He won the undisputed title by defeating previous champion Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match at WrestleMania XL Night 2 on April 7, 2024.

The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was then established and awarded to Buddy Rogers with the explanation that he won a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro, supposedly defeating Antonino Rocca in the finals.

In June 2006, WWE established ECW as a third brand, on which former Extreme Championship Wrestling stars and newer talent competed.

Just prior to the end of the first brand split, a storyline saw CM Punk vowing to leave the company with the WWE Championship when his contract expired on July 17, 2011, the date of the 2011 Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

At the event, Punk succeeded in defeating the defending champion John Cena to win the title, and left the company with the physical championship belt.

[23] On the July 25 episode of Raw, to address the lack of a world title for the brand, the WWE Universal Championship was created; Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at SummerSlam.

[27] The title changed hands for the first time outside of North America when AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win his second WWE Championship in Manchester, England on the November 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown.

Each year (except 2003), the General Managers participated in a draft lottery in which select members of WWE's roster were assigned to a brand.

[39] On August 29, 2011, WWE ended the brand extension and wrestlers (including all champions), were then free to appear on any program.

On July 19, 2016, SmackDown moved to Tuesdays and became a live show with its own set of wrestlers and writers, separate from Raw, thus reintroducing the brand split.

The enlarged center piece contained a crowned globe and two grapplers, and read "WWWF World Champion"; the two side plates commemorated Sammartino's title win.

This version, on a red strap, read "WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" around the edges with an eagle at the center, while six side plates represented several countries.

This version was subsequently held by Stan Stasiak, Bruno Sammartino, "Superstar" Billy Graham – who wore a red leather variation – and Bob Backlund.

During the latter's reign, the promotion's name was shortened to World Wrestling Federation (WWF), but the physical championship belt still read "WWWF".

It read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" and included the famous WWF block logo at the top, while four side plates had flags (two flags per side plate) representing the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Soviet Union, and Italy.

Its nickname is derived from the eagle's wings seemingly coming off of the center plate, which included the block WWF logo and read "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion".

Apart from the usual black leather strap, The Ultimate Warrior wore white, light blue, yellow, and purple variations, with the latter also worn by Sgt.

In March 1998, after "Stone Cold" Steve Austin became champion, he was presented with a new design, often dubbed the "Big Eagle" or "Attitude Era" championship belt.

The inner side plates on this design also contained the McMahon family crest of a lion holding a shield that had the company logo.

The scratch WWE logo, placed between an eagle on top and the word "Champ" and a name plate below, could be spun like spinner wheels or a turntable in keeping with the hip-hop theme.

It included a large center plate dominated by a cut out of the current WWE logo (encrusted with diamonds) inside an irregular heptagon with the capital words "World Heavyweight Champion" along the bottom edges, in very small print.

The large side plates, like the previous design, included removable round center sections, allowing the holder's personal logo to be added to the championship belt; the default plates showed gold and red world maps with the WWE logo over them but without the crown from the previous design.

[35] Despite this, his manager Paul Heyman had continued to carry around the previous WWE and Universal Championship belts until the end of July.

During Saturday Night's Main Event on December 14, 2024–as part of the show's 1980s throwback theme—reigning champion Cody Rhodes wore the "Winged Eagle" belt to represent his Undisputed WWE Championship.

A much larger version similar to the Hogan '86 championship belt was created for André the Giant before WrestleMania III, although he never wore it as champion.

[76][51] A custom championship belt was used by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin during his second reign (1998), which included his "Smoking Skull" logo as well as rattle snakes.

As an answer, The Rock also had a custom championship belt designed and constructed, including his trademark "Brahma Bull" logo, but due to creative reasons, it never appeared on television.

[78] During Daniel Bryan's fourth reign (2018–2019) as part of his environmentalist heel gimmick, he threw the standard title belt in a garbage can (bemoaning the fact it was made from leather) and introduced a new custom belt, dubbed the "Planet's Championship", featuring the same design as the "Network Logo" belt, but made from "entirely sustainable materials" (such as the strap being made from hemp and the center and side plates carved from wood of a naturally fallen oak tree; the side plates also had his name instead of the WWE logo).

[79] In October 2014, WWE presented the San Francisco Giants a replica of the "Network Logo" belt for winning the 2014 World Series.

[1] The youngest champion is Brock Lesnar, who won the title for the first time at the age of 25 years, 44 days during SummerSlam 2002 in August 2002, while the oldest champion is Mr. McMahon, who won the title for the first and only time at the age of 54 years, 21 days during the September 16, 1999 episode of SmackDown.