WWF WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) World Heavyweight Title

Longest Reign : Bruno Sammartino (2,803 days)
Longest Reign (WWF World Only) : Hulk Hogan (1,474 days)
Most Reigns : The Rock, Steve Austin (6 reigns)

#	Wrestler	Defeated	Reign	Cmtve	Date
66	Chris Jericho Chris Jericho	Stone Cold Steve Austin Title Unification Match	- days	- days	December 9 2001 Vengeance
65	Stone Cold Steve Austin (6) Steve Austin	Kurt Angle Singles Match	62 days	529 days	October 8 2001 Raw
64	Kurt Angle (2) Kurt Angle	Steve Austin Singles Match	15 days	141 days	September 23 2001 Unforgiven
63	Stone Cold Steve Austin (5) Steve Austin	The Rock No Disqualification Match	175 days	467 days	April 1 2001 Wrestlemania X-Seven
62	The Rock (6) The Rock	Kurt Angle Singles Match	35 days	262 days	February 25 2001 No Way Out
61	Kurt Angle Kurt Angle	The Rock No Disqualification Match	126 days	126 days	October 22 2000 No Mercy
60	The Rock (5) The Rock	Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & Triple H Six-Man Tag Team Match	119 days	227 days	June 25 2000 King of the Ring
59	Triple H (4) Triple H	The Rock Iron Man Match	35 days	224 days	May 21 2000 Judgment Day
58	The Rock (4) The Rock	Triple H Singles Match	21 days	108 days	April 30 2000 Backlash
57	Triple H (3) Triple H	The Big Show Singles Match	118 days	189 days	January 3 2000 Raw is War
56	The Big Show The Big Show	Triple H and The Rock Triple Threat Match	45 days	45 days	November 14 1999 Survivor Series
55	Triple H (2) Hunter Hearst Helmsley	The Rock, Big Show, British Bulldog, Kane and Mankind Six-Pack Match	49 days	71 days	September 26 1999 Unforgiven
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Vince McMahon [ Title Vacated ]	6 days	196 days	September 20 1999
54	Vince McMahon Vince McMahon	Triple H Singles Match	6 days	6 days	September 14 1999 SmackDown!
53	Triple H Hunter Hearst Helmsley	Mankind Singles Match	22 days	22 days	August 23 1999 Raw is War
52	Mankind (3) Mick Foley	Steve Austin and Triple H Triple Threat Match	1 day	47 day	August 22 1999 SummerSlam
51	Stone Cold Steve Austin (4) Steve Austin	The Undertaker Singles Match	55 days	292 days	June 28 1999 Raw is War
50	The Undertaker (3) The Undertaker	Steve Austin Singles Match	36 days	175 days	May 23 1999 Over the Edge
49	Stone Cold Steve Austin (3) Steve Austin	The Rock No Disqualification Match	56 days	237 days	March 28 1999 Wrestlemania XV
48	The Rock (3) The Rock	Mankind Ladder Match	41 days	87 days	February 15 1999 Raw is War
47	Mankind (2) Mick Foley	The Rock "Empty Arena" Match	20 days	46 days	January 26 1999 Halftime Heat
46	The Rock (2) The Rock	Mankind "I Quit" Match	2 days	46 days	January 24 1999 Royal Rumble
45	Mankind Mick Foley	The Rock Singles Match	26 days	26 days	December 29 1999 Raw is War
44	The Rock Rocky Maivia	Mankind Tournament Singles Match Final	44 days	44 days	November 15 1998 Survivor Series
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Undertaker and Kane [ Title Vacated ]	49 days	190 days	September 27 1998
43	Stone Cold Steve Austin (2) Steve Austin	Kane Singles Match	90 days	181 days	June 29 1998 Raw is War
42	Kane Kane	Steve Austin First Blood Match	1 day	1 day	June 28 1998 King of the Ring
41	Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin	Shawn Michaels Singles Match	91 days	91 days	March 29 1998 Wrestlemania XIV
40	Shawn Michaels (3) Shawn Michaels	Bret Hart Singles Match	140 days	397 days	November 9 1997 Survivor Series
39	Bret Hart (5) Bret Hart	The Undertaker Singles Match	98 days	654 days	August 3 1997 SummerSlam
38	The Undertaker (2) The Undertaker	Sycho Sid Singles Match	133 days	139 days	March 23 1997 Wrestlemania XIII
37	Sycho Sid (2) Sycho Sid (Sid Vicious)	Bret Hart Singles Match	34 days	97 days	February 17 1997 Raw is War
36	Bret Hart (4) Bret Hart	Vader, Stone Cold and Undertaker Final Four Match	1 day	556 day	February 16 1997 In Your House: Final Four
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Shawn Michaels [ Title Vacated ]	3 days	141 days	February 13 1997
