WWE Is Making A Big Change To This Championship – AGAIN

Keen-eared viewers of SmackDown might have noticed a subtle change to the brand’s big title. The belt, formerly referred to as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, got its moniker shortened to WWE World Championship. We figured the change was to avoid weight class confusion–now that the show actually has a weight division–but it seems WWE has gone a step farther.

WWE.com now refers to the belt as simply the WWE Championship, dropping any reference to weight or location.

Why? We don’t know. But it is a relief to no longer have the wordy mouthful that “WWE World Heavyweight Championship” provided.

https://youtu.be/tDhnaa1ppeE

The newly rechristened WWE Championship has perhaps the richest lineage of any pro wrestling title. It was unified between the original WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2013 TLC match between Randy Orton and John Cena. Between the two lineages, the title’s been held by the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, Sting, and the Rock.

While the title was unified in 2013, it wasn’t until SummerSlam in 2014 that the two original belts were retired and replaced with the current design, first held by Brock Lesnar. The unified title has been held by Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, Triple H, twice by Seth Rollins, and three times by Roman Reigns.

The current champion, AJ Styles, isn’t faring so well, as he’s been pulled from multiple shows as a result of injury. Perhaps “vacant” is about to tie Roman’s three reigns with the unified title.