World Championship

Years Active 2001 — 2001

Promotion WWF

Brand N/A

Total Reigns 62

Total Champions 22

Last Champion The Rock

Longest Reign

Hulk Hogan

469 days as the World Champion

Won at Bash at the Beach 1994 against Ric Flair on July 17, 1994 and held title until October 29, 1995.

Most Reigns

Longest Reigns

Hulk Hogan (469 days)
Hulk Hogan (359 days)
Big Van Vader (285 days)

About This Championship

The World Championship was the final name used for the former WCW world-title lineage in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during the closing weeks of 2001. The championship had begun as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 1991 and continued after the WWF purchased WCW in March 2001.

During the Invasion storyline, it was shortened to the WCW Championship before the WCW name was removed after the Alliance was defeated at Survivor Series.

The Rock held the championship when the name changed on November 19, 2001. His existing reign continued under the World Championship name, with the same Big Gold Belt still representing the title. At the same time, Stone Cold Steve Austin held the WWF Championship, leaving the company with two active men’s world championships after the Invasion had ended.

The WWF set up a one-night tournament at Vengeance on December 9 to establish a single undisputed champion. Chris Jericho faced The Rock for the World Championship, while Austin defended the WWF Championship against Kurt Angle. The winners would then meet later that night with both championships at stake.

Jericho defeated The Rock to win the World Championship, while Austin defeated Angle to retain the WWF Championship. Their victories sent Jericho and Austin into the final match, where interference from Booker T helped Jericho defeat Austin and leave Vengeance holding both championships.

The victory unified the World Championship with the WWF Championship and ended the WCW-derived lineage as an active title on December 9, 2001. The WWF Championship continued as the Undisputed WWF Championship, with Jericho carrying both the Big Gold Belt and the WWF Championship belt to represent his undisputed status until a single championship belt replaced them in 2002.

Championship Name History

WCW World Heavyweight Championship1991 – 2001

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WCW Championship2001 – 2001

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World Championship2001 – 2001

