ECW World Heavyweight Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The ECW World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship title. It was the highest ranked title in the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion from its start in 1992 up until the promotion's bankruptcy in 2001. It was revived in 2006 and is now the only title in the new ECW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment.
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[edit] History
The belt was known as the NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship from 1992 to 1994. On August 27, 1994, after severing ties with the NWA and claiming world status on their heavyweight championship, the belt became known as Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship.
In the ensuing years, the title became widely recognized as a true world title and was defended internationally and against challengers from around the world.
Mike Awesome was still into his second reign as the ECW World Heavyweight Champion when he unexpectedly showed up in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was due to this fiasco that Paul Heyman was forced to sign a match with Awesome and Tazz (who at the time was signed to the World Wrestling Federation) to defend his title, which Tazz eventually won. This was the only time that a WWF contracted wrestler faced a WCW contracted wrestler in an ECW ring.
ECW declared bankruptcy on April 11, 2001, with the then-champion, Rhino, joining the WWF. During his WWF tenure, Rhino was recognized as the final ECW World Heavyweight Champion, and notably at the 2005 ECW One Night Stand event he was heralded as the final champion as well; however, he did not appear with the title at the event, and was not referred to as the "current" champion.
The title was reactivated on June 13, 2006 when Paul Heyman presented it to Rob Van Dam, by virtue of his holding of the WWE Championship. Van Dam was originally awarded with an ECW replica title belt on June 13, 2006, but eventually got a brand new (leather and plates) ECW World Championship title belt. Since then, the title has usually been referred to by the shorter ECW World Title, most likely to avoid confusion with Smackdown's World Heavyweight Championship
[edit] Statistics
| Record: | Record holder: | Record number: | Notes: |
| Most reigns | The Sandman | Five | The Sandman won his 5th title on January 7, 2001, after he defeated champion Steve Corino and Justin Credible in a 3-way dance. He had previously been tied with Shane Douglas for the most reigns, with 4 each. |
| Longest reign | Shane Douglas | 406 days | Douglas beat Bam Bam Bigelow for the title on November 30, 1997. He would hold the title through all of 1998 (Mostly due to injury), before losing the belt to Tazz on January 10, 1999. |
| Shortest reign | The Sandman | c. 15 minutes | The Sandman won the title from Steve Corino and lost it to Rhino on January 7, 2001. The record edges Tommy Dreamer's record on April 22, 2000 of 25 minutes. |
| Oldest champion | Terry Funk | 52 years 287 days | N/A |
| Youngest champion | Mikey Whipwreck | 23 years 146 days | N/A |
| Heaviest champion | Big Show | 517 lb. | N/A. |
| Lightest champion | Jerry Lynn | 185 lb. | N/A |
[edit] Trivia
- 8 former ECW Champions, Raven, The Big Show, Taz, Mike Awesome, Tommy Dreamer, Justin Credible, Rhino, and Rob Van Dam, have won the WWE Hardcore Championship.
- 3 former ECW Champions, Bam Bam Bigelow, Terry Funk, and Shane Douglas have won the WCW Hardcore Championship.
- As of 2006, only two ECW Champions have ever won the WWE Championship: Rob Van Dam and Big Show. Van Dam defeated John Cena for the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand 2006 on June 11, 2006, and was awarded the ECW World Heavyweight Championship by Paul Heyman on June 13, 2006, while still the WWE Champion (making him the first person to hold both titles simultaneously). On July 4, 2006, Big Show defeated him for the title, making Show the first person to ever win the WCW, ECW, and WWF/E Championships.
- 4 former ECW Champions have become NWA World Champions after they had first won the ECW title, they are Sabu, Steve Corino, Raven and Rhino. Also, 2 wrestlers had won the NWA World Championship before winning the ECW Championship, they are Shane Douglas and Terry Funk.
- Bobby Lashley is the first and only African American wrestler to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
[edit] Current champion
Bobby Lashley is the current champion, defeating champion The Big Show, Hardcore Holly, Test, CM Punk and Rob Van Dam in an Extreme Elimination Chamber match on December 3, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia at December to Dismember 2006. This is Lashley's first reign as ECW Heavyweight Champion, as well as his first World Title. He is the first and only African American wrestler to win the ECW World Heavyweight Title in the ECW's current incarnation.
[edit] See also
- List of ECW World Heavyweight Champions
- List of ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns by length
- Extreme Championship Wrestling
- List of Number of World Title Reigns
[edit] External links
| Current WWE championships and accomplishments |
|---|
| Promotion championships |
| RAW championships WWE | Intercontinental | World Tag Team | Women's |
| SmackDown! championships World Heavyweight | United States | WWE Tag Team | Cruiserweight |
| ECW championships ECW World Heavyweight |
| Developmental territories |
| Ohio Valley Wrestling championships OVW Heavyweight | OVW Television | OVW Southern Tag Team | OVW Women's |
| Deep South Wrestling championships DSW Heavyweight | DSW Tag Team |
| Other accomplishments |
| Royal Rumble | Money in the Bank | King of the Ring (SD!) | Diva Search |
| Extreme Championship Wrestling championships |
|---|
| World Heavyweight (1992-2001, 2006-) | Tag Team (1992-2001) | World Television (1992-2001) |
| FTW Heavyweight (1998-1999) | Maryland (1993) | Pennsylvania (1993) |
