20 Wrestling Facts You Probably Didn't Know

WWE's most prestigious world title has had ten different names since its introduction in 1963. Here's a little historical context.

First of all, the company was called the WWWF back in those early days, or World Wide Wrestling Federation. Upon first leaving the National Wrestling Alliance in April 1963, Vince McMahon Sr and the legendary Toots Mondt created the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship and awarded it to the original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers, in order that he could drop it a month later to one Bruno Sammartino.

That title last until 1971, when the WWWF rejoined the NWA and renamed the title the WWWF Heavyweight Championship - after all, the Alliance only had room for one world champion, but each of its constituent regional promotions was allowed a top local title for their boys to compete for. The WWWF became the WWF, or World Wrestling Federation, in 1979, and the Heavyweight Championship lost a 'W'.

Vince Sr's punk kid, Vince Jr (known to employees as Vinnie or simply Junior at the time) purchased the WWF from his father three years later. At the NWA's annual meeting the following year, Vinnie withdrew the WWF from the Alliance, beginning the first overt move in his ambitious drive for national expansion, and renaming his company's top title the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the process, to establish a clear rival to the NWA's incredibly prestigious NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

That's the title that Hulk Hogan would go on to hold the following year and make into an internationally recognisable status symbol. The championship's title was officially shortened to the WWF Championship in 1998; that's the title that 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin held.

In March 2001, the WWF finally ended the Monday Night Wars once and for all by purchasing the competition. WCW's roster invaded the WWF in storylines that lasted most of the rest of the year, and they brought their top title with them. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship, by then simply called the 'World' championship, was finally merged with the WWF Championship in December 2001 to form the Undisputed WWF Championship, which in turn became the Undisputed WWE Championship when the company got its arse kicked by the panda and surrendered the WWF acronym to the World Wildlife Fund.

In 2002, the 'Undisputed' part was dropped and the title was renamed the WWE Championship until 2013, when it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship to form the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Last year, to allow it to run parallel to the recently introduced WWE Universal Championship, the company's top title was renamed the WWE World Championship.