10 Times Wrestlers Were Literally Given Championships
1. Triple H (WWE World Heavyweight Title)
The first brand split in 2002 posed a number of logistical problems, not least of which was the fact that the WWE Championship was now exclusive to SmackDown.
In an almost identical scenario to the split that would follow 14 years later, it was decided that a Raw specific world championship was the solution to the problem.
However, rather than organise a tournament with the roster's most prominent performers and use the opportunity to create a new star - as was well intended with Finn Bálor's victory to become the inaugural Universal Champion - 2002 WWE was a different animal.
When Eric Bischoff announced that Raw would be getting its very own world championship on 20 September 2002, he had already decided on the champion.
Inviting Triple H to the ring to collect a newly minted championship, Bischoff handed over a brand new version of the classic Big Gold Belt that had been used as both the NWA and WCW world titles.
The title that had been denigrated by WCW during its dying days, held by a b-list actor and vacated more times than a motel room was now the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Triple H the champion. Just like that.