5 Great Inaugural WWE Champions (And 5 That Sucked)

1. Triple H - World Heavyweight Champion

When WWE first split the roster across Raw and SmackDown lines, the company still had only a single heavyweight title - the Undisputed WWE Championship. The titleholder was able to bounce back and forth between shows, appearing wherever he desired.

At SummerSlam 2002, Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock to win the Undisputed WWE Championship. It looked like he would be reigning atop the company for many months to come, but Triple H - who was scheduled to feud with Rob Van Dam over the Intercontinental Title - balked. In real life, the star felt that he was above that belt and refused to contend for it, so the company made Brock exclusive to SmackDown and gave Raw its own title, which Triple H could win.

Only he didn't win it. Triple H had defeated The Undertaker to become number one contender to the Undisputed WWE Championship, but when Lesnar left for Smackdown, HHH wasn't going to get his title shot. On the 2 September 2002 episode of Raw, Eric Bischoff placated 'The Game', by procuring a brand-new title - the World Heavyweight Championship - from a briefcase and simply handing it to him.

Though the belt was physically identical to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (and WWE tried to link its history to that title and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship), any attempt at a connection was weak. This was a new title made exclusively for Triple H, and fans recognised it.

His reign was uninspired and his dominance over the belt was a turn-off.