35	Shawn Michaels (2) Shawn Michaels	Sycho Sid Singles Match	26 days	257 days	January 19 1997 Royal Rumble
34	Sycho Sid Sycho Sid (Sid Vicious)	Shawn Michaels Singles Match	63 days	63 days	November 17 1996 Survivor Series
33	Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels	Bret Hart Iron Man Match	231 days	231 days	March 31 1996 Wrestlemania XII
32	Bret Hart (3) Bret Hart	Diesel Singles Match	133 days	555 days	November 19 1995 Survivor Series
31	Diesel Diesel (Kevin Nash)	Bob Backlund Singles Match	358 days	358 days	November 26 1994
30	Bob Backlund (4) Bob Backlund	Bret Hart Singles Match	3 days	1481 days	November 23 1994 Survivor Series
29	Bret Hart (2) Bret Hart	Yokozuna Singles Match	248 days	422 days	March 20 1994 Wrestlemania X
28	Yokozuna (2) Yokozuna	Hulk Hogan Singles Match	280 days	280 days	June 13 1993 King of the Ring
27	Hulk Hogan (5) Hulk Hogan	Yokozuna Singles Match	70 days	2157 days	April 4 1993 Wrestlemania IX
26	Yokozuna Yokozuna	Bret Hart Singles Match	<1 day	<1 day	April 4 1993 Wrestlemania IX
25	Bret Hart Bret Hart	Ric Flair Singles Match	174 days	174 days	October 12 1992
24	Ric Flair (2) Ric Flair	Randy Savage Singles Match	41 days	118 days	September 1 1992
23	Randy Savage (2) Randy Savage	Ric Flair Singles Match	161 days	532 days	April 5 1992 Wrestlemania VIII
22	Ric Flair Ric Flair	Sid Justice Royal Rumble	77 days	77 days	January 19 1992 Royal Rumble
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Hulk Hogan [ Title Vacated ].	46 days	138 days	December 4 1991
21	Hulk Hogan (4) Hulk Hogan	The Undertaker Singles Match	1 day	2087 day	December 3 1991 Tuesday in Texas
20	The Undertaker The Undertaker	Hulk Hogan Singles Match	6 days	6 days	November 27 1991 Survivor Series
19	Hulk Hogan (3) Hulk Hogan	Sgt. Slaughter Singles Match	248 days	2086 days	March 24 1991 Wrestlemania VII
18	Sgt. Slaughter Sergeant Slaughter	Ultimate Warrior Singles Match	64 days	64 days	January 19 1991 Royal Rumble
17	Ultimate Warrior Ultimate Warrior	Hulk Hogan Singles Match	293 days	293 days	April 1 1990 Wrestlemania VI
16	Hulk Hogan (2) Hulk Hogan	Randy Savage Singles Match	364 days	1838 days	April 2 1989 Wrestlemania V
15	Randy Savage Randy Savage	Ted DiBiase Tournament Singles Match Final	371 days	371 days	March 27 1988 Wrestlemania IV
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Andre the Giant [ Title Vacated ]	51 days	92 days	February 5 1988
14	Andre the Giant Andre the Giant	Hulk Hogan Singles Match	<1 day	<1 day	February 5 1988 Main Event
13	Hulk Hogan Hulk Hogan	The Iron Sheik Singles Match	1474 days	1474 days	January 23 1984
12	The Iron Sheik Iron Sheik	Bob Backlund Singles Match	31 days	31 days	December 26 1983
11	Bob Backlund (3) Bob Backlund	Greg Valentine Singles Match	763 days	1478 days	November 23 1981
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Bob Backlund [ Title Vacated ].	35 days	41 days	October 19 1981
10	Bob Backlund (2) Bob Backlund	Bobby Duncam Singles Match	67 days	715 days	December 12 1979
v	No Champion [ Title Vacant ]	Antonio Inoki [ Title Vacated ]	6 days	6 days	December 6 1979
9	Antonio Inoki Antonio Inoki	Bob Backlund Singles Match	6 days	6 days	November 30 1979
8	Bob Backlund Bob Backlund	Superstar Billy Graham Singles Match	648 days	648 days	February 20 1978
7	Superstar Billy Graham Billy Graham	Bruno Sammartino Singles Match	296 days	296 days	April 30 1977
6	Bruno Sammartino (2) Bruno Sammartino	Stan Stasiak Singles Match	1237 days	4040 days	December 10 1973
5	Stan Stasiak Stan Stasiak	Pedro Morales Singles Match	9 days	9 days	December 1 1973
4	Pedro Morales Pedro Morales	Ivan Koloff Singles Match	1027 days	1027 days	February 8 1971
3	Ivan Koloff Ivan Koloff	Bruno Sammartino Singles Match	21 days	21 days	January 18 1971
2	Bruno Sammartino Bruno Sammartino	Buddy Rogers Singles Match	2803 days	2803 days	May 17 1963
1	Buddy Rogers Buddy Rogers	Antonio Rocca Phantom Match	46 days	46 days	April 1 1963 *

