one of their own one-shot magazine publications, just recently released. It states that Eric Bischoff resurrected the WCW title and renamed it the World Heavyweight Championship.
In point of fact, I made that information available ON THE PAGE, and it was reverted to a prior appearance. It should not have been, as that information is direct from the WWE's publication. In other words, the controversy is- for now- over. It IS the WCW title.
Warwolf1 02:09, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
It is the WCW Championship! [7] Lex94 04:53, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
It isn't the WCW Championship. If it was, the WCW Championship's history would be incorporated into the World Heavyweight Championship's lineage just as the NWA and WCW United States Championshp histories are incorporated into the WWE United States Championship. Instead, it has it's own history and lineage listed seperately. Odin's Beard 13:38, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
no it wouldn't beacuse of 2 reasons. The WCW championship and the World Heavy Championship are major championships that's how the 1st reason defurs from the NWA/WCW US title historys. 2nd reason is their totaly different titles beacuse their both from entirly different promotions meaning that the World Heavyweight Championship represents reigens from only WWE. But is still the same championship.
If you compare Booker Huffman and Mark Calaway's date of births, Booker is older then Mark by 23 days.
So shouldn't he be the oldest champ in the statistic's section? -- Miles15 06:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
Read again Taker was born on March 24, Booker was born on March 1st, so its Taker thats older by 23 days not Booker. BionicWilliam 23:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm not inclined to read pages upon pages of argument so I'll ask. Wasn't Lou Thesz younger than Orton when he won the title? Killswitch Engage 05:56, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Batista being billed around 318lbs. at the time he won the title, making him the heaviest champion in the history of the title? TonyFreakinAlmeida 13:35, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Now Khali is the champion and he is way heavier than Batista. J@ro_Link 23:35, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
Some jackass wrote that Matt Hardy is the current Champion, but it has been changed back to Khali michaelc2007 20:20, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
I was wondering if it's worth mentioning that it has changed hands at every Wrestlemania since its creation in 2002. I wont put it on the main page but I think its still kind of something that people might find interesting, I did anyways. Stillboy2191 18:34, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
The title did not change hands at WrestleMania XIX - the first WrestleMania the title was defended. Triple H (c) defeated Booker T. And yes, that fact is very interesting. Diego 14:08 25 August 2007 (UTC) âPreceding unsigned comment added by 71.121.60.42 ( talk)
The relationship between this title and the WCW World Title has been hotly debated on this talk page. I have always said that itâs the WWE's opinion that matters, but they seem to have two different opinions at once. So, in an attempt to get some sort of confirmation, I e-mailed wwe.com about a week ago, using their online form. I later read that they very rarely respond to fan e-mails, and I was surprised to get a response today. Since I sent my question to them using an online form and not my e-mail, I donât have the original copy of my question. Anyhow, here is their response:
Dear [My Name],
That is an interesting question. The World Heavyweight Championship currently held by the Great Khali on Smackdown! is the same championship as the original WCW Title, though, as you noted, it has been identified as a new title on WWE television on several occasions. However, in those cases, we are referring to the titleâs 2002 rechristening in the WWE. The reason the championshipâs lineage is divided on our websiteâs title history page is the same reason relocated sports teams often keep separate statistics and records for players who have played for the franchise in its current city (borrowing your Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers analogy). The World Heavyweight Championship has a long and storied history, dating back to 1904. We are merely trying to keep our web content relevant for our current fan base.
Thank you for your question,
WWE.com Staff
Take this for what its worth. This isnât exactly from Vince McMahonâs mouth, but they wouldnât have this guy answering questions if he didnât know what he was talking about. Also, it seems that the WWE believes the NWA Title âbecameâ the WCW Title in 1991 (from the comment about its history dating to 1904), which I donât believe they have a right to say. However, that doesnât change what is said about the WCW Title, as they have every right to lay claim to that titleâs lineage. Iâm not saying we should immediately combine the WCW Title and World Heavyweight Title pages, but itâs something worth considering in the future. Bmf 51 18:18, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Five year anniversary article, pretty much says that the WWE considers the World Heavyweight Title to be a direct descendent and or one and the same with the WCW and NWA world titles of the past, they even call it a reincarnation of the WCW title. [8]. TonyFreakinAlmeida 21:52, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
Here is the link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/articles/4971594/worldtitleturnsfive . Interestingly, the of the 54 photos in the gallery accompaning the article, 40 (or about 74%) are from WCW (including a few from the Invasion), and one is of a former NWA Champion. âPreceding unsigned comment added by 63.3.9.1 ( talk) 04:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
While yes it's odd that WWE considers the WCW championship and the World Heavyweight Championship under different regions yet being the same championship. But the reason is beacuse the regions are representing the different promotions that owned the belt at the time. Oh and for the united states championship you've menchened. That is a seconedtier title so the reason the current United States championship is combined with WCW's lineage is for it to have more prestige. Though in my opinion is not needed beacuse it all ready has a long history.mike âPreceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.89.73 ( talk) 18:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)