Complete List of Champions and Reign History for the World Championship

= Reign Distinction = Includes Reign Notes

# Click to sort	Wrestler Click to sort	Date Won Click to sort	Opponent(s) Click to sort	Event Click to sort	Match Type Click to sort	Partner(s) Click to sort	Days Held Click to sort
	⤳ Title unified into Undisputed WWF Championship on December 9, 2001
62	Chris Jericho	Dec 9, 2001	The Rock	Vengeance 2001	Singles Match		<1
Championship renamed to World Championship on November 19, 2001
61	The Rock	Nov 5, 2001	Chris Jericho	Raw	Singles Match		34
60	Chris Jericho	Oct 21, 2001	The Rock	No Mercy 2001	Singles Match		15
59	The Rock	Aug 19, 2001	Booker T	SummerSlam 2001	Singles Match		63
58	Booker T	Jul 30, 2001	Kurt Angle	Raw Is War	Singles Match		20
57	Kurt Angle	Jul 24, 2001	Booker T	SmackDown!	Singles Match		6
Championship renamed to WCW Championship on June 24, 2001
56	Booker T	Mar 26, 2001	Scott Steiner	Nitro	Winner Takes All Match		120
55	Scott Steiner	Nov 26, 2000	Booker T	Mayhem 2000	Straitjacket Steel Cage Match		120
54	Booker T	Oct 2, 2000	Jeff Jarrett	Nitro	San Francisco 49ers Match		55
—	Title Vacated on October 2, 2000
53	Vince Russo	Sep 25, 2000	Booker T	Nitro	Steel Cage Match		7
52	Booker T	Sep 17, 2000	Kevin Nash	Fall Brawl 2000	Caged Heat Match		8
51	Kevin Nash	Aug 28, 2000	Booker T	Nitro	Singles Match		20
50	Booker T	Jul 9, 2000	Jeff Jarrett	Bash at the Beach 2000	Singles Match		50
Earlier that night at Bash at the Beach, Jeff Jarrett lay down for Hollywood Hulk Hogan and allowed Hogan to pin him for the championship in a controversial match involving Vince Russo. Russo later declared the result invalid and stated that Jarrett remained champion. Jarrett then defended the title against Booker T in an impromptu match, with Booker defeating him to win the championship for the first time. Hogan’s apparent title win is not included in the official championship lineage.
49	Jeff Jarrett	May 29, 2000	Ric Flair	Nitro	Singles Match		41
48	Ric Flair	May 29, 2000		Nitro			<1
Kevin Nash relinquished the championship to Ric Flair, restoring the title to Flair one week after Vince Russo stripped him of it.
47	Kevin Nash	May 24, 2000	Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner	Thunder	Triangle Match		5
46	Jeff Jarrett	May 22, 2000		Nitro			2
After stripping Ric Flair of the championship, Vince Russo awarded the vacant title to Jeff Jarrett. Kevin Nash then took the championship belt, leading Russo to order a No Holds Barred match between Nash and Jarrett later that night. Jarrett defeated Nash to retain the championship.
—	Title Vacated on May 22, 2000
45	Ric Flair	May 15, 2000	Jeff Jarrett	Nitro	Singles Match		7
44	Jeff Jarrett	May 7, 2000	David Arquette & Diamond Dallas Page	Slamboree 2000	Triple Cage Match		8
43	David Arquette	Apr 26, 2000	Eric Bischoff & Jeff Jarrett	Thunder	Tag Team Match	Diamond Dallas Page	11
The championship was on the line in a tag team match with champion Diamond Dallas Page and David Arquette facing Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff. Under the stipulation, whichever wrestler scored the winning fall would become WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Arquette pinned Bischoff to win the title from Page without pinning the reigning champion.
42	Diamond Dallas Page	Apr 24, 2000	Jeff Jarrett	Nitro	Steel Cage Match		2
41	Jeff Jarrett	Apr 16, 2000	Diamond Dallas Page	Spring Stampede 2000	Tournament Final Match		8
—	Title Vacated from April 10, 2000 to April 16, 2000 (6 days)
40	Sid Vicious	Jan 26, 2000	Kevin Nash & Ron Harris	Thunder	Triangle Steel Cage Match		75
Sid Vicious’ reign ended when the championship was vacated as part of WCW’s April 10, 2000 reboot, with Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff declaring all of the promotion’s championships vacant.
–	Kevin Nash	Jan 26, 2000		Thunder			<1
As WCW Commissioner, Nash stripped Sid Vicious of the championship and awarded the vacant title to himself. The reign was not officially recognized by WCW and is not included in WWE’s current championship history.
—	Title Vacated on January 26, 2000
39	Sid Vicious	Jan 24, 2000	Kevin Nash	Nitro	Vacant Title Match		2
—	Title Vacated from January 17, 2000 to January 24, 2000 (7 days)
38	Chris Benoit	Jan 16, 2000	Sid Vicious	Souled Out 2000	Vacant Title Match		1
—	Title Vacated on January 16, 2000
37	Bret Hart	Dec 20, 1999	Goldberg	Nitro	Vacant Title Match		27
—	Title Vacated on December 20, 1999
36	Bret Hart	Nov 21, 1999	Chris Benoit	Mayhem 1999	Tournament Final Match		29
—	Title Vacated from October 25, 1999 to November 21, 1999 (27 days)
35	Sting	Sep 12, 1999	Hollywood Hogan	Fall Brawl 1999	Singles Match		43
34	Hollywood Hogan	Jul 12, 1999	Randy Savage	Nitro	Singles Match		62
33	Randy Savage	Jul 11, 1999	Kevin Nash & Sting	Bash at the Beach 1999	Tag Team Match	Sid Vicious	1
32	Kevin Nash	May 9, 1999	Diamond Dallas Page	Slamboree 1999	Singles Match		63
31	Diamond Dallas Page	Apr 26, 1999	Sting, Goldberg, and Kevin Nash	Nitro	Four Corners Match		13
30	Sting	Apr 26, 1999	Diamond Dallas Page	Nitro	Singles Match		<1
29	Diamond Dallas Page	Apr 11, 1999	Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Sting	Spring Stampede 1999	Four Corners Match		15
28	Ric Flair	Mar 14, 1999	Hollywood Hogan	Uncensored 1999	First Blood Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match		28
27	Hollywood Hogan	Jan 4, 1999	Kevin Nash	Nitro	Singles Match		69
26	Kevin Nash	Dec 27, 1998	Goldberg	Starrcade 1998	No Disqualification Match		8
25	Goldberg	Jul 6, 1998	Hollywood Hogan	Nitro	Singles Match		174
24	Hollywood Hogan	Apr 20, 1998	Randy Savage	Nitro	No Disqualification Match		77
23	Randy Savage	Apr 19, 1998	Sting	Spring Stampede 1998	No Disqualification Match		1
22	Sting	Feb 22, 1998	Hollywood Hogan	SuperBrawl VIII	Vacant Title Match		56
—	Title Vacated from January 8, 1998 to February 22, 1998 (45 days)
21	Sting	Dec 28, 1997	Hollywood Hogan	Starrcade 1997	Singles Match		11
20	Hollywood Hogan	Aug 9, 1997	Lex Luger	Road Wild 1997	Singles Match		141
19	Lex Luger	Aug 4, 1997	Hollywood Hulk Hogan	Nitro	Singles Match		5
18	Hollywood Hulk Hogan	Aug 10, 1996	The Giant	Hog Wild 1996	Singles Match		359
17	The Giant	Apr 22, 1996	Ric Flair	Nitro	Singles Match		110
16	Ric Flair	Feb 11, 1996	Randy Savage	SuperBrawl VI	Steel Cage Match		71
15	Randy Savage	Jan 22, 1996	Ric Flair	Nitro	Singles Match		20
14	Ric Flair	Dec 27, 1995	Randy Savage	Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling	Singles Match		26
13	Randy Savage	Nov 26, 1995	One Man Gang	World War 3	World War 3 Match		31
—	Title Vacated from November 6, 1995 to November 26, 1995 (20 days)
12	The Giant	Oct 29, 1995	Hulk Hogan	Halloween Havoc 1995	Singles Match		8
11	Hulk Hogan	Jul 17, 1994	Ric Flair	Bash at the Beach 1994	Singles Match		469
10	Ric Flair	Apr 21, 1994	Ricky Steamboat	Saturday Night 1994	Vacant Title Match		87
—	Title Vacated from April 17, 1994 to April 21, 1994 (4 days)
9	Ric Flair	Dec 27, 1993	Big Van Vader	Starrcade: 10th Anniversary	Career on the Line Match		111
8	Big Van Vader	Mar 17, 1993	Sting	House show	Singles Match		285
7	Sting	Mar 11, 1993	Big Van Vader	House show	Singles Match		6
6	Big Van Vader	Dec 30, 1992	Ron Simmons	House show	Singles Match		71
5	Ron Simmons	Aug 2, 1992	Big Van Vader	Main Event	Singles Match		150
4	Big Van Vader	Jul 12, 1992	Sting	The Great American Bash 1992	Singles Match		21
3	Sting	Feb 29, 1992	Lex Luger	SuperBrawl II	Singles Match		134
2	Lex Luger	Jul 14, 1991	Barry Windham	The Great American Bash 1991	Steel Cage Match		230
—	Title Vacated from July 1, 1991 to July 14, 1991 (13 days)
1	Ric Flair	Jan 11, 1991	Sting	House show	Singles Match		171

World Championship Historical Reign Leaders List

#	Champion	Reigns	Total Days Held	Longest Reign (Days)	Avg. Reign (Days)	% of Career Title Held
1	Ric Flair	8	501	171	63	3.7%
2	Hulk Hogan	6	1,177	469	196	9%
2	Sting	6	250	134	42	1.7%
4	Booker T	5	253	120	51	2%
5	Kevin Nash	4	96	63	24	0.85%
5	Jeff Jarrett	4	59	41	15	0.4%
5	Randy Savage	4	53	31	13	0.45%
8	Big Van Vader	3	377	285	126	2.5%
8	Diamond Dallas Page	3	30	15	10	0.26%
10	Lex Luger	2	235	230	118	2.9%
10	The Giant	2	118	110	59	0.99%
10	The Rock	2	97	63	49	0.86%
10	Sid Vicious	2	77	75	39	0.68%
10	Bret Hart	2	56	29	28	0.67%
10	Chris Jericho	2	15	15	8	0.11%
16	Goldberg	1	174	174	174	1.6%
16	Ron Simmons	1	150	150	150	1.6%
16	Scott Steiner	1	120	120	120	0.89%
16	David Arquette	1	11	11	11	0.14%
16	Vince Russo	1	7	7	7	0.07%
16	Kurt Angle	1	6	6	6	0.07%
16	Chris Benoit	1	1	1	1	0.01%

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