Notes

Legend

Reign	Number of champions to date v - Title is vacant or inactive Gray background - refer to given footnote
Wrestler	Bold text - Name which wrestler won the match with Small text - Real or alternate name, sometimes used Small text (tag team) - Tag Team name, if any ( ) - Total title reigns to date [ ] - Total team title reigns to date Italicized reigns - reigns which are disputed or unofficial ⁺ - Wrestler's previous reign was under another name No Champion - Title vacant [ Title Vacant ] - Title vacant [ Title Inactive ] - Title inactive
Defeated	Bold text - Name of wrestler defeated by new champion , & - Wrestlers defeated competed as a team where title was on the line (tag, handicap) and - Wrestlers defeated were competing in multi-wrestler match: Non-elimination matches: wrestler which submit/was pinned is stated first Elimination matches: wrestlers are listed backwards via order of elimination Small text - Type of match that crowned new champion Normal text - Person was not certainly defeated: [ Handover ] - Belt given by stated person [ Title Vacated ] - Champion vacated title [ Title Retired ] - Title is retired
Reign	Bold text - Length of title reign in days Normal text - Length of title inactivity or title vacancy in days <1 - Reign lasted less than a day, usually less than the duration of an event Italicized text - reigns which were less than one day and smaller units ar available: Small text - unit of reign length
Date	Bold text - Date of title change Small text - Event in which title change occurred Normal text - Date in which title became vacant or inactive * - Date is disputed or unofficial

1	The first champion, Buddy Rogers, was awarded by promoters breaking with the NWA, allegedly because they didn't recognize Rogers's one-fall loss of the NWA world title to Lou Thesz on January 24 1963. In some accounts, Rogers allegedly defeats Antonio Rocca in a fictitious tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the title.
10	Backlund pins Inoki in Tokyo, Japan on December 6. The match is declared a no-contest due to outside interference by Tiger Jeet Singh. The belt is given back to Inoki, but he refuses it and the title is vacated. Backlund defeats Bobby Duncam of December 12 to win the vacant title.
11	The title was vacated on October 19 when Greg Valentine is mistakenly given the belt by a dazed referee after being pinned by Backlund. Backlund wins the vacated title in a rematch.
15	Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan to win the Federation Championship and immediately handed the title off to Ted DiBiase. President Jack Tunney ruled that the title could not change hands via handover, and in attempting to do so, Andre vacated the title. Two months later at WrestleMania IV, Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase in the finals of a tournament to win the title.
22	President Jack Tunney ordered the title be vacated because of the controversial finish to the way Hogan won the match. Ric Flair was at ringside who knocked Tunney out with a chair. Paul Bearer accidentally hit Undertaker with the urn to let Hogan win the match. Tunney decided that the 1992 Royal Rumble winner would become champion. Ric Flair eliminated Sid Justice, with the help of Hulk Hogan, to later win the Royal Rumble as well as the WWF Title.
36	Shawn Michaels forfeited the WWF Title because of injury, so a special Final Four match was made to declare a new champion. Final Four was a four-man over-the-top-rope elimination contest. Bret Hart went on to win the match last eliminating the Undertaker.
40	The infamous Bret Hart-screw job. Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart with the Sharpshooter when Vince called for the bell, even though Bret Hart never tapped out.
44	Stone Cold lost the belt after being pinned simultaneously by Kane and Undertaker in a Triple Threat Match. The decision was made that the title was therefore vacant. A match between Kane and Undertaker a month later failed to declare a new champion as Steve Austin served as guest referee declaring a no-contest after attacking the two participants. A WWF Title tournament was held at Survivor Series 1998 where The Rock defeated Mankind. As a strange replay of Survivor Series 1997, Vince demanded the bell be rang as Rock used the Sharpshooter on Mankind, who never tapped out.
52	Mankind pinned Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Triple Threat Match also featuring Triple H.
55	Vince McMahon vacated the title due to a clause in his contract stated that he was not allowed to appear on WWF television. He set up a six-pack match for the WWF Title at Unforgiven to decide the new champion. Triple H went on to pin The Rock in that match also featuring Mankind, Kane, Big Show and British Bulldog.
56	Big Show pinned Triple H in a Triple Threat Match also featuring The Rock.
57	Chris Jericho pins Triple H on April 17 2000 and is announced WWF Champion. However, referee Earl Hebner is later forced to reverse the decision after being heavily criticized by Helmsley about a fast three count.
60	The Rock pinned Vince McMahon in a six-man tag team match where he teamed with Kane and Undertaker against Triple H, Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon. If the team of Undertaker, Kane & The Rock won, the wrestler who scored the pinfall would win the WWF Title. Twice during this reign, Chris Benoit was announced as WWF Champion. First on July 23, then on September 24. On the first occasion, Benoit won the title by disqualification (in a match where a title change by that nature was allowed) when referee Earl Hebner presumed it was the Rock who hit him with a steel chair. Commissioner Mick Foley reversed the decision and ordered the match to continue, where Benoit was pinned. On the second occasion, Benoit won the title after pinning the Undertaker in a four-way match also featuring Kane and the WWF Champion. It was again Commissioner Foley who reversed the decision, stating that the Underaker had his leg on the ropes. The match continued and the Rock pinned Benoit to retain the WWF Title.
66	Chris Jericho won both the WWF World Title and WCW World Title (referred to simply as the "World Title) on the same evening in four-man tournament to crown an Undisputed Champion. The three matches were held on the same evening with no breaks between matches. Steve Austin pinned Kurt Angle to retain the WWF Title in the first match. Chris Jericho pinned The Rock to win the WCW Title in the second match. In the final match, Jericho pinned Austin to become the Undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. At the time, the WWF had acquired WCW and was the only major wrestling entity in North America.

Rankings - Longest Reigns	Rankings - Days as Champion	Rankings - Most Reigns
Bruno Sammartino (2803) Hulk Hogan (1474) Bruno Sammartino ² (1237) Pedro Morales (1027) Bob Backlund ³ (763) Bob Backlund (648) Randy Savage (371) Hulk Hogan ² (364) Diesel (358) Billy Graham (296) Ultimate Warrior (293) Yokozuna ² (280) Bret Hart ² (248) Hulk Hogan ³ (248) Shawn Michaels (231) Steve Austin ⁵ (175) Bret Hart (174) Randy Savage² (161) Shawn Michaels ³ (140) Bret Hart ³ (133) The Undertaker ² (133) Kurt Angle (126) The Rock ⁵ (119) Triple H³ (118) Bret Hart ⁵ (98) Steve Austin (91) Steve Austin ² (90) Ric Flair (77) Hulk Hogan ⁵ (70) Bob Backlund² (67) Sgt. Slaughter (64) Sycho Sid (63) Steve Austin ⁶ (62) Steve Austin ³ (56) Steve Austin ⁴ (55) Triple H ²(49) Buddy Rogers (46) The Big Show (45) The Rock (44) Ric Flair ²(41) The Rock ³(41) The Undertaker ³(36) The Rock ⁶(35) Triple H ⁴(35) Sycho Sid ²(34) The Iron Sheik (31) Mankind (26) Shawn Michaels ²(26) Triple H (22) Ivan Koloff (21) The Rock ⁴(21) Mankind²(20) Kurt Angle²(15) Stan Stasiak (9) Antonio Inoki (6) The Undertaker (6) Vince McMahon (6) Bob Backlund ⁴(3) The Rock ²(2) Bret Hart ⁴(1) Hulk Hogan⁴ (1) Kane (1) Mankind ³(1) Andre the Giant (<1) Yokozuna (<1)	Bruno Sammartino (4040) Hulk Hogan (2157) Bob Backlund (1481) Pedro Morales (1027) Bret Hart (654) Randy Savage (532) Steve Austin (529) Shawn Michaels (397) Diesel (358) Billy Graham (296) Ultimate Warrior (293) Yokozuna (280) The Rock (262) Triple H (224) The Undertaker (175) Kurt Angle (141) Ric Flair (118) Sycho Sid (97) Sgt. Slaughter (64) Mankind (47) Buddy Rogers (46) Big Show (45) Iron Sheik (31) Ivan Koloff (21) Stan Stasiak (9) Antonio Inoki (6) Vince McMahon (6) Kane (1) Andre the Giant (<1)	The Rock (6) Steve Austin (6) Hulk Hogan (5) Bret Hart (5) Bob Backlund (4) Triple H (4) Shawn Michaels (3) The Undertaker (3) Mankind (3) Bruno Sammartino (2) Randy Savage (2) Ric Flair (2) Yokozuna (2) Sycho Sid (2) Kurt Angle (2)

Use your browser's BACK button to return.

Thanks to Hisaharu Tanabe and the following for much of this information :