Ecw World Heavyweight Championship
History
Origin
The NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship was introduced originally in 1992 with Jimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a promotion with various subsidiaries. In the early 1990s, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a subsidiary to the NWA and by 1994, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the world title of the NWA and its subsidiaries, was vacant. Consequently, a tournament was organized to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion and on August 27, ECW Heavyweight Champion, Shane Douglas, defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals to win the title. However, Douglas immediately relinquished the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW subsequently seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was thus established as having spun-off from the NWA title. It remained active until April 11, 2001 when ECW closed and World Wrestling Entertainment subsequently purchased its assets.
Recommission
By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series books, which included the release of The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featured ECW alumni. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere event in the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a third WWE brand, complementary to Raw and SmackDown. On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand’s world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship would “become” the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event. However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. The title became known as the ECW World Championship in July 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in August 2007.
Brand designation
Ezekiel Jackson, final ECW World Heavyweight Champion
Following the events of the WWE Brand Extension, an annual WWE Draft was established, in which select members of the WWE Roster were reassigned to a different brand. After two years on the ECW brand, the ECW Championship was briefly moved to the SmackDown brand when Chavo Guerrero, a member of the SmackDown brand, defeated the ECW Champion CM Punk on January 22, 2008 to win the title. On March 30 at WrestleMania XXIV, the ECW Championship returned to ECW when Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW Championship and defected to the ECW brand. After the 2008 WWE Draft, Kane was drafted to Raw, moving the ECW Championship to the Raw brand. On June 29 at Night of Champions, Mark Henry defeated Kane and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match to win the ECW Championship. Henry’s status as a member of the ECW brand resulted in the championship returning to ECW. The brand would continue to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive once again.
Belt designs
Soon after its recommissioning, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt design was updated to a design similar to the belt used prior to ECW’s original closure in 2001, which featured a black leather strap with a snakeskin pattern on the rear, snaps to wrap around the waist of the wrestler who wore it, and five pieces made of gold. In the middle of the strap was a large center piece, which featured a design of a blue globe in the center, and to the left and right of the globe were a pair of baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire. At the top of the piece, a purple ECW logo and the words “World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion” were engraved with the words “Heavyweight Wrestling” in red, which gave the text a blood-like appearance. In addition, the entire piece was engraved with a pattern similar to that of a steel cage. Along the strap, on both ends, were four smaller pieces which featured a design similar to that of the center piece. The new belt was differentiated by a full black strap with barbed wire tooling, red ECW logos, and the innards of the steel cage pattern outlined in black.
On July 22, 2008, ECW General Manager Theodore Long introduced a new 17 pound platinum belt design for the ECW Championship belt. This current design features a large black leather strap with five platinum pieces. The large center piece features a design of a phoenix over a globe in the center with its wings expanded and rays of light emitting from it. At the top of the piece, the WWE logo and the words “World Wrestling Entertainment” are engraved with “ECW” in large letters engraved prominently over the phoenix. A nameplate, which has the name of the champion etched, is located below it and at the bottom of the piece, the word “Champion” is engraved. Additionally, the entire piece is bordered by a jagged saw-like pattern. Along the strap, on both ends, are four small biker cross-shape pieces which feature a design similar to that of the center piece.
Reigns
Main article: List of ECW World Heavyweight Champions
The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, who won the title by defeating Salvatore Bellomo in April 1992. The Sandman holds the most reigns as champion, with five. Shane Douglas, in his fourth reign, had the longest reign in the title’s history which lasted 406 days, while Ezekiel Jackson, in his first reign, had the shortest at less than three minutes as the title was retired immediately. He won the title on the television finale of ECW by defeating Christian making him the last ECW Champion. Overall, there have been 49 ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns shared among 32 individuals.
References
^ a b “ECW World Heavyweight Title”. Wrestling-Titles. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
^ “NWA World Title Tournament – August 27, 1994 in Philadelphia”. Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/ecw/results/1994c.html#082794. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
^ “History of the ECW World Title”. WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/082794douglas. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
^ a b Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE: History of WrestleMania. p. 58.
^ “WWE brings ECW to Sci Fi Channel”. WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/scifi. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
^ “WWE RAW results – June 5, 2006”. Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/060605.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
^ “ECW on Sci Fi results – June 13, 2006”. Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/060613.html. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
^ “ECW on Sci Fi results – July 11, 2006”. Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/ecw-wwe/060711.html. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
^ “ECW Championship”. WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/history/ecwchampionship/. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
^ Dee, Louie (2007-06-07). “Draft History”. World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/archive/06112007/articles/drafthistory. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
^ Sitterson, Aubrey (2008-06-25). “Tangled Titles”. World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/exclusives/tangledtitles. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
^ Rote, Andrew (2008-06-29). “Worlds Strongest Extreme Champion”. World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/shows/nightofchampions/matches/7188540/results/. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
^ a b Medalis, Kara A. (2009-07-26). “Results:Dominant farewell”. WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/results/13527692//. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
^ Medalis, Kara A. (2008-07-22). “Going for gold”. World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/archive/07222008/.
External links
Professional wrestling
portal
The ECW Championship at WWE.com
CygyWrestling.com – ECW World Heavyweight Title History
Wrestling-Titles.com
Links to related articles
v d e
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Championships
World
World Heavyweight (reigns)
Secondary
World Television (reigns) Maryland (reigns) Pennsylvania (reigns)
Tag Team
World Tag Team (reigns)
Other
FTW Heavyweight (reigns)
Talent
Teams and stables Hardcore wrestling Alumni
Programming
Hardcore TV ECW on TNN Pay-per-views
Guilty as Charged Living Dangerously Barely Legal Wrestlepalooza Hardcore Heaven Heat Wave Anarchy Rulz November to Remember Massacre on 34th Street
Miscellaneous
ECW Arena Video games The Invasion The Rise and Fall of ECW WWE Brand Extension ECW Brand One Night Stand (2005 2006) December to Dismember (1995 2006) Mass Transit incident
v d e
ECW World Heavyweight Champions
NWA
Jimmy Snuka Johnny Hotbody Don Muraco The Sandman Tito Santana Shane Douglas
ECW
Shane Douglas Sabu Terry Funk Mikey Whipwreck Raven Bam Bam Bigelow Taz Mike Awesome Masato Tanaka Tommy Dreamer Justin Credible Jerry Lynn Steve Corino Rhino
WWE
Rob Van Dam The Big Show Bobby Lashley Mr. McMahon John Morrison CM Punk Chavo Guerrero Kane Mark Henry Matt Hardy Jack Swagger Christian Tommy Dreamer Ezekiel Jackson
v d e
Former championships in World Wrestling Entertainment
World
World Martial Arts Heavyweight (Reigns) (19781985) WCW/World (Reigns) (2001) ECW (Reigns) (20062010)
Secondary
United States (Reigns) (19701975) North American Heavyweight (Reigns) (19791981) International Heavyweight (Reigns) (19591963,19821985) Canadian (Reigns) (19851986) European (Reigns) (19972002)
Tag Team
United States Tag Team (Reigns) (19631967) International Tag Team (Reigns) (19691985) Women’s Tag Team (Reigns) (19831989) Intercontinental Tag Team (Reigns) (1991) WCW Tag Team (Reigns) (2001)
Divisional
Junior Heavyweight (Reigns) (19671985) Light Heavyweight (Reigns) (19812001) Cruiserweight (Reigns) (20012008)
Other
Million Dollar (Reigns) (19891992, 19951996) Hardcore (Reigns) (19982002)
Categories: Extreme Championship Wrestling championships | World heavyweight wrestling championships | World Wrestling Entertainment championshipsHidden categories: Wikipedia pages with incorrect protection templates | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements
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