by Bruce Bostwick

Created on: March 28, 2008

To clarify this before there is any confusion whatsoever, it is the history of the WWE championship, not the World Heavyweight Title. The big difference between the two is the history due to the companies. The World Heavyweight Title mainly has the history of the WCW Championship and is currently on the Smackdown brand. The WWE Title is on the Raw brand and has a 40-plus year history going back to the past. See, back in the 60s and to an extent the late 80s, the championship didn't change hands much. It's time to take a look back at the history of the belt going into specific eras.

Pre-Hulkamania (1960s-1984): It was a small regional promotion and wasn't well known nationally. Keep in mind back then PPVs didn't exist and it wasn't even close to a National Promotion at the time. The 1st champion was Buddy Rogers and didn't have a very long run. The longest running champion would be the next champion Bruno Sammartino and to this day still holds the record. Speaking of Bruno, he was the first 2-time WWWF Champion in history. It was called the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Another notable champion would be Superstar Billy Graham, the longest running heel champion in WWE history to this date holding the championship. Bob Backlund held the championship before losing it to The Iron Shiek in the official record books.

Hulkamania (1984-1993): The Era was amply named after Hulk Hogan. You couldn't get away from Hogan and he was the big star that was apart of the Rock and Wrestling Connection. When he became champion, it was like the whole wrestling world changed forever after defeating The Iron Shiek. Though he challenged for the longest running champion in history, he came up short about 3 years losing it to Andre the Giant. The only other notable champions during that time would be Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, and Yokozuna. These would be the names that got it but towards the tail end of Hulkamania. I also should mention The Undertaker got a very small run but it wasn't anything really major as far as time, he wouldn't get one until later on in his career.

New Generation (1994-1997): This came after the end of the steroid trial and Vince McMahon pushing smaller wrestlers. Some guys that really got a chance would be Bret more so along with Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Undertaker, and Psycho Sid. These guys dominated the Era and were used as the faces of the company.

Attitude Era (1997-2001): No longer kid friendly